Black Thunder Of The Straw Hats
by Vergil Leonidas
Summary: Is there any better way to meet your captain than meeting him while locked in a cage? Most likely. Before going out to the seas Monkey D. Luffy meets a criminal, known for killing many, feared by even more, he meets the Black Thunder, Leonidas Vergil, a demon... Or so the world believes...
1. Be My Nakama

"Come on, quit thinking and just roll with it Verge." He remembered the words that his friend told him just a few hours ago as he finally gathered the courage to knock. To his relief Robin opened the doors.

"Oh, Vergil. You want to talk to her?" Robin asked him and he rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably, completely aware of Nami looking at him. He slowly nodded and saw Robin smiling as she passed by next to him.

"Good luck." The archeologist told him and he offered her a look of appreciation before he looked at Nami. Everyone was in on the plan, everyone but Nami.

The navigator took a deep breath and sat up. Honestly, over the past week or so, Vergil was acting completely different and she couldn't exactly put her finger on why he would act like that. "Don't just stand there." She told him. Following her example, he took a deep breath and finally walked up to her. Vergil sat down on Robin's bed and looked at Nami.

"You and I… We need to talk, about… something…" He began. You know that one time in your life when you need to suck it up and be blunt about whatever you want to discuss, or talk about, or whatever. Well he, normally the blunt one on the crew, failed miserably. Dead silence would be a better way to start this…

Hopefully, the navigator would do what she was the best at, mess with the lock on his chest, pick it and steal the words that were stuck in there. Then she would hopefully do something she was even better than the best, navigate him through the blinding light that surrounded him.

Then he decided. This was his job to do, he'll just get it over with, improvise because to hell with the original plan.

* * *

_**Black Thunder Of The Straw Hats - begins.**_

* * *

"Talking"

"_Thinking_"

"**Ability**"

"_**Author Note / Demon (disembodied) speech**_"

* * *

_**Saga 1 – East Blue Saga**_

* * *

_**Arc 1 – Foosha Village Arc**_

* * *

_**Chapter 1 – Be My Nakama**_

* * *

"_**Mun**_dus!" The darkness surrounding the body disappeared and he dropped to the ground. He felt everything slipping away from him, his power, his strength, all in mere seconds… His consciousness abandoned him for what felt like eternity.

'_Don't close your eyes.'_

A female voice… Too late for that now, they were already closed when she died.

'_Don't close your eyes.'_

Male voice this time. What good would it do to keep them open anyways? It's not like he had anything left to teach him.

'_Vergil'_

A female one, different from the first one. She'd never forgive him if he died like this, if he just abandoned everything, his friend, his goal, the memories of them.

"Get up Verge."

"Blaidd…mon…"

For a brief moment he believed he heard his friend speak, but it was a distant memory, nothing else, nothing more, just like all the other echoes.

Still the fact that the owner of the echo was still alive forced him to reach out for his consciousness.

And the first thing he feels? Blood, damn crimson liquid that flowed through the veins of most animals and demons, a nuisance if you asked him, well not that anyone asked him. The loser gets to complain if he survives, or something like that anyway. So yeah, he was that loser on the verge of death, lying in the pool of his own blood.

He was in a pitiful state, blood stained everything, from his pale skin to the face and finally his completely white hair. The male had scars, a few of them actually, the most obvious one was the lightning shaped scar that covered part of his forehead, went over his eye and then went to cover most of his cheek.

"You look even more miserable than the last time I saw you. I couldn't possibly imagine that could actually happen, Vergil." It was a pure mockery, he was being laughed at but so be it, he didn't quite care about that at the moment, even if he did it wouldn't matter, he truly was in a pitiful state. So pitiful that he couldn't move a single muscle. "The mutt is alive."

The words made his eyes snap open, the yellow eyes flashed in the night, the black slit like pupils narrowed a bit as he tried to force himself to act. His body betrayed him and he spat out blood. "Let him go…!" He barked at the enemy in front of him though just that made his chest hurt. Though his vision was blurry, he could still see the sneer on that damned demon's face. Mundus, knowing that the damn bastard was still breathing and was capable of killing Blaiddmon… it made his blood boil.

"Now, now. How about we strike a deal? I'll keep the mutt-"

"Blaiddmon."

Though annoyed at being so rudely interrupted the demon continued. "Yes, Blaiddmon…" He seethed and kicked Vergil right into the fresh wound on the white haired male's abdomen.

Vergil's breathing was sharp and uneven as he tried to recover from the expected hit. Still he would take that over anyone calling his best friend a mutt anytime.

"I'll keep Blaiddmon alive, locked up but alive nonetheless. I'll give you a year, not a day more and maybe a month or two less, depending on my mood." That was purely intentional… "If you can somehow escape in that state you are free to try and save Blaiddmon. Of course in any other scenario he will die."

Vergil's eyes, the only remaining sign that he was alive flashed with determination, it was enough for Mundus to know, the demon had not given up.

* * *

East Blue, the weakest sea of them all, the strength of marines and pirates alike was a proof of that. Still some of the strongest ones emerged from this very sea… The nature of this side of the world allowed a small peaceful village to exist in the Goa Kingdom and it went by the name of Foosha village. As expected due to its name it was filled with windmills, the seemingly consistent peace was about to be interrupted though, for there was a military base near the village.

A special unit somewhat loyal to the Marines but more importantly loyal to the Demon King was guarding the criminal for about a month and a half.

At least they were supposed to.

If by any chance someone passed by they were most likely going to visit a certain bar in the town, Partys Bar. Partys Bar is a well-known bar in the village and the hospitality that welcomed anyone was both breathtaking and inspiring.

The bar wasn't that full at the moment, after all, it was getting a bit late, but there were three figures that would soon hold significant roles in the events that would transpire soon.

Commander of the small squad of soldiers that guarded the criminal, Collin was a tall black haired man most likely in his forties, his hair was neat and short, he was somewhat muscular and wore a simple military uniform. It wasn't a standard Marine uniform however. It was combat oriented, a camouflage type of shirt under an olive green long coat.

Next to him was Arton, his second in command. Red haired male, around the age of thirty dressed in the same type of the uniform. They were pretty much of the same rank, however due to mutual agreement the one in charge was Collin.

The bartender, lovely green haired woman Makino was currently placing the plate of meat in front of the last person. Monkey D. Luffy, a 17 years old boy. He had messy and short black hair, a scar under his left eye and was dressed in a rather simple and casual way. A red sleeveless vest, short blue trousers with cuffs, sandals on his feet and a straw hat on his head.

"Are you sure we should leave the prisoner with other soldiers. We should just hurry up and get this over with." Arton said to the man next to him.

"We'll head to the Edge Town once we refill our supplies and rest for the night. Don't worry, that demon won't escape, he can't." Commander of the troop, Collin assured the worried man.

"But sir, that is a demon. Now that we finally got the permission to get him off our backs maybe it'll be the best for us if we get him to the higher ups as soon as possible." Arton replied to him.

"That exhausted, wounded bastard? Run? Even if he did where could he go?" Collin questioned and that's when he noticed Luffy looking at them.

"Hey Old Man. What is that demon you are talking about?" Luffy asked.

"He is a criminal. Don't go anywhere near him kid." Arton warned him.

"So he is the bad guy?" Luffy asked.

"Yes. The likes of him don't deserve to live." Collin replied coldly, but Luffy, Luffy became curious…

"Take me to him." Luffy said, but although nothing about him said that, he actually demanded it.

"Why?" Collin asked, now curious about the kid in front of him.

"Luffy, don't get in trouble." Makino advised him.

"I want to see that demon." Luffy explained.

"Well he is chained up, starved and exhausted, not to mention wounded, I suppose that a visitor won't be a problem. You want to laugh at him kid?" Collin asked. His initial reaction wasn't unusual, after all the kid was young, the prisoner was a demon and taking into an account the history between the two races it was rather easy to assume that the kid's reason was to laugh.

"No." Luffy replied without a second thought. Collin's eyes widened a bit for a brief moment, this was the last kind of response he expected. A simple 'No.' not an explanation, not a scolding, nothing, just a simple, plain and clear 'No.'

"Sir this might cause troubles." Arton said feeling like it was his duty to keep watch over his commander.

"Nah, what can a kid do anyway." Collin brushed it off.

"Come on, take me to him." Luffy said impatiently making Collin laugh.

"Fine, follow me kid." Collin said as he stood up and Arton followed his lead.

17 years old boy followed two males through the forest to the makeshift base, it wasn't much of a base though. There were barely twenty soldiers guarding it and the only ones that looked capable of some battle were Collin and Arton. Most of the base was made up of tents and one cage in the middle of the so called base.

Caged like an animal, barely visible and chained was the demon they were speaking about through the dark Luffy could gather only a couple of things, mix of red and white hair being the only striking feature.

"Vergil Leonidas, the notorious Black Thunder. He was once a powerful demon, but now, he is in our grasp, powerless." Collin boosted but Luffy just stared at the cage. "You wanna get the closer look? Go ahead. He can't do anything." Collin encouraged him but even before he began his sentence, Luffy was walking toward Vergil's cage.

"You still alive in there Leonidas?" Collin asked as he and Arton joined Luffy in front of the cage. There was no response, but they could hear uneven breathing, enough of a proof that the demon in front of them was still alive.

"You can stay and look at him if you want to. We are exhausted." Collin said and two men left Luffy in front of the cage.

Now Luffy wasn't the brightest mind in the world, but even he could see that this demon in front of him was on the brink of death.

Starved with no food for more than a month, kept alive by the darkness that surrounded him and the water they gave him. He had no strength whatsoever, wounds that were without a doubt infected and caused by daily beating and potentially initial attempts to get free didn't help much either.

Barely alive made sure that there wasn't much Vergil could do once he heard that the boy who apparently came with Collin and Arton was still there even though they left. He couldn't do anything but slightly lift his head to look at the boy.

Luffy's eyes met golden, demonic eyes and now, even though Vergil's body told a different story, Luffy saw that in his eyes, Vergil was still, alive…

"You are a demon? You don't look so strong." Luffy observed but Vergil didn't utter a single word.

"Come on. Say something." Luffy persisted but once again, he didn't get any response from the demon in front of him, until…

"Go away…" Vergil finally wheezed out the first sound that escaped his lips for about a month and a half. His voice was hoarse and tired but that was to be expected given his state.

"Don't wanna." Luffy simply stated.

"Tch… Human brat…" He berated himself for saying that. "I don't have breath to… waste on you…" Vergil said and coughed a few times.

"How come you are still locked?" Luffy asked curiously, if those guys were right when they said this demon was supposed to be strong then why would he still be here.

"I'm shackled… weakened and near death… Not much I can do at the moment…" And he smirked. "I'll get out though… I have to."

Luffy remained silent as he looked at the caged demon. About a minute passed and he knew what to do.

"I decided." Luffy said.

"Hm?" And the white haired demon was somewhat curious.

"Come on, I'll get you out of here." Luffy said shocking Vergil.

"As tempting as the offer sounds… It'll leave a bad taste in my mouth if… I get you into the trouble like this." Vergil stated.

"Be my nakama." Luffy said with a grin as he looked at him, of course as any normal person would be Vergil was a bit thrown off by that statement.

"Your nakama?"

"Yeah! My first mate."

"First mate? Kinda like a crew?"

"Not kinda, a real pirate crew!"

"You, me and how many others?"

"I'd say about ten more should me enough." Luffy grinned.

"Let me assume that you don't have anyone recruited at the moment."

"I've got you."

"I haven't even said I'll do it. Furthermore I'm not even free."

"Then where's the key?" Luffy asked and Vergil sighed.

"You won't give up huh? The key is in front of you, in the lock. Bastards decided to taunt me. So they left it there." Vergil explained and Luffy unlocked the doors. He got into the cage and unlocked the shackles around Vergil's arms, legs and neck.

"Well, I suppose I'll give you a chance." Vergil muttered. "Thanks captain. What's your name by the way?" He asked.

"Monkey D. Luffy, I'm gonna become the Pirate King." Luffy introduced himself and Vergil smirked.

"Well then, Pirate King… I am Leonidas Vergil, and as you heard the Black Thunder." Vergil said and tried to stand up. He fell down to his knees but then grunted as he forced his body to stand up. "That's better…" He muttered to himself and took a few steps to shake off the numb feeling in his legs.

"Where to?" Leonidas asked the straw hat wearing boy and Luffy grinned once again.

"To Foosha village. Shishishi!" It probably never crossed and never will even dare to cross Luffy's mind that Vergil had no actual idea as to where Foosha village was.

"Alright." Vergil said slowly and followed the happy go lucky boy out of the base. Vergil had to smile. To follow some boy and call anyone 'Captain' that's the last thing he believed he would do, but right now it looked as if it would become the reality.

One thing remained on his mind though, Blaiddmon. He could only hope that his friend was still alive. He wanted to go and save him, right away, he wished he could, but the reality was much crueler, as he was there was no way he would even be capable of crossing the boundaries between two worlds…

* * *

_**That's it for this chapter.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – First Nakama**_


	2. First Nakama

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Hisokarocks – Thanks for review, glad you like it.**_

_**Anime PJ – Tanks for review.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for review, you'll see later on what'll happen to Blaiddmon.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 2 – First Nakama**_

* * *

Monkey D. Luffy was happy, very happy. He just found his very first nakama, in a cage, which was way too cool. Moreover, he was a cool guy with funny hair so that was a plus as well. What really interested Luffy was 'Black Thunder' thing. How could thunder be black? Or any other color really, like wasn't thunder a sound of lightning?

Vergil on the other hand was amused. The boy that was clearly younger than he was seemed so naïve and innocent yet for some reason had this kind of feel to him that Vergil only found in natural leaders. So seeing the way the straw hat wearing boy acted thus far the Leonidas knew it, the decision was already made, he was in this for good.

Still the white haired demon's condition was troubling. His pacing was decent by average human standards and though the bleeding has stopped long ago, his wounds were probably at least a bit infected from the conditions he was living in. When the wind hit the demon's face he allowed himself a moment to cherish the feeling, a long time passed since he was able to feel such strong yet calming gust of wind.

"How can thunder be black?" And the question just had to be asked.

"It's actually lightning that's black when you combine it with darkness in the right way, pitch black in my case hence the alias Black Thunder, it sounds cooler than Black Lightning." Vergil felt much better than a few minutes ago, it was the night time and he was rapidly regaining his overall strength now that he wasn't cuffed. The cuffs that were placed on him were designed to drain his power bit by bit and that was quite annoying over the last month and a half.

"I see." And Luffy didn't really get it, at all.

"Don't think about it too much, I'll show you one day." Vergil assured him.

"It sure is cooler though." Luffy pointed out randomly after a few minutes and it took Vergil a few moments to realize what the male next to him was talking about, once he understood though he actually chuckled a bit.

Looking around he saw that the village Luffy brought him to was quite simple, just an average human village surrounded by windmills. It was, a place one could call home… That is if you were a human. As they passed by some of the houses Vergil could see people moving away from the windows, getting back into their houses. It certainly was somewhat late but at least some eople should still be out.

It took them five more minutes, but Luffy and Vergil finally reached Makino's tavern, Vergil was pretty much exhausted by now and he actually stumbled into the tavern after Luffy.

"Luffy! What happened? Who is he?" Makino asked as she saw them, the tavern was empty right now and she suspected that the man behind Luffy was the demon that was held captive nearby.

"Shishishi! He's my first mate." Luffy laughed.

"Your first mate?" Makino asked.

"Yeah! Shishishi!"

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Makino asked out of concern, one that Vergil fully understood, after all he was a fugitive who was held captive nearby, allying with him wasn't the smartest move. Furthermore he was a demon.

"Yeah, Vergil's fine." Luffy was grinning from ear to ear pretty much forcing Vergil to grin as well, the captain's happiness was seemingly contagious and it did feel good to have a human express their trust in him after so many years.

There was only so much happiness could do for one's health though and the white haired demon felt a bit dizzy as he supported his weight on a nearby chair.

"Are you all right?" Makino asked.

"I'll be fine. I just need to rest a bit." Vergil said and tried to at the very least ignore the fatigue for a bit longer.

"Luffy take him to the shower, that'll refresh his body. I'll get bandages and some clothes for him." She was still wary about the entire situation but Makino still deciding to trust Luffy with this, after all while Luffy was naïve, he also knew surprisingly well if someone was good or bad.

"Sure!" Luffy grinned.

"Thank you, I appreciate it." Vergil nodded out of respect to the barkeeper.

In a couple of minutes Vergil was in the shower alone, blood washed away from his body and relaxed his muscles, to say that he appreciated it would be an understatement.

"_Recount what happened up until now. Blaiddmon and I separated, fell into a trap, Blaiddmon was captured and I had my powers mostly sealed away… Month and a half later Luffy shows up and sets me free, he also asked me to join his crew which I accepted and now I'm first mate of a pirate crew_." Vergil thought as the water washed away the doubts in his mind. Blaiddmon would die if he went and rushed in recklessly so at this point taking time and getting stronger was the only option he had.

The Demon Hunter turned off the water and took the towel to dry his body. He had well defined muscles and athletic build, however he also had a series of scars. The most recent one was on the right side of his abdomen right under the ribcage, it was a wide but relatively small gash wound that he would have to clean a bit and bandage up. Luckily being a demon allowed his wound and infections to leave less of an impact on his overall health, the infection would disappear in a day or two once he cleaned the wound properly. There was something similar to the stab wound right on his heart and finally he had a large scar going down from the right side of his neck to the bottom of his abdomen. Besides those, he had a small bruise here and there but those were fading over time.

Scars weren't the only thing that was on his skin, the three tattoos on his right biceps were something he paid little mind to over the past ten years, nonetheless he held pride in having them…

A minute later Vergil walked into the bar once again. Fresh from the shower and now dressed in white T-shirt and dark blue trousers, not to mention bandaged up, Vergil looked much better. Finally Luffy got a good look at him, the mixture of red and white hair was actually completely white now, the red hair actually being white hair but stained with blood. Makino was preparing some food for them, well for his new nakama but he would eat as well.

As soon as Vergil sat down at the table where Luffy was at the straw hat wearing soon to be pirate began bombarding him with questions. "Are you an old man?" Luffy asked bluntly causing Vergil to smirk.

"No, I'm 23 years old." the white haired demon replied.

"Can demons poop?" Luffy asked and while amused Vergil decided to answer.

"Yes. Demons can generally do anything humans can. Though we are closer to the animals rather than to humans." Vergil replied to a certain extent getting Luffy's short span attention.

"Animals? How?" Luffy curiously asked.

"Demons are closer to animals than to humans when it comes to the emotions that drive us. Like animals we are not complex enough in that regard, we evolved enough to feel, just not enough to truly realize how we feel or express it properly." Vergil explained but Luffy looked confused, this made Vergil sigh.

"What do you like to eat?" Vergil suddenly asked.

"Meat." Luffy answered without a second thought.

"Well say you have two kinds of meat. One can go with anything, but second one can't go with, some food because it makes it taste badly. Humans can express and understand all the emotions while the demons are a bit stupid when it comes to more complex emotions." Vergil explained and Luffy nodded.

"So demons can express emotions but not as well!" Luffy realized and Vergil grinned.

"That's right." He said and then they heard Makino chuckle as she brought the food to the table. It was mostly meat as she knew that Luffy would also eat.

"You handled explaining something to Luffy far easier than I've ever seen." Makino said while Luffy oblivious to her words began eating.

"My teacher taught me that sometimes even the hardest explanations can be explained in a simple analogy." Vergil said with a smirk on his face, but then he paled when he noticed the pace at which food disappeared.

"Leave something for me damn it!" Vergil scolded him as he grabbed a piece of meat and began eating. Makino laughed as captain and his first mate demolished the food on the table.

Perhaps she misjudged the demon, he seemed relaxed, willing to put up with Luffy and he was clearly not bent on killing everything he came in touch with as it was often said to be the case with demons.

The peace was unfortunately cut off when none other than mayor walked into the bar.

"You've gone and done it again, Luffy!" This made both soon to be pirates and Makino turn towards the doors.

"Mayor." Makino greeted him.

"What do I hear about you setting free some demon criminal?!" Woop Slap went right down to business.

"Vergil is my first mate." Luffy grinned.

"Your first mate?! A demon?!" And he sounded a bit angry.

"Yeah, shishishi!" Luffy laughed.

"What were you thinking? What if he attacks the village?!" Woop Slap shouted and he had quite a few reasons to do so, after all the one Luffy had set free was a demon and a criminal even by the demon standards.

"Vergil won't attack the village." Luffy stated.

"What makes you so sure?!"

"You won't attack the village right?" The question Luffy made angered Woop Slap even further.

"I won't." Vergil answered.

"See?" Luffy grinned at Woop Slap in a 'told you so' manner.

"You are too trusting! And even if he doesn't attack us he's still spreading panic through the village. More importantly those people will come looking for him and even if he doesn't do it himself he's still endangering the village." Woop Slap stated.

"I won't let them touch anyone in the village, you have my word." Vergil said.

"Why should I trust you?"

"Look, I get that you don't trust me because I'm a demon. I might be a demon, but I'm not scum that would let innocent people die because of me. If for no other reason than for the sake of my pride and honor, I will not let other people fight my battles." Vergil said and Woop Slap looked him in the eyes.

"If anyone in this village dies because of you…" It was a threat, empty threat because Woop Slap had no chance against Vergil, but a threat nonetheless. And for that kind of guts Vergil respected the man.

"I know, go ahead and kill me if I let anyone here die because of me." Vergil stated.

Luffy was grinning throughout the entire conversation, this was his first nakama, his first mate.

* * *

Vergil spent the next couple of hours making up for the lack of proper sleep in an actual bed. His eyes opened he sat up. He took a moment to wake his body up by rolling his shoulders and neck a bit, it was kind of a habit that he had for years now and it seemed like he would never really quit doing so. Finally awake and mostly recovered from his exhaustion he stood up and walked out of the tavern finding Luffy munching on some meat.

"Late night snacks?" He teased causing Luffy to jump up.

"Vergil!" Luffy was about to yell but Vergil hushed him by placing hand over younger boy's mouth.

"You'll wake Makino up. Do you want her to catch you with that meat?" Vergil questioned and Luffy grinned.

"Shishishi. Thanks Vergil." Luffy thanked him and two soon to be pirates sat down on the grass.

"Why do you want to become a Pirate King?" Vergil asked curiously as they lied down on the grass.

"I promised to a pirate that saved my life and gave me this straw hat that I'll become a great pirate." Luffy answered, but as they were about to stand up and leave they saw that lights were lit up in the camp at which Vergil was held just a couple of hours ago.

"It looks like they noticed. I'll go and stop them, the last thing I'll allow them to do is involve the village into this." Vergil resolved as he prepared to rush forward.

"Let's go." Luffy said, his resolve clear in his eyes, these people wanted to take his nakama away from him and he wasn't going to allow them.

* * *

And they certainly did. In fact they were in the middle of sounding off the alarm.

"Commander Collin! Prisoner has escaped!" Sudden and alarmed voice of their follower woke Collin and Arton up.

"What did you just say? He couldn't have escaped!" Collin yelled, he knew all too well what would have happened if Leonidas Vergil was no longer locked up.

"He escaped sir. We apologize!" Soldier whimpered.

"We'll talk about this later. Our first priority is to find him!" Arton commanded and soldiers all saluted to him and Collin.

"That boy! He released Leonidas!" Collin realized and Arton paled.

"Then…" Arton muttered.

"Go and crush the entire village, if you can't find him call for reinforcements. If we need to crush the entire island than crush it just find and capture him!" Collin yelled. "No matter what Black Thunder must not be allowed to leave!"

"You won't need to go that far Collin. I'm right here." They suddenly heard and looked to their right to see Vergil and Luffy walking into the base.

"Leonidas! Don't think I'll let you escape!" Collin yelled.

"Funny since for one you did just a few hours ago and two you didn't find me, I came back to fight you." Vergil smirked making Collin growl.

"Men! Capture them!" Arton ordered as battalion of soldiers attacked them.

"You ready for this, Luffy?" Vergil asked as he smirked.

"Yeah!" Luffy exclaimed.

* * *

In the vicinity a shadowy looking man stood at the safe distance watching over the fight.

"Let's see now… I wonder what choices you will leave me, Vergil." He muttered.

* * *

"Don't think you can win this Leonidas! I know about the seal!" Collin boasted confidently. The air of confidence disappeared as he realized that the seal wasn't completely effective.

The demon dashed, far quicker than he should have been capable of doing and punched one of the soldiers in the guts. The unfortunate man double over and fell to the ground unconscious.

"Like hell if I'll allow it to stop me from beating the living hell out of you." Vergil replied as he planted his left knee into another soldier's chin thus knocking the man out. He noticed two soldiers approaching him from behind, still deciding to trust his captain Vergil concentrated on the pair of soldiers in front of him.

Luffy didn't waste time as he joined Vergil in the battle. "**Gomu Gomu no Pistol**!" Luffy exclaimed as his arm stretched much to the surprise of everyone present.

"Devil Fruit." Vergil realized as he stepped to the side and evaded a slash of the sword. The newly recruited first mate slammed his fist against the soldier's head and looked back at Luffy.

"Yep. I ate Gomu Gomu no mi and became a rubber man." Luffy explained as he joined up with Vergil. "**Gomu Gomu no Whip**!" It was a simple and rather effective kick that literally swiped the soldiers off their feet.

Arton and Collin looked at the scene realizing that they'd have to fight on their own as Vergil and Luffy easily disposed of the enemies around them.

"Back away! Shoot them!" Collin ordered completely unaware of the fact that bullets had no chance against Luffy. Although Luffy was immune to bullets the same however couldn't be said about the white haired demon.

The guns were blazing and the bullets held both speed and the force needed to impale the body and possibly kill.

Still that kind of attack was useless against Luffy whose rubber body just stretched and bounced the bullets away much to the horror of half of the firing squad.

The other half didn't have much luck either, though their target wasn't bulletproof he was fast and capable of dodging them.

"A handy ability." Vergil said as wide grin plastered across his face, growing tired of dodging Vergil channeled energy from his body. He released it and the darkness engulfed his body, the sparks circled around him and then the shapeless mass began taking on the shape of a weapon.

"**Devil Arms: Dark Edge**…" The white haired demon murmured causing a huge, about 1.8 meters long, dark broadsword to appear. He suddenly disappeared and appeared behind soldiers. Not a moment after that their guns fell apart. "_I hate using that with Dark Edge_." He complained to himself and he truly did, the amount of control he had was minimal when he went in for this kind of attack with a sword this large.

"I'll only warn you once. Get out of my sight or this sword will get drenched in blood and I can assure you that it won't be mine." Vergil warned them before glancing at the terrified soldiers.

"So cool!" Luffy yelled as he clenched his fists and looked at Vergil with stars instead of eyes.

"Black Thunder… Bringer of destruction… Even now he…" Collin muttered as drops of sweat slid down his face.

"The legends were true…" Arton mumbled, fear evident in his eyes.

"No… He is still weakened, seal of that kind can't break…" Collin reasoned, mostly trying to assure himself, rather than his frightened followers.

"So? Do you still want to live? Or will you die fighting?" Vergil challenged them and while most of the soldiers began running and even Collin himself was about to do so Arton composed himself.

"We are the only ones who can stop you now. We are on the side of justice…" Arton reasoned and Collin growled at his subordinate.

"Don't be ridiculous! He's the Black Thunder!" Collin yelled making Vergil smirk.

"You sounded far more confident when I was behind the bars." Vergil mocked as he held up his sword.

"I won't let you destroy anything!" Arton yelled as he unsheathed the sword that was hanging at his hip.

"Head on attack? Foolish and reckless, but I can respect that!" Vergil smirked as he blocked the sword.

* * *

_**That's it for this chapter.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – The Seal**_


	3. The Seal

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**TTFmichel – Thanks for review, I'm glad you like that.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for review. Yes, he is a calmer, he is older and more mature.**_

_**Anime PJ – Thanks for review**_

* * *

_**Chapter 3 – The Seal**_

* * *

-Last time-

* * *

"I won't let you destroy anything!" Arton yelled as he unsheathed the sword that was hanging at his hip.

"Head on attack? Foolish and reckless, but I can respect that!" Vergil smirked as he blocked the sword.

* * *

Luffy observed the casual demon and the human that tried to push forward but failed to move the large blade even the slightest bit. Now Luffy was that kind of man who did not interfere with other people's fights, naturally he didn't like others interfering either. Therefore, when he noticed Collin pulling out a bayonet, a rifle with a knife attached to it, and aiming at Vergil he decided to even out the numbers, well in this case, it was more of the final nail in the coffin for the soldiers but that was completely different topic. As Collin fired the bullet at Vergil, Luffy jumped in front of it and the bullet bounced off.

"Don't interfere. This is Vergil's fight. Your opponent is me." Luffy announced making Collin growl.

"You better move brat. If you don't I'll make sure you get arrested." Collin announced but Luffy just grinned.

"I'm gonna be the Pirate King. I won't get arrested by you." Luffy told him. Collin's jaw dropped before he began laughing.

"A Pirate King? You?! That's rich!" Collin mocked, but his laughing stopped when he, Luffy and Arton felt electricity filling the air.

"Collin. Mock whatever you want but there are two things I will not let anyone mock, dreams and the dead. Mock his dream one more time and I will rip you apart." Vergil threatened in a dead serious, cold, calculated and rather calm voice that still gave away the feeling of approaching death…

As the response to threatening to his commander Arton doubled his efforts at pushing forward but Vergil's sword wouldn't even budge as he glanced at Arton.

"You're still trying?" Vergil asked making Arton push even harder allowing Vergil to give him a grin.

"Hey Luffy! I'm taking this one down. You wanna beat Collin?" Vergil asked, Luffy looked at him for a moment and nodded.

"Sure, I planned on doing that either way." Luffy responded earning a laugh from Vergil, the demon felt a bit excited to have someone to fight side by side with.

"Go get him captain!" Vergil encouraged as he finally decided to fight. Swiftly he pushed Arton back and dashed toward the defenseless opponent. He slammed his sword against Arton's a couple of times, restless and adding a bit more strength with every new attack. Arton managed to block it a couple of times, however he finally gave away and the momentum of Vergil's slice forced his sword out of his grip. He was pushed back and fell down on the ground fully expecting a new assault that at that moment could have killed him, instead Vergil remained at the safe distance away from him.

Vergil pointed his sword at Arton and then moved it to point at the sword that was now on the ground. At first confused Arton just looked at the sword.

"Pick it up. I will not fight a defenseless opponent." Vergil stated causing Arton's eyes to widen but he dared not to question Vergil's decision or fighting style. He stumbled a bit as he rose to his feet and reached out for the sword. Wary of Vergil's potential attack he kept his eyes on the white haired demon that made no movement. Carefully Arton grabbed the hilt of his sword and picked it off the ground.

On the other side of the battle field Luffy grinned widely as he saw what Vergil did, yep he got an awesome nakama! Unfortunately, not everyone was against attacking unprepared opponents as Collin used this small moment of carelessness to attack. The knife on the bayonet lunged forward to Luffy's heart, but the raven haired rubber man noticed Collin's attack and jumped to his right side. Collin attempted to stop himself, but the momentum of his attack was something he couldn't control as he stumbled forward.

"**Gomu Gomu no Pistol**!" Luffy threw a punch and it collided with the stumbling soldier's side thus making him fall to the ground.

"I made a rookie mistake just now. Sorry, it won't happen again." Collin stated as he picked himself up. His entire stance changed as he pulled another knife and positioned it behind bayonet that he pointed to the side.

"**Gomu Gomu no Stamp**!" Luffy tried to kick him but he ducked under it and stabbed his knife up toward the sky and almost cut into Luffy's leg. What stopped him however was the sudden shock of the ground that caused both him and Luffy to lose balance a bit.

"What the?!" He yelled in frustration.

As soon as Arton pulled his sword out he decided on a more subtle approach. He jumped to the wooden boxes hoping that Vergil would follow him. Truthfully, the white haired demon did just that as he lunged forward and slashed with his sword. Arton ducked under it only for Vergil to stab the sword into the ground, turn around and kick him before turning once again and slamming his sword down upon Arton from above.

Desperate Arton blocked the massive sword with his own sword but the metal cracked under the stronger material that was needed to make the evil Arm. Realizing this Arton quickly moved to his left, pulled out the matches, ignited one of them and threw it at the boxes.

Vergil's eyes widened as flame ignited for a single moment before ground shaking explosion engulfed both him and Arton…

"Vergil!" Luffy yelled as Collin bowed his head down slightly, Arton just gave his life to kill the criminal that was something he had to respect.

"Stupid idiot." They both suddenly heard Vergil's voice as smoke began clearing.

Both Luffy and Collin's eyes widened. Luffy's due to awe and excitement at what he was sure just happened and Collin's at fruitless sacrifice of his subordinate.

"Like hell if I will allow anyone to just blow themselves up…" He said and they could see Vergil dropping Arton to the ground. Luffy grinned as Arton coughed a bit. Collin's eyes were now even wider with shock and he looked at Vergil who had a couple of burn marks but other than that looked fine, his subordinate was looking as good as one can get.

"Why?" Collin asked making Vergil turn toward him for a moment.

"I'm not as much of a monster as you think. Yes I have killed, yes I am a Demon Hunter, but I won't stand by as someone throws his life away." Vergil replied as his sword disappeared.

"I can see that…" Collin said as he allowed himself a small smile, Arton was his subordinate from the very beginning, sure they didn't always agree but he couldn't stand the thought of Arton dying like that. What kind of commander would allow that?

"I know that this doesn't mean much to you, since I've been torturing you over the last month and a half, but you have my sincere thanks. Thank you." Collin thanked him and Vergil honestly was surprised.

"Neither I, nor any of my men will attack the village. You are free to go and we won't report what happened here." Collin said making Vergil nod in slight gratitude while Luffy laughed.

"Shishishi. Thanks Old Man." Luffy thanked him, mainly for not wanting to attack the village. He could live with this being reported, it would probably give him a bounty as well!

"I'm not an old man you brat! Sorry for mocking your dream though." Collin apologized as he smiled briefly at Luffy.

"Don't worry about it." Luffy forgave him.

"Why?!" Arton choked out.

"Why are you complaining?" Both had every right to ask their respective questions.

"You are my enemy! A criminal! Someone like you has saved me! Can you even try to comprehend just how ashamed I am of myself?!" The man was throwing a fit.

"The hell if I care about how ashamed you are. Think of this in whatever way makes you feel better and make something with that life of yours. If you are so bent on dying to correct the evil then get stronger and change it by being alive, once you die there's no one you can help." White haired demon said, he didn't care but it would be a waste if none of the just spoken words actually reached the soldier even for a moment.

"I… I thank you. Leonidas…" Arton thanked Vergil as he clenched his fists. He got the message and he would get stronger.

"Don't mention it." Vergil replied as he walked up to Luffy.

"Let's go. Makino might notice that you aren't at the tavern." Vergil said.

"How did we survive?" Arton suddenly asked before Luffy could say anything.

"**Lightning Soul**. I can protect one person, be it myself or someone else from most of the damage. It drains a lot out of me now though." Vergil explained and Arton nodded.

"That's me, but what about you?"

"I'm resilient I suppose. A bit of explosion won't kill me."

"Shishishishi! Let's go." Luffy said as he grabbed Vergil, stretched his arm and before Vergil could prepare he propelled them forward with **Gomu Gomu no Rocket**.

"Warn me next time damn it!" Two soldiers heard before they heard a loud thud and then a sound of tree falling down while in fact Vergil and Luffy slammed into the tree thus breaking it down.

"Pirates huh? As you are now, you can't face the world…" Collin softly said.

* * *

"Shishishi! That was fun." Luffy laughed and Vergil looked a bit annoyed for a moment before he also began laughing.

"Hahah. Yeah to you! You didn't feel anything." Vergil countered playfully but then got serious.

"Luffy, before we set sail there is something you need to know. The seal that Collin mentioned, It's blocking most of my power." Vergil said and once again, just like back in the tavern when Vergil explained about the tears, Luffy looked confused.

"Look. Imagine a piece of meat, a large one." Vergil began as Luffy began drooling.

"Sea King's meat?" Luffy asked and Vergil grinned.

"While it sure is tasty concentrate for now." Vergil scolded him.

"Now imagine being able to eat only a small piece of it, one bite, a small bite not your bite, of it. That's how the seal works. I can only use a small piece of meat, thus the small piece of my power." Vergil explained and Luffy nodded, meat analogy seemed to work so far.

"So you have lots of power but can't eat it." Luffy reasoned and while he wasn't completely happy with the results Vergil would take them instead of the confusion anytime.

"In a way, yes." Vergil stated.

"So? You are strong." Luffy said a bit confused as to why this was something to be concerned over.

"Just thought that you should know." Vergil stated with a grin.

* * *

It looked like the night had ended, but just as Luffy and Vergil were far from the camp it happened...

Two soldiers and their battalion were suddenly blinded by light. Then, in a single moment they all perished… There was no blood, no trace of them just getting killed.

"Let's see now. How far can you get." Black haired man muttered as he glanced toward the path that Vergil and Luffy took to the village. "Actually, let's see if you can even get off this island."

The man opened a small portal and a creature stepped through it…

* * *

A loud roar echoed through the forest and Vergil's eyes widened.

"That's a demon roaring…" He realized.

"A demon? Here?" Luffy asked.

"Not the even a strong one, but I can still feel it. Will you let me deal with this on my own?" Vergil requested, he could feel the power of the demon that had locked onto his own presence and was approaching, he knew he could take it on. More importantly he knew this had nothing to do with anyone on this island, this was happening only because of him. Mundus was in some way involved in this and that made this matter his and his alone to deal with.

"Sure." Luffy decided to simply let his nakama fight, if he couldn't trust Vergil then who else could he trust.

"Thanks." Vergil expressed his gratitude and turned to the direction from which the demon was approaching.

With another loud roar the demon emerged from the trees. It was night and the moonlight wasn't exactly giving them much of a light to see so all Luffy could notice was the fact that the creature was at least two meters tall and walking on all four legs, it held itself kinda like a monkey and seemed to have some spikes on its back.

Being a darkness demon Vergil needed little to no light to see quite decently in the darkness, so while there was a lack of bright colors and all that he could quite easily see the demon, the shapes and textures and any movement.

His slit pupils widened further allowing the regular vision he had in the dark up until now to focus and he looked at the demon. Adding to the image Luffy saw there was apparent lack of eyes, a pair of antenna and small spikes running down from the torso all the way down to the demon's feet.

The demon closed the distance in a split second and Vergil blocked its paw with his right forearm. He was pushed a few inches to the left but otherwise he was quite pleased with how well he defended.

Vergil did a quick back flip and kicked the demon away, its claws dug into the ground as it tried to stop skidding backwards.

Quickly he closed the distance and there it was, the chance he needed. Lightning circled his fist and he slammed it into the demon's chin. Electricity exploded and the demon's body fell back, it was dead, the electricity that exploded rushed right into its brain.

Vergil huffed and dropped down to one knee. He was pretty much drained from that one fully powered up punch plus the use of his power previously and with that he was anything but pleased.

"It's over." He muttered.

* * *

"Not bad, not bad at all… Looks like I overestimated the seal." The man responsible for setting free the monster smirked.

* * *

_**Foosha Village Arc - Finished**_

* * *

_**That's it for this chapter.**_

* * *

_**Trivia: (I'll do this after every arc)**_

* * *

_**-Blaiddmon was supposed to make a slight appearance.**_

* * *

_**Next Arc – Romance Dawn Arc**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Setting Sail For The First Time**_


	4. Setting Sail For The First Time

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Anime PJ – Thanks for reviewing. It'll take some time to get there though.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you for the review.**_

_**ChrisZilla18 – Thanks for the review, he'll go alongside Luffy. **_

_**trappedindarkness13 – Thanks for review.**_

* * *

_**Arc 2 – Romance Dawn Arc**_

* * *

_**Chapter 4 – Setting Sail For The First Time**_

* * *

Two days have passed since the battle with Collin and Arton, as promised by the commander no one attacked the village and Vergil recovered for the most part, his bruises were healed and he had recovered from the fatigue he felt over the course of the last month and a half.

The captain and the first mate were standing at one of the cliffs at the moment. They stared at the sea they would soon sail.

Luffy was wearing a red sleeveless vest, sandals and short blue trousers with cuffs, not to mention his trademark straw hat. Vergil was also rather simply dressed, black trousers, dark blue T-shirt with sleeves long enough to cover his tattoos and black combat boots.

"When are we setting sail?" Vergil asked as he glanced back at the giant mountain bear he and Luffy knocked out and killed that morning. It would be a nice meal.

"Tomorrow." Luffy said with a grin making Vergil whistle a bit.

"So if they waited only a couple of days more I'd still be in that cage. Well I got lucky." Vergil stated with a small grin plastered on his face.

"Let's eat! I'm hungry!" Luffy exclaimed. Vergil laughed a bit.

* * *

-Tomorrow-

* * *

Vergil waited at the village's harbor knowing that Luffy would soon come. He glanced at their boat, it didn't look like it would last too much, but for now it would do. Though it looked like anything but the boat of the future Pirate King the demon was fine with it, after all this was the very beginning, starting from the basics allowed people to soar into the skies.

* * *

Luffy reached the place at which he lived for 10 years. The place at which Dadan and her mountain bandits were using as home.

"Hey, guys! I'm leaving! Won't you see me off?" Luffy asked as he stood at the doors, cheerful as always, standing only on one foot and holding onto the poll.

"How annoying. The Mayor and Makino won't mind but the Foosha Village people will get scared of us." Dadan stated.

"But…" Luffy tried to complain as he frowned a bit for a moment.

"Why don't you just go already?!" Dadan ordered him, her back was turned to Luffy as she refused to even look at him.

Luffy then cheered up again. "Alright! Then you guys. Thank you for everything!" He thanked them thus embarrassing the bandits.

"Don't say it! I feel awkward." Dogra said as he and most of the bandits rubbed the backs of their heads.

"Well, well. Take care." Magra added.

"Okay!" Luffy agreed as he gave them his signature grin. He began leaving but suddenly came back.

"Oh yeah!" He exclaimed surprising the bandits.

"Dadan! I don't like mountain bandits!" He told her slightly annoying the women.

"Shut up you brat!" She yelled at him.

"But I like you guys!" He admitted, and who wouldn't after everything they went through together.

Dadan gasped at this as she pulled out a handkerchief from her blouse and started crying waterfalls.

"Stop talking nonsense! Just get going you bastard!" She yelled at him through tears as bandits smiled at her.

"Damn it! Why am I surrounded by idiots?!" She yelled.

"Oh, you're crying." Luffy said.

"I'm not crying!" She yelled even though she was simply in a denial.

* * *

A bit later in the harbor Luffy and Vergil were in the boat with Vergil sitting on the bottom and Luffy on the thwart, behind Luffy there was a barrel. Vergil took the paddles and was ready to start rowing.

"Hey why don't you take my old fishing boat, Luffy?" One of the villagers asked.

"Yeah, that's going to sink any moment now." Another added.

"And what's a demon doing with you?" Third one questioned. Well they were still scared of Vergil but they decided to bear with him so they could watch Luffy setting sail.

"It's fine, I want to start with this boat. Vergil is my nakama. Shishishi." Luffy stated, but then turned around, spread his arms and began yelling at the sky.

"Sabo! Watch over me! I'm going off to the sea!" Luffy yelled leaving villagers a bit confused.

"Sabo was first and Ace was second. And I'm the third but I'm going to top them. Wait for me Ace! I'm going to catch up to you soon!" Luffy yelled again making Vergil grin.

"What are you doing screaming and mumbling? Is it some kind of incantation?" One of the villagers asked him. Luffy turned to face them once again.

"No. It's a challenge." He told them.

"Challenge?" One of them questioned.

"Who is Ace?" Another one asked.

"I don't know." Other one replied.

"All right! I'm off!" Luffy exclaimed as Vergil began rowing.

"Mayor, he's going. I'm going to miss him." Makino said.

"It's a dishonor to the village to become a pirate." Mayor told her.

"Yah. It's a nice day to set sail." Luffy said as he looked at the sky and saw birds flying above him.

Underneath him, however a large sea king was hungry and had noticed a boat with two nakama.

Sea king came out to the surface slightly surprising Luffy who turned to face him.

"Here comes, our local sea monster." Luffy muttered and Vergil knew that interfering was unneeded.

"You don't know who you are messing with." Luffy said to the sea king as memories of their first encounter flashed in front of the boy's eyes. "This is a technique I've been practicing for ten years." He said as he prepared to hit the sea king with his signature technique.

"**Gomu Gomu no… Pistol**!" Luffy exclaimed as he hit the sea king dead on knocking it out.

"That'll teach ya, stupid fish." Luffy said and Vergil grinned.

* * *

Behind one of the houses Dadan, Magra and Dogra watched as Luffy departed from the shadows. If one thing was clear it was the fact that the mountain bandits all loved Luffy, that being said they simply had to go and watch his back as he departed even if it was from the shadows.

"Wow. He took out that monster with only one hit." Magra said.

"He's become strong." Dadan proudly said.

-With Luffy and Vergil-

"Let's start with finding the crew. I want at least nine more of them. We also need a pirate flag." Luffy said.

"All right! I'm gonna become the Pirate King!" Luffy yelled.

* * *

-A couple of days later-

* * *

Vergil was sleeping when Luffy shock him awake.

"What is it Luffy? I've only been asleep for an hour." Vergil murmured.

"We've been caught in a whirlpool." Luffy stated with big grin on his face and Vergil blinked a couple of times.

"And on such a nice day. How careless of us." Luffy said and Vergil grinned.

"You sure are taking things lightly captain." Vergil said but just like Luffy, he was calm.

"All right. You can't swim right?" Vergil asked making Luffy nod.

"Yup." Luffy responded as their little boat began sinking.

"Let's get into the barrel." Luffy said earning a soft chuckle from Vergil.

"You get into it, I'll swim next to it. A whirlpool won't take a demon down." Vergil said a wide grin on his face showing his confidence off rather clearly and Luffy trusted him so without a moment of hesitation rubber captain got into the now empty barrel.

Eventually Vergil managed to get himself and the barrel in which Luffy was out of the whirlpool, but he was pretty much exhausted.

"Damn it… I swear if this seal wasn't taking away my power I could have just blasted us to the safety…" He complained as he held onto the barrel and slowly got sleepy again. The light snoring from the barrel told him that Luffy was lulled to the peaceful slumber.

Making sure that things were safe around them Vergil shook his head a bit and swam a bit further away from the whirlpool.

It has been a long time since he was in the Human World so he had no idea how to get to any island, even if he had a map, he was always bad at dealing with navigation. He wasn't hopeless though. Tell him 'point to the north' and he will be able to do it. Leave him somewhere and he will be able to get out, but give him a map and though he will know the direction he won't know how to read it properly. Heaven forbid him ever having to decipher all those different landscapes, he'll fail, miserably.

He picked a random direction and began swimming with one hand while he pulled the barrel with the other one.

Perhaps five minutes later he saw a passenger ship cruising toward them.

* * *

-On the ship-

* * *

Two sailors looked at the sea when they noticed Vergil and the barrel.

They quickly pulled Vergil and unknowingly Luffy who was still in the barrel out of the water. Vergil glanced around and grinned a bit.

"Thanks for helping out. Can I get some food as well?" Vergil asked with clear intention to get him and Luffy something decent to eat.

"Of course. Follow us." One of the sailors said, Vergil looked at the barrel.

"_He's better off asleep. He might be excited about this but he didn't really sleep that much for the last couple of days, neither one of us had_." Vergil thought and picked the barrel up.

"I'll take this to the kitchen." Vergil stated and followed the sailors.

* * *

Inside the ship wealthy people had a dance party and one of them was an orange haired girl. Vergil entered the room just in time to hear the captain assuring someone.

"Don't worry, a whirlpool like that won't affect this ship." He said. Vergil went to the table and took a plate.

"Miss. May I have the dance." He heard not too far away from him, the orange haired girl accepted the dance but as she moved, she bumped into Vergil.

"Uh, I apologize for that." She apologized but as she looked into Vergil's eyes, her own widened in horror.

"A demon…" She muttered more to herself as Vergil gave her a confused look.

"What's wrong?" He asked, mostly aware that she was afraid because of the fact that he is a demon.

"Nothing." She quickly responded and left.

"All right…" He said more to himself as he went back to taking the food.

* * *

-Outside-

* * *

The sailor that had the watch duty at the moment looked around and finally notice a pirate ship closing in on their ship.

He screamed as cannon balls began hitting the water around the ship and the ship itself.

He and another sailor began running toward the, now filled with panic, party room.

"Captain! Pirates!" He screamed as fear overcame the passengers.

"What?!" Captain yelled as people began running, Vergil casually began strolling toward the kitchen while the orange haired girl remained calm and eventually smiled a bit.

"Everyone please calm down! Just follow my instructions!" Captain tried to calm the people down, but the panic had already started.

* * *

-On the pirate ship-

* * *

"Fire!" A woman, most likely the captain of the ship ordered as another cannon ball shot forward to the ship. She watched as mast of the passenger ship got hit and destroyed by the cannon ball.

"Coby!" She called out to a small, pink haired and a bit chubby kid in a rather threatening way.

"Y-yes?" He asked, completely terrified.

"Who is the most beautiful woman in the world?" Pirate captain asked.

"It is of course you, Alvida-sama!" Coby frantically answered making the woman grin. Alvida, the captain of the Alvida Pirates was in fact quite an ugly woman, fat, with small legs, large mouth, unappealing kind of freckles and face, so yeah, she was far from the most beautiful… She wore a white cowgirl hat, a red neckerchief, a pink shirt, gray pants, red shoes and a blue captain's coat over it. She had rings on her fingers and long red fingernails. Some jewels and flintlock pistol were tucked in her purple sash.

"It sure has been a while, Alvida-sama." One of the pirates told her.

"Yes, close in on the ship!" She ordered.

* * *

-On the passenger ship-

* * *

The orange haired girl, Nami got out on the board, but when she saw the pirate ship, she quickly ran back in.

Alvida pulled out her iron club and gave out the order as the pirates attached the ropes to the passenger ship.

"Men! Show them the power of Alvida, the female iron mace pirate!" Alvida yelled as pirates gave a battle cry and invaded the ship. Coby however was trembling as he was not used to raid anything.

"Coby! What are you still doing here?!" She demanded loudly.

"I… I am not used to this." Coby tried to explain but this only served to anger the ugly women.

"You dare talk back to me?!" She demanded as she approached the poor boy.

"Please anything but the iron club" Coby begged before Alvida kicked him to the passenger ship.

"Then get going!" She yelled out as Coby hit the cabin wall with his face and fell down to the board. He knelt there for a couple of moments before he realize that Alvida jumped after him, whether with intention to hit him or not he wasn't sure but with a bit of luck she passed above him and slammed into the cabin. Wood was all over her as she lied there.

Not too long after that, passengers of the ship were back in the room in which the dance party was being held. Their situation was amazing, they were in a luxurious room, made just for them to dance as much as they like, to eat to their hearts' content and not to mention that they had pirates surrounding them.

"We are not going to kill you. But we are going to take everything of any value." One of the pirates told them with a smirk on his face.

"Anyone who disobeys will get thrown into the sea." Alvida told them, not too far away Nami was hidden and listened to the conversation, she then smiled and in a swift moment took off her dress to show a more, pirate like wardrobe. She had a blue shirt and a black bandana. She turned around and saw Vergil, munching a piece of meat with a large amount of various food, well mostly meat, placed on the plate.

"You." Nami realized, fear was washing ever her again.

"You sure are a sneaky one." Vergil commented.

"What are you going to do demon?" She asked, her hands moved to her back and she was ready to pull out her staff, but Vergil held out his hand.

"Don't be so jumpy, I have no intention of harming you, but you should get going, this isn't a safe place for any normal human." He warned her and turned around. Nami look at his back and then heard more screams.

"Somebody help us!"

"Anyone!"

"Save us!"

Passengers were screaming for help, it was a futile attempt, no one on the ship should be capable of helping them. Nami looked at Vergil, certain that he was enjoying the screams of terror, he was a demon after all.

"Who's going to help you, we're on a ship?" One of the pirates smirked and pointed his gun at random civilian. Though Alvida had went back to the deck the pirates were still quite intimidating to the passengers.

"Please…" She pleaded and Nami's eyes widened. The gun was pointed right at woman's forehead.

"Hey. Quit threatening those who can't defend themselves." Nami's eyes widened, the demon that was right behind her was no longer there, instead he was in front of the woman with the gun that was aimed at her in his own hand. She flinched slightly when he clenched his fist and broke the gun into pieces,

"Who are you?" One of the pirates growled at him.

"Just a random demon." Vergil smirked.

"A… A demon?!" Not only pirates but passengers screamed as well.

"_This is what I get for deciding to help._" Vergil sweat dropped when he saw that the passengers were panicking even more now. "_I suppose I should end what I started._"

"Let's see, there's around twenty of you and I'm alone. You sure are at a disadvantage." The demon smirked.

"So what if you are a demon?! You think you can take us on punk?!" One of the pirates shouted. "Ugh…" He didn't even see Vergil dashing toward him and knocking him out by a simple punch right to the guts.

"Think? No, I know."

"Attack!"

Pirates lunged toward the white haired male and Nami decided to stay and watch just for a bit, unknowingly to her that would be enough to see the entire fight.

Vergil casually moved aside and away from a sword that was descending toward him and then just as easily knocked the pirate with the back of his fist. As the pirate fell, he made a roundhouse kick and swiped two of the pirates down.

Gunshots echoed and about a dozen of bullets were fired at the demon.

"Watch where you're shooting." He didn't sound interested at all as a couple of sparks cracked around his fist. He shot it toward the bullets and lightning shot out and blasted them. Demon narrowed his eyes and made lightning go further as it electrocuted half a dozen of the remaining pirates.

"Ten down, ten to go." Vergil gave them a small smirk. "Come on, make this a bit more interesting for me."

Once again the pirates attacked in pure rage driven attack.

"Pathetic." Vergil sighed and rushed forward to end it, in a blurry of punches and a couple of kicks the ten pirates were down, he didn't even break a sweat.

"Well that did it." He glanced at the passengers who were so silent up until now and they started screaming again. Vergil sighed. "Humans…" And he was on his way to Luffy.

"Why?" Nami asked.

"You're still here?" Vergil responded with a question.

"Answer me why did you help those people?" She demanded.

"Felt like it. Do yourself a favor and be careful, I dealt with this bunch, which does not mean I plan on dealing with all the pirates on this ship." Vergil walked away.

* * *

Coby slowly peaked through the kitchen doors while just as slowly and quietly saying 'Hello'.

"There's no one here, right…" He whispered before placing his left hand onto his chest and breathing out a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness." He breathed out. He turned to his left and saw the barrel in which Luffy was.

"That's a pretty big barrel isn't it?" He muttered unaware of Luffy sleeping in the barrel or Vergil strolling toward the kitchen.

* * *

Vergil casually strolled down the hall, dodging a sword that came toward his right shoulder, he moved to his side and punched the pirate. Sighing he looked around to see two more pirates unconscious on the floor.

"Are these guys really pirates? They sure are weak." Vergil muttered.

* * *

Nami used one of the ropes to get onto Alvida's ship. She landed perfectly before running toward the wall. She leaned against it and looked around, once she saw that no one was around she reached out to the doorknob. But as she was about to grab it another pirate suddenly opened the doors from the other side causing Nami to jump a bit.

"Who are you?" The pirate asked as Nami laughed a bit uncomfortably before she planted her foot into man's jewels… He winced in pain as he held onto his, private parts, and fell down to the floor.

* * *

Coby kept rolling the barrel to the doors believing that there would be some food or drink inside of it and while certain kind of meat sure was in the barrel it certainly wasn't supposed to be food.

At that moment however three pirates, more precisely Poppoko and Peppoko along with another pirate joined him.

"Hey you coward! Are you hiding and doing nothing again?!" Poppoko demanded.

"No! Nothing like that! I was pushing this big wine barrel!" Coby defended himself as he waved his arms slightly in front of his chest.

Poppoko laughed a bit. "We'll help you lighten the load." He stated.

"We're thirsty." Peppoko added.

"No! If Alvida-sama finds out you'll all be dead!" Coby tried to talk them out of it.

"She won't find out if you keep quiet." Third pirate said. "Right, Coby?" He added slowly as Poppoko lifted the barrel up.

"I guess so…" Coby said mostly out of fear.

"It's heavy." Poppoko commented.

"I can't wait." Peppoko said.

"Don't be so greedy. I'm going to smash it open right now." Poppoko stated his rather intelligent idea.

He prepared to punch the barrel open when Luffy finally woke up and erupted from the barrel, his hands high in the air as his right fist collided with Poppoko's chin thus knocking the pirate down.

"What a great naaaap!" Luffy yelled unaware of the fact that he just knocked a pirate out, as he yelled Coby and two other pirates screamed in shock. As he heard a thud, Luffy finally noticed the pirate he had knocked out.

"Huh? Who are you guys?" He asked as he stood in the barrel.

"Who the hell are you?!" Two pirates yelled at him.

"He'll catch a cold if he sleeps on the floor." Luffy said completely ignoring the question. He stepped out of the barrel but then the third pirate placed a sword in front of him.

"Cut the crap! Don't you know that we are pirates?!" He yelled at Luffy but before either Luffy or anyone could do anything, his sword was caught by a certain demon.

"Don't you dare place your sword in front of my captain. It could just as well be the last thing you'll do." Vergil stated coldly as he snapped the sword in two with his bare hand causing two pirates and Coby to scream again.

"Vergil!" Luffy happily greeted him.

"Now scram before I beat you up!" Vergil growled at them, at this two pirates ran away dragging Poppoko along.

"Hey Luffy, I've got you some…" He began but trailed off when he noticed the food was gone. "…food. You bastard that was for both of us." Vergil scolded him, but amusement was more present in his voice rather than annoyance or anger.

"Yeah, it was good." Luffy said as he patted his stomach.

"How the hell did I get myself into this?" Vergil asked no one in particular but still he was grinning.

"Got any food? I'm hungry." Luffy asked Coby.

"Bottomless pit…" Vergil commented.

"Who are you two?" Coby asked slightly in fear.

"Us? I'm Monkey D. Luffy." Luffy introduced himself.

"Leonidas Vergil." Vergil said with a grin as Coby realized the potential danger they were in.

"You two have to run away quickly! When those two come back they'll bring other pirates here as well!" Coby yelled.

"Even so, I'm hungry." Luffy said as he grinned a bit.

"How can you say that so calmly?" Coby yelled out.

"I am a bit hungry myself." Vergil stated as he looked around.

"There are tons of pirates on the desk!" Coby told them as Luffy sniffed the air before most likely finding the food. He followed the smell and Vergil followed him, all the while Coby tried to stop Luffy who didn't even slow down when small boy held onto him.

"Wait! You are going the wrong way!" Coby yelled at Luffy who opened the doors, entered the room followed by Vergil and closed the doors, almost trapping Coby's head on the other side, he probably would have if Vergil didn't pull the boy in.

Luffy jumped down and Vergil glanced around.

"Food! Banzai! Food! Banzai!" Luffy cheered as he jumped around. Vergil smirked a bit as he jumped down as well and opened the box filled with apples.

"I guess they won't find us here." Coby assured himself.

"How about this one Luffy?" Vergil asked as he bit one of the apples.

"Oh! Looks tasty!" Luffy exclaimed as he took the two of them and throw them into his mouth.

"Um… I'm Coby, you are Luffy-san and Vergil-san, right?" Coby asked to which Vergil nodded as Luffy ate two more apples in the same manner as he ate the previous two.

"These are really good." Luffy told Coby as he stuffed in more apples.

Coby joined them and knelt down behind Luffy.

"Is this a pirate ship?" Luffy asked.

"No it's a passenger ship." It was however Vergil that answered. "They pulled us out and I went to get some food, but pirates attacked not too long ago." Vergil explained.

"This ship is being attacked by Alvida-sama right now…" Coby explained.

"Loosen up kid." Vergil said as he offered an apple to Coby.

"N-No thank you." Coby refused it, clearly not used to any offers.

"Suit yourself." Vergil said as he bit down the apple. "Also quit worrying, most of the pirates are already down for the count. They were just a bunch of weaklings."

"W-W-What?! But that's impossible! Impossible!" Coby couldn't believe it, how could one person even claim that they defeated so many people.

"It's perfectly possible." Vergil stated.

"Are there any boats on this ship?" Luffy asked.

"Well… There should be…" Coby replied.

"Ours got sucked into a whirlpool." Luffy stated.

"That whirlpool?! You should be dead!" Coby exclaimed.

"That surprised me!" Luffy admitted casually.

"You woke me up only after the boat got caught up in the whirlpool." Vergil complained a bit.

"We survived didn't we?" Luffy asked.

"Well we aren't dead so yeah, we survived." Vergil said with a grin. He knew that he'd have to get used to the carelessness of his captain, not that he had any complaints to that, he himself could be quite reckless.

"Are you a pirate as well, Coby?" Vergil asked a bit curiously. To this Coby's expression became serious and he looked down.

"On that faithful day I got onto the boat thinking that it was a fishing boat. But it was a boat to the pirate ship." Coby said as he remembered Alvida standing over him.

"That was two years ago. From that day I've been working as a slave so that they don't kill me." Coby explained.

"Idiot." Vergil said.

"You are a freaking idiot." Luffy agreed.

"Don't say it like that!" Coby exclaimed.

"Why don't you run away?" Vergil asked causing Coby to panic.

"Impossible, impossible, impossible! I'm afraid to even think what Alvida-sama would do to me!" Coby exclaimed.

"So you a coward." Luffy realized. "I don't like you." Luffy stated as if it was the most common thing to do.

"Neither do I. I hate people who give up without even trying." Vergil added casually.

"How can you say it like that?" Coby asked as he cried. On the other hand Luffy laughed.

* * *

On the deck Alvida was furious, most of her crew was unconscious and beaten up, how dare someone humiliate her like this.

"Alvida-sama!" Two pirates that Vergil scared off came to her.

"What?!" She demanded angrily.

"There's a problem! A monster…" He began but Alvida thought that he was referring to her when he said 'monster' so she threw her club at them. Two pirates ducked under it only for the mace to hit Poppoko who just regained consciousness and threw him over the board while mace hit the remaining two pirates' heads from above.

"No… There is someone strange down there. Maybe a bounty hunter…" Peppoko said.

"What?!" Alvida asked.

* * *

Back in the storage the conversation had continued.

"You are right…" Coby admitted as he looked down.

"You are completely right. If I was at least a bit brave I'd set out in a barrel and escape. There's something I want to do…" Coby told them and then looked at Luffy.

"Luffy-san why were you in a barrel?" Coby asked.

"I'm gonna became the Pirate King." Luffy told him with a large grin.

"P… P… Pirate King?!" Coby yelled out in shock as his jaw fell down a bit.

"Yeah." Luffy confirmed it.

"Seriously?" Coby asked.

"Seriously." Luffy answered.

"Seriously?" Coby asked yet again.

"Yeah seriously. He will become the Pirate King." Vergil said.

"So then… Luffy-san and Vergil-san are pirates…" Coby realized.

"Yep, we sure are." Luffy answered while Vergil simply nodded.

"Your crew?" Coby asked.

"Just Vergil. I'm looking for more now." Rubber captain answered as he pointed at Vergil. Coby looked completely frozen for a couple of moments as Luffy waved his hand in front of boy's glasses. Coby then stood up.

"Pirate King is a person who has everything in this world. Wealth, power and fame… All united under one person." Coby said while Luffy nodded.

"That means you are going after 'One Piece'!" Coby realized.

"Ah." Luffy responded in confirmation.

"'Ah' you say! Every pirate in this world is after that treasure!" Coby said dramatically as he held his arms up.

"Impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, absolutely impossible! It would be impossible to stand on top of this great pirate era! I can't be done! Impossible, impossible!" Coby yelled frantically as he shook his head around only to earn himself a bonk on the head from Luffy.

"Why did you hit me?" Coby whined.

"Just because." Luffy said as if it explained everything.

"That's fine. I'm used to being hit by now." Coby said and Vergil sighed.

"It's not about being possible or not." Luffy began getting Coby's attention. He took off his straw hat and held it in front of him.

"I decided to become the Pirate King. I don't mind if I die trying." Luffy said surprising Coby.

"Trust him, if his resolve wasn't real I sure as hell wouldn't follow him." Vergil added and two pirates grinned at each other.

"Well now that we are full we might as well take a boat." Luffy said as he began strolling toward the doors. Vergil stood up and joined him.

"Maybe they'll give us one if we ask." Luffy said.

"Doubt it." Vergil said with a grin.

"If they are good guys they will." Luffy argued.

"They aren't good guys." Vergil argued back.

"I never thought about that. Not being afraid to die… To become a marine." Coby said. Luffy turned to face him.

"Huh? Marine?" Luffy questioned.

"Yes! My dream is to become a marine and catch the bad guys!" Coby stated loudly and clearly.

"It's been my dream since childhood! Can I do that?!" Coby asked them.

"How should I know." Luffy answered him while Vergil just shrugged.

"No! I will do it! I will stop being a slave for Alvida-sama. No I will catch Alvida!" Coby announced just as ceiling began breaking down earning the attention of three companions.

"What are you doing making friends like these?! Who are you going to catch… Eh Coby!" Alvida demanded as Coby covered in fear. Vergil and Luffy just stood there watching as swords went through the wall behind them.

Alvida looked at both Vergil and Luffy before realizing that they in fact weren't the one that she thought they were.

"Neither one of you is the pirate hunter Zoro." She noted.

"Zoro?" Luffy asked.

"Coby! Who is the most beautiful woman in the world?!" Alvida demanded an answer, but before Coby could answer Vergil and Luffy butted in.

"Certainly not you." Vergil said.

"Who is this fat lady?" Luffy asked causing jaws around them to slack down and pirates to yell out in shock.

"Now he's done it!" One of the remaining pirates yelled as veins popped all over Alvida's face.

"Brats!" She yelled as she swung her iron mace at them. Luffy and Vergil jumped and dodged it. Luffy landed next to Coby while Vergil landed on the other side of the room.

"Let's go." Luffy said as he grabbed Coby and along with Vergil jumped out of the room. They landed on the deck where they were surrounded by a handful of pirates.

"Weak bunch." Vergil said as Luffy dodged the swing of sword and punched one of the pirates and pushed other one away. Four pirates attacked Luffy at once but Vergil jumped in and kicked them thus knocking them out.

"Amazing…" Coby said in disbelief as Luffy jumped back a bit only to get attacked from behind.

"Luffy-san watch out!" Coby warned but either way Luffy stepped to the side and grabbed the pirate by the back of his head before throwing him.

"It's not fair to attack from behind!" Luffy added as other pirates began rushing toward him.

"Leave them to me Luffy." Vergil stated as he dashed forward and lightning surrounded his body utterly shocking and scaring Coby.

"**Lightning… Rush**!" Vergil exclaimed as lightning that surrounded him intensified and he knocked the remaining four pirates out with electricity.

"That took more out of me than I hoped it would." Vergil said as he huffed a bit in annoyance.

"Luffy-san… Vergil-san what are you?" Coby asked in disbelief.

"I'm a rubber man." Luffy said as he stretched his mouth far further than any human could.

"I'm a lightning and darkness demon." Vergil said with a smirk on his face.

"Rubber man… Demon… That's…" Coby stuttered but then he realized that Alvida was standing behind him and quickly ran to stand behind Luffy.

"So you ate the devil fruit and you are a demon…" Alvida realized.

"Yeah, I ate the Gomu Gomu no mi." Luffy said.

"I see, I thought that they were only rumors." Alvida stated while Nami left the ship with Alvida's treasure.

"You've also got some moves. Are you two bounty hunters?" She asked as her crew looked at them.

"No, we are pirates." Luffy told her.

"Pirates? Just the two of you?" She asked in slightly mocking, but more of a surprised tone.

"Yeah. I'm going to find crew soon. About nine more." Luffy stated.

"I guess that makes us enemies, right?" Alvida said as she readied her mace.

"Luffy-san, Vergil-san, run away." Coby told them.

"Why?" Vergil asked unable to see what exactly they should run away from.

"You've seen the power of her iron mace. She is the world's number one stron…" He began but his eyes widened as he remembered Luffy's words.

* * *

-Flashback-

* * *

"It's not about being possible or not." Luffy began getting Coby's attention. He took off his straw hat and held it in front of him.

"I decided to become the Pirate King. I don't mind if I die trying." Luffy said surprising Coby.

"Trust him, if his resolve wasn't real I sure as hell wouldn't follow him." Vergil added and two pirates grinned at each other.

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

"Number one what?" Alvida asked as she looked at Coby.

"Num… Num.. Number one ugly stinking old hag!" Coby yelled causing Vergil and Luffy to start laughing.

"That's more like it kid!" Vergil encouraged him through laughter as pirates around them had their jaws dropped yet again. Alvida on the other hand was angry, to the point of her face getting darkened.

"What did you say?" She demanded angrily.

"I'll say it again! I'll do what I want! I'll become a marine. I'll become a marine and catch pirates like you!" Coby yelled.

"Do you even know what you are saying?!" Alvida yelled at him.

"I know!" Coby yelled back.

"Little brat!" Alvida snapped at him as she prepared to hit him with her club.

"_No regrets. No regrets. I said it! I fought for my dream!"_ Coby thought as tears burned in his eyes and he braced himself.

"Well said." Luffy complimented him as the mace hit the rubber captain's head while Vergil smirked.

"Don't worry." Vergil stated when he saw scared look on Coby's face.

"It doesn't hurt." Luffy informed them.

"What?!" Alvida yelled in shock.

"I'm rubber." Luffy said and then pushed the mace away before shooting his arm to his back stretching it far away.

"**Gomu Gomu no**…!" He began as his arm ended stretching. "**Pistol**!" He yelled as he punched Alvida who screamed as Luffy's punch sent her over the board.

Everyone but Vergil looked shocked at the scene when Luffy turned to the pirates.

"Hey, give Coby a boat. He's going to become a marine." Luffy ordered them and out of fear, pirates gave them a boat in less than a couple of minutes.

However, at that moment marines arrived and began firing cannons at the ships.

"Marines!" Coby realized.

"Great now you can join them. Well we are pirates, gotta run!" Luffy said as he and Vergil jumped down to the boat.

"No way they'll arrest me on spot!" Coby told them as he followed them.

As Nami tied her treasure on her own boat Luffy's boat slammed against the ocean surface creating a big splash, one that caused Nami to scream. Her eyes met with Luffy and Vergil's for a moment before they separated.

* * *

Sometime later the trio was sailing toward the next destination, not that they were exactly sure what their destination was.

"We managed to get away." Coby said in relief as Vergil and Luffy sat on the boat.

"That was fun!" Luffy said while Vergil smirked.

"Luffy-san, you are aiming for the One Piece. So you'll go to the Grand Line?" Coby asked.

"Yup." Luffy answered.

"But that's called pirate graveyard!" Coby exclaimed.

"That's why I need strong nakama." Luffy told him. There was a shot silence before Luffy asked.

"That pirate hunter. What kind of guy is he?" Luffy asked curiously.

"Zoro? I heard he was captured by the marines." Coby said.

"So he's weak?" Luffy asked.

"No! He is a beast! They say he is a demon in human disguise! A vicious monster!" Coby yelled out.

"They I'll get along with him." Vergil said and then looked at Luffy.

"Let's go see him then." Vergil stated.

"Take us to him Coby." Luffy asked.

"He'll kill you!" Coby yelled out to them.

"Maybe he's a good guy." Luffy reasoned.

"He's been caught because he is a bad guy!" Coby yelled causing Vergil to sigh.

"Impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible! Absolutely Impos…" Coby frantically yelled before Luffy punched him.

"Why did you hit me?" Coby whined again.

"Felt like it." Luffy stated.

* * *

-Somewhere else-

* * *

A man, with bandanna tied over his forehead glared menacingly at the distance…

* * *

_**That's it for this chapter.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Roronoa Zoro**_


	5. Roronoa Zoro

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for review, I'm glad you liked the chapter.**_

_**Anime PJ – Thanks for review.**_

_**Guest – Thanks for review.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 5 – Roronoa Zoro**_

* * *

Vergil leaned against the mast as Luffy stood on the bow in front of him. All the while Coby was just standing there.

"The weather is so nice today!" Luffy exclaimed as he held his arms up.

"Are you sure we are going in the right direction?" Vergil asked as he looked up to the sky.

"Of course. We'll be in the marine base town soon." Coby told him making the white haired demon nod.

"You are really impressive Coby!" Luffy said in a rather impressed tone as he began laughing.

"Luffy-san those are the basic skills any sailor should have. What about you Vergil-san? You should at the very least know something about navigation." Coby reasoned but Vergil just grinned.

"Nope. While I do know the basics, I can't navigate on the sea. I do know how to navigate through the Demon World though." Vergil replied casually.

"Demon World! Take me there!" Luffy demanded immaturely causing Vergil to laugh a bit.

"Once we get bigger crew, with just the two of us it would be a suicide. Think about it this way, if you want to have a party you can't have it until you have enough meat." Vergil said with a smirk on his face. Luffy easily downed the side of his fist onto his left palm.

"I get it. Sounds good enough." Rubber captain said.

"How can you talk about going to the Demon World so easily?! That's dangerous, impossible, impossible…" He was about to continue but this time it was Vergil that bonked him a bit.

"Why did you hit me?" Coby asked as he held onto his forming lump.

"You are overreacting…" Vergil said and closed his eyes for a moment. "I grew up there, it's not as bad as you might think. If you choose a peaceful life it's actually a nice place to live. Well, not that I lived a peaceful life but I know how things were."

"Really?" Coby asked.

"Yeah. Military does its job and citizens are for the most part safe. Wars rarely get to the populated areas. Of course there is still crime but the chances of being a demon not involved in combat and getting killed for no reason are really low. Well if you do look for trouble, the chances of not finding it are nearly zero."

"How does that make sense?" Coby questioned.

"Look at it like this. Evading trouble is easy, but it's easier to find it. And it mostly depends on what you do." Vergil explained.

"_The Demon World huh? That place is…_" Vergil thought as he drifted off to take a small nap a voice snapped him out of it.

'_A demon can't do it, but maybe…_' Words echoed as Vergil's eyes opened, he took a deep breath and kept gazing at the sky.

Barely a few hours later Luffy jumped down to the harbor while Vergil and Coby stepped down from the boat in a less excited way.

"We are here!" Luffy yelled.

"Luffy-san please think about it again. Are you sure you want a guy like that on your crew?" Coby tried to make Luffy change his mind.

"Give it up, I've only known him for a short period of time but once he sets his mind onto something there's no stopping him." Vergil told him casually as he walked next to Luffy.

"I haven't seen him yet, maybe he's a good guy." Luffy reasoned.

"He was arrested because he is a bad guy!" Coby argued.

"You seem t be having a knack for prisoners, if Zoro joins us he'd be your second nakama that was in prison." Vergil said with a grin causing Coby to jump back.

"Vergil-san you were in prison?!" He yelled out as Luffy took a pear from the fruit stand and took a bite.

"Ooh tasty!" He exclaimed as he tossed a coin to the show owner.

"Yeah, I was, three times actually." Vergil replied to Coby whose jaw fell down.

"You don't look like a bad guy…" Coby said making Vergil grin yet again.

"You see. Zoro is also a good guy." Luffy said, but as he said Zoro's name everyone around him, other than Vergil and Coby backed away in fear.

"It looks like Zoro's name is a taboo here." Coby reasoned as he looked around worryingly.

"Anyway let's head to the base. You want to become a marine right?" Luffy said as they kept strolling through the town.

"Yes, but I don't think I'm ready." Coby said and then smiled a bit. "I heard that the Captain Morgan is the command in this base." He told them, but to his utter surprise, just like when Zoro was mentioned, people of the town backed away in fear.

Luffy laughed hard. "This town is fun!" He exclaimed.

"I understand Zoro, but why are they scared of a marine captain?" Coby asked. "That really worries me…" He added.

"Maybe they just like to act like that." Luffy suggested.

"There's no way that's true!" Coby disagreed fiercly.

"They are afraid of Morgan, either because he is too powerful or because he is a scum that tortures these people." Vergil said casually.

"Why would they be scared if he was powerful? Wouldn't they feel safe then?" Coby asked to this however, the white haired first mate frowned.

"It's how both humans and demons are…" He said. Coby was confused, however before he could ask Vergil looked at him and his eyes clearly said, 'Keep questions for yourself, I don't want to talk about it'.

* * *

-Flashback, 9 years ago-

* * *

Every now and then even the Demon Hunters could take a break and Vergil who was in somewhat decent terms with the owner of the pub his comrades frequently visited would at times spend a day in it as well. As he entered the pub Vergil caused every commotion to stop.

"Who's that kid?" One of the new Demon Hunters asked, Vergil didn't even glance at him, but already the entire bar was ready to take a cover.

"Quiet down you idiot! That's the Black Thunder." One of the other demons hissed causing the man that asked who Vergil is to fall down and shake in fear.

Vergil didn't even glance at the demon… He didn't have to do anything but to be there and fear would wash over anyone around him, a fourteen years old completely void of emotions, cruel killing machine… Leonidas Vergil the Black Thunder, lately known as the Harbinger of the Death…

"Yo, Vergil. Regular, I suppose?" The pub owned that came out due to the slight commotion greeted him.

The white haired teen simply nodded.

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

That's how things were for him back then, exclude a handful of places and the fear on the faces of pretty much anyone followed him wherever he went…

Trio reached the massive gates of the marine base.

"We're finally here." Luffy stated, excitement filling his voice.

"This is where we part ways, Luffy-san, Vergil-san…" Coby began his farewell speech but both Vergil and Luffy ignored it. "I know it wasn't long but." He continued but then realized that neither one of the pirates was listening to him. Both Vergil and Luffy were looking over the huge wall, although Luffy's legs waggled around a bit.

"Now where is that demon?" Luffy asked more to himself as he looked around.

"He's probably somewhere deep underground. There's no way they'd keep him outside." Coby reasoned with them, but he was quickly proved wrong.

"There." Vergil motioned as he pointed toward where Zoro was.

"What?!" Coby exclaimed in shock.

"Yahoo! Let's go!" Luffy ordered as he jumped down and ran to the other part of the base to get a better look.

"What am I going to do with him…" Vergil muttered to himself in amusement before he ran off as well.

"There he is!" Luffy exclaimed as he and Vergil looked at the man tied to the wooden cross.

"There's no way that's him." Coby said as he joined them between two pirates as he got a look at Zoro he screamed.

"_A dark bandana and a sash around waist! That's Roronoa Zoro!_" Coby realized.

"If we untie him he can escape." Luffy said.

"Sure." Vergil confirmed.

"Are you two crazy?! He'll kill you! You can't recruit him Luffy-san who knows when he might kill you!" Coby panicked.

"Don't worry, we are strong." Luffy stated with his signature grin.

"_These people are crazy…_" Coby thought.

"Hey you!" They heard Zoro calling them and turned to face him.

"Get lost you are an eyesore." He told them, scaring Coby a bit but other than that, his words did nothing to either one of the pirates.

"Luffy-san if you try to recruit him it will be the end of you!" Coby yet again tried to change Luffy's mind, but then Vergil noticed a girl placing the ladder next to him and climbing up. Trio looked at her and she made a 'shh' motion by placing a finger over her mouth,

Small girl looked around a couple of times before dropping the rope down, she slid down the rope and ran toward Zoro.

"Oh no!" Coby began panicking.

"Luffy-san, Vergil-san, do something! She'll get killed!" Coby panicked.

"Will you calm down? What can he do tied up like that?" Vergil pointed out. "Furthermore he doesn't seem like a person that would hurt that girl." He then added.

"What do you want?" Zoro asked, his voice wasn't harsh, it was mostly passive.

"You must be hungry! I made you some rice balls." She said sweetly as she showed Zoro her rice balls.

"You're gonna get yourself killed, shorty. Beat it." Zoro told her.

"You haven't eaten anything in weeks. You must be hungry. Here." She told him as she offered him her rice balls.

"It's my first try but I did my best." Girl admitted. Zoro's eyes widened a bit as he was taken aback by her words and actions, but he knew he couldn't take those…

"I'm not hungry. Now go away or I'll beat you up!" He threatened to her but at that moment gate opened and a blond idiot, known as Helmeppo showed up…

"You shouldn't bully little kids!" He scolded Zoro, to this the swordsman glared at the onion headed blond.

"You've got more fight in you than I expected Roronoa Zoro." Helmeppo said.

"Another weirdo arrived." Luffy said as he, Coby and Vergil watched the scene.

"Those people must be marines. Thank goodness that girl will be safe now." Coby said in relief.

"Oh. Tasty looking rice balls." Helmeppo said as he noticed the rice balls, he had a stupidly evil grin on his face as he looked down on the girl and took one of the rice balls.

"Wait. Those weren't for you!" She tried to stop him making Vergil frown.

"He knows, he just doesn't care." The white haired demon stated resisting the urge to take the bastard down.

Helmeppo took a bite of the rice ball and immediately spat it out.

"Gross!" He yelled as he turned toward the girl and held his fist up in an angry way.

"It's full of sugar! Rice balls need salt! Salt!" He yelled at her as if putting sugar in the rice balls was so bad.

"But, I thought it would taste better sweet." She said sadly. However Helmeppo suddenly slammed the remaining rice ball to the ground and began stepping on it angrily.

"No! Stop! Stop!" Girl tried desperately to stop him, she fell to her knees and tried to reach out for the now ruined rice ball, yet she couldn't. Zoro looked at the scene along with the trio outside of the wall while girl had tears in her eyes.

"That's horrible." Coby said.

"I tried to make them with all of my heart." Girl cried as she looked at the remaining of the rice ball once Helmeppo finally stopped ruining it.

Helmeppo however was paying no mind to her feelings as he pulled out a paper.

"You haven't read the poster yet?" He asked as he looked at her from the side and held onto his head with his left hand.

"Anyone who helps the criminal will be executed. Marine Captain Morgan." Helmeppo read out making girl's eyes wide.

"You know who my father is right?" Helmeppo asked as he turned to the marine behind him.

"Father?" Luffy questioned.

"Then he is Captain Morgan's son." Coby realized.

"You. Toss that brat out." Helmeppo ordered making the marine sweat.

"But she is just a girl." Marine tried to argue.

"I'm telling you to toss her outside! Are you disobeying my orders?! I'll tell my father!" Helmeppo threatened as he held marine's collar. His words left no choice to the marine.

"Yes, right away!" Marine obeyed and Helmeppo let go of him, he walked up to the girl who took a step back.

"No!" Girl yelled.

"Damn it!" Vergil growled in frustration as he clenched the wall breaking off a bit of it. The white haired demon gritted his teeth and he honestly didn't know what held him back at that moment. Perhaps he didn't want to risk this girl's life if he or Luffy could just catch her…

He loosened his grip on the stone wall and took a deep breath as he slowly calmed down.

"Little girl, I'm sorry for having to hurt you." Marine apologized before he threw the girl over the walls. She screamed as she flew over the wall but before she hit the ground Luffy stretched his arms and caught her, he was about to slide across the ground himself but Vergil disappeared and appeared behind him thus breaking the fall.

"Thanks Vergil." Luffy thanked him making the white haired demon grin.

"Nah, you wouldn't get hurt either way, I was just making sure." Vergil replied as Coby ran up to them.

"Thank you." Girl thanked them as she smiled up to the two pirates.

"Luffy-san, Vergil-san are you all right?" He asked. "What about you, are you all right?" He asked the small girl as he knelt down in front of her. "What a horrible guy."

* * *

Zoro glared at grinning Helmeppo.

"You bastard." Zoro hissed at the man who just began laughing as he walked pass Zoro.

"But man you are really stubborn to still be alive." Helmeppo told him.

"Yeah, I'll live through entire month." Zoro informed the blond bastard.

"Well do your best. Hehehehe." Helmeppo began laughing again as he walked away followed by two marines.

"Just ten more days left." Zoro reminded him.

"Only if you can live that long!" Helmeppo told him as he left.

* * *

"What a horrible guy. Don't you think so Luffy-san, Vergil-san?" Coby asked but when he turned around to look at two pirates they were nowhere to be found.

"Eh? Luffy-san? Vergil-san?" He called them.

* * *

Zoro lifted his head up again to see the two pirates standing in front of him.

"So you are a bad guy?"Luffy asked curiously.

"You two are still here?" Zoro questioned.

"But still being publicly humiliated like this… Are you really strong?" Luffy asked in a unreadable tone.

"Mind your own business!" Zoro snapped at him. Duo walked up to Zoro.

"If it was me I would have escaped in three days." Luffy told him.

"You would have died from hunger in three days." Vergil scolded the rubber captain.

"Shishishi. True!" Luffy agreed.

"I'm different from you." Zoro said with a grin on his face. "I'll survive to show them. Definitely." Zoro announced making Luffy grin as he turned to leave.

"Eh? What a stubborn guy." Luffy said.

"Wait a second." Zoro suddenly called them.

"What? Changed your mind?" Vergil asked.

"That rice ball, give it to me." Zoro said surprising the two.

"Are you sure you want to eat this? It's all muddy." Luffy said as he picked up the rice ball, or well now, it was more like a mud and rice pancake…

"Shut up and give it to me!" Zoro yelled. Luffy threw the food into green haired man's mouth and even though with some trouble Zoro managed to swallow the food.

He began coughing. "Told you so." Luffy told him.

"Tell that girl, 'Thanks for the food, it was good'." Zoro told him and two pirates smiled.

* * *

-Later in the town-

* * *

The girl, whose name was Rika had led the trio to her mother's bar and was now outside with them listening to Luffy telling her that Zoro ate her rice balls.

"Really?" She asked delightfully.

"Yeah, he ate all of it!" Luffy assured her as Rika's eyes widened in happiness.

"I'm so glad!" She exclaimed.

"Is Zoro really a bad person?" Coby asked, now feeling unsure about what to feel.

"He's not! He only got captured because of us!" Rika said fiercely.

"Can you tell us what happened?" Vergil asked.

"It's all that Helmeppo's fault." She began.

* * *

_**That's it for this chapter.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Find The Swords**_


	6. Find The Swords

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**trappedinthedarkness13 – Thanks for the review, don't worry about it, I know, I had that problem as well.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review.**_

_**Anime PJ – Thanks, glad you think so.**_

_**jack – Thanks for the review, sorry for the delay.**_

_**kaia – Thanks for the review, sorry for the delay.**_

_**Sorry for the delay, here is the chapter.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 6 – Find The Swords**_

* * *

-Last time-

* * *

The girl, whose name was Rika had led the trio to her mother's bar and was now outside with them listening to Luffy telling her that Zoro ate her rice balls.

"Really?" She asked delightfully.

"Yeah, he ate all of it!" Luffy assured her as Rika's eyes widened in happiness.

"I'm so glad!" She exclaimed.

"Is Zoro really a bad person?" Coby asked, now feeling unsure about what to feel.

"He's not! He only got captured because of us!" Rika said fiercely.

"Can you tell us what happened?" Vergil asked.

"It's all that Helmeppo's fault." She began.

* * *

-Rika's flashback-

* * *

About three weeks ago, everything happened…

"Move it move it! Make space for my cute pet! Anyone who gets in the way will get executed!" Helmeppo yelled as his wolf wrecked havoc through the town. Townspeople were panicking backing away and stupid son couldn't care less. Wolf entered the bar, which was owned by Rika's mother while the small girl was cleaning.

Rika was holding her mop as she backed away from the wolf that took the opportunity to eat food from the customer's plate.

"Stop it!" Rika yelled at the wolf as she swung her mop around.

"Hey, you! Do you have any problem with my cute pet?" Helmeppo asked ready to show the power of Morgan's son.

"Rika stop it! You'll get in trouble!" Her mother warned her worryingly. However, at that moment wolf turned to Rika and attacked. Girl screamed but right then the wolf was cut down by a sword.

"Whoever you are you better apologize!" One of the customers yelled in fear as Rika ran to her mother.

"You! How dare you do that to my cute pet?!" Helmeppo demanded to know as he stomped his right foot on the floor. "Who are you?!" Onion headed idiot asked but then he realized exactly who was it that killed his pet. "You can't be…" He began as he carefully moved to the man.

"Pirate hunter, Zoro!" He exclaimed as he pointed his sword at Zoro who was eating.

"So what?" Zoro asked.

"Why is pirate hunter messing with marines?!" Helmeppo demanded to know, his sword was now only a couple of inches away from Zoro who casually ate his meal.

"Shut up and let me eat in peace." Zoro simply told him. This however infuriated Helmeppo who swung his sword at Zoro. Sword hit the wood and Zoro kicked it out of Helmeppo's hands before he swiftly punched the onion headed idiot's face. Helmeppo landed on the floor as he held his cheek. To his misfortune, Zoro walked up to him, unsheathed his sword and placed it right next to Helmeppo's neck.

Helmeppo let out a scream as Zoro glared at him, the killer intent was clearly noticeable in swordsman's eyes. "You are annoying. Your pet too." Zoro stated as Helmeppo trembled but then seemed to find some sort of confidence as he smirked.

"Don't you understand? If my father finds out about this these people will surely get executed." Helmeppo told Zoro who showed no signs of wavering resolve.

"How about we make a deal? You go to jail instead of them. One month, yeah if you survive one month I'll let you go." Helmeppo offered as Rika and her mother held each other.

"One month, right?" Zoro asked as he let go of his sword and it fell down, stabbing into the floor.

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

"It's been three weeks since then." Rika finished telling them the story, Luffy and Vergil were rather expressionless while Coby looked sad.

"That Helmeppo keeps punching and kicking Zoro while he's tied up. I… I…" Rika cried as she covered her face with her hands.

"So that's how it is…" Coby realized, suddenly they heard a crash from the inside of the bar.

Inside of the bar Helmeppo, followed like always by two marines sat at one of the tables. His foot planted on the fruit basket on the table.

"I'm hungry! We are going to eat for free!" Helmeppo announced loudly.

"Where is that alcohol?! Hurry up and bring it here!" He demanded, on the other side of the bar Nami was looking at him, completely neutral, she however heard the doors opening and glanced to the doors for a moment. When she saw the demon she briefly met on the ship her eyes widened. She wasn't the only one to notice a familiar face as Vergil's eyes met with hers.

"_It's him / her again…_" They both thought but any further contact was unwanted by both sides so the reunion ended up rather brief.

As the drink got poured into his glass Helmeppo announced something that would have pulled Vergil's attention away from Nami anyway. "Since I'm tired of waiting I decided to execute Zoro tomorrow. Look forward to it everyone." He bragged, Vergil's pupils narrowed a bit as he glared at the man. Luffy shared the similar expression as his hair overshadowed his eyes. Rubber man had a mad look in his eyes before he ran up to Helmeppo and slammed his fist against coward's cheek.

Helmeppo's face hit the wall with a loud thud as Coby ran past Vergil and held Luffy back.

"Wh… Who the hell are you?!" Helmeppo asked furiously as he held onto his cheek.

"Luffy-san please stop! You don't want to get in trouble with marines!" Coby yelled at Luffy trying to get some, as he saw it, common sense into him.

"That guy is trash!" Luffy yelled angrily.

"I'll tell my dad and you'll get executed!" Helmeppo threatened.

"Two things…" Vergil began, cold feeling his voice was taking sent chills down Helmeppo's spine.

"First of all do something on your own, second thing, if you don't scram it now I won't be able to guarantee your safety." The white haired demon stated as Helmeppo screamed in fear and ran away.

"Vergil-san… You are scary…" Coby said slowly.

"Can't argue with that one." The white haired demon agreed and turned toward Luffy and Coby before grinning.

"So Luffy?" Vergil asked and to this Luffy smiled.

"Shishishi. Let's make Zoro our nakama." Luffy confirmed Vergil's suspicions.

* * *

Zoro was sleeping, more precisely dreaming… Wooden swords clashed in yet another battle between much younger Zoro, who was wielding two wooden swords and a slightly older short haired girl. Girl had black hair and was dressed in rather plain T-shirt and shorts. Unlike Zoro she was using only one wooden sword.

Even with the advantage of additional sword Zoro failed to go up against her as she disarmed him. He fell to the ground and she pointed her sword at him.

'You are as weak as always, Zoro.' She told him.

"_I made a promise. I can't die in a place like this_." Zoro resolved as the next image, of the same girl sitting holding the wooden sword came up. She lifted her head and smiled slightly.

Zoro's eyes snapped open as he gasped. He had woken up from his dream. His eyes were wide for a couple of moments but then he saw Luffy and Vergil standing in front of him.

"_I know that look… When you wake up from a dream. No… When you wake up after memories…_" Vergil realized, he knew the feeling, all too well for his liking, even now, about 10 years after that day, he still couldn't forget them. Again and again, through countless nights he'd wake up with the same expression Zoro just had… For four years, those few seconds were the only times in which his expression would change, it took him four years to moderately start feeling again and it wouldn't have happened if Blaiddmon wasn't there… The images of his 8 years old companion flashed through his mind for a couple of moments.

"_I'll get you out of there Blaiddmon, I promise._" He thought, albeit he still maintained a perfect poker face.

"You again? The two of you have too much free time." Zoro said annoyed at the uninvited guests.

"I'm going to untie you. And you will become my nakama." Luffy stated as he walked up to Zoro.

"What did you say?" Zoro asked, unsure if he heard the younger man right.

"I'm looking for people to join my pirate crew." Luffy told him.

"I refuse. You want me to become pirate? How annoying." Zoro refused him right away.

"What's wrong with being a pirate?" Luffy asked.

"Pirates are scum. Who'd want to be one of them?" Zoro retorted.

"That's fine right. You're already known as an evil pirate hunter." Luffy pointed out.

"I've never regretted anything I did. I don't care about what society thinks. I will survive! I will do what I want to do!" Zoro announced, a smirk present on his face as sweat rolled down his face.

"Huh." Luffy mumbled a bit. "Is that so? But I've already decided that you'll be my nakama." Luffy informed Zoro as he turned a bit away from the green haired man and looked up, to this Vergil grinned.

"You can't decide that on your own!" Zoro snapped at him.

"Don't bother, when he decides on something like this there is no arguing." Vergil told him casually.

"You use sword right?" Luffy asked. Zoro calmed down.

"Yes. But that stupid son took them." Zoro told them.

"We'll go get them for you." Vergil stated when he noticed the look in Luffy's eyes.

"And when we do you'll become our nakama." Luffy added making Zoro snap again.

"You really are dense aren't you?!" Green haired man yelled.

"Nah, he is just stubborn." Vergil said as Luffy ran off laughing.

"Luffy! The base is in the opposite direction!" Vergil called out to the rubber man. Luffy stopped and turned to Vergil for a moment.

"**Gomu Gomu No**…" Luffy began as he stretched out his hands. Vergil sighed as he knew exactly what was going to happen, he ducked under the arms and prepared.

"A free ride I suppose…" Vergil muttered as Zoro looked in utter disbelief.

"**Rocket!**" Luffy yelled as he shot over Vergil who grabbed onto Luffy's vest and flied through the area along with the rubber man.

"What in the hell is that guy? Are they really going to raid the base on their own?" Zoro questioned, hoping that he would still be sane after this was over.

* * *

On the top of the marine base marines were trying to pull up the gigantic statue of none other than Morgan…

"Okay! Stop right there! Make it stand in one pull!" Morgan ordered as Helmeppo came from behind him pointing his thumb at his cheek.

"Father! Why aren't you helping me get my revenge?!" Helmeppo demanded to know. "He hit my face! The face that even you, my father hasn't punched!" He exclaimed. Morgan didn't even bother to turn to face his son.

"The reason why I never punched you in the face… Do you know why?" Morgan asked surprising Helmeppo a bit. He had a smile on his face, a bit uneasy one, a rather stupid one, but smile nonetheless.

"Eh? Well that's because I'm your-" Helmeppo began but Morgan interrupted him.

"Yes! Because you are…" Morgan began as he turned around and punched Helmeppo sending his own son to the floor.

"Not worth hitting! My worthless son!" Morgan shouted as he stomped over to Helmeppo. "Don't misunderstand…" Morgan began as he used the wooden part at the end of his axe to lift a utterly scared and whimpering Helmeppo.

"…The one who is great is your father, in other words me!" Morgan told him as he dropped Helmeppo to the floor after the scared coward nodded.

"It seems like we have an intruder in the execution field." Morgan who had already turned away from his son said.

"That girl? I already took care of her." Helmeppo said.

"You killed her, right?" Morgan asked.

"But she is still a kid." Helmeppo told him, for the first time showing some humanity in him. Morgan pointed to a marine.

"You, go to the town and finish the business." He ordered.

"But she is just a little girl. Even if those are captain's orders…" Marine tried to argue.

"Even if it's a kid. If she disobeys my orders than she is a traitor." Morgan stated as he approached the marine.

"But. I can't!" Marine disobeyed. Morgan was angered by this and held his axe hand up high before he slammed it down onto the marine knocking him down.

"You didn't have to go that far!" Helmeppo exclaimed as two marines approached their fallen comrade.

"Listen up! Title is everything! I became a captain because of this arm! I am the best captain here, which means I am the greatest. So everything I do is right!" Morgan told them as they all trembled in fear.

"Is that correct?!" Morgan demanded an answer.

"Yes sir! That's correct!" Marines answered with a salute.

"I will take care of that kid later. It took months but it's finally completed. Now raise it on to the highest point as the proof of my greatness!" Morgan ordered as marines began pulling his statue up once again.

* * *

Vergil and Luffy ran up to the base.

"Strange there's no one here." Luffy pointed out.

"They are up there…" Vergil muttered as he looked utterly defeated, he looked as if he lost all the hope he had left for humanity as he saw the statue of no one other than Morgan being pulled up.

"_Two options. First, it's some hero… The highly unlikeable one… The second option… It's some stuck up egoistical idiot… The most likely to be true…_" Vergil thought.

"We've got to find that stupid son so we can get Zoro's swords." Luffy said pulling Vergil out of his thoughts.

"Let's go up." Vergil said.

* * *

Marines kept pulling the statue when suddenly part of it bumped against the building. Marines began panicking.

"You bumped it." Morgan said as he towered behind the marine who was completely overtaken by fear.

"I'm very sorry! I didn't mean to!" Marine apologized.

"I told you this statue represents myself! If you scratch it even a little bit that's treason against me!" Morgan told him.

* * *

Luffy was ready to stretch his hand and Vergil smirked as he looked up.

"Let's go take a look." Luffy said as he suddenly grabbed onto the collar of Vergil's shirt and the white haired demon's eyes widened.

"Wait a second I can get there myself!" Vergil yelled but it was too late…

"**Gomu Gomu No Rocket**!" Luffy exclaimed as he and Vergil easily reached over the building.

"We are flying!" Luffy cheered and Vergil sighed.

"Not for too long! **Demon Slide**!" Vergil exclaimed as he used his power to push himself and Luffy through the air, they landed on the upper half of the statue much to Vergil's pleasure and with enough force to send it crashing down. Before it could fall down though Vergil and Luffy safely landed on the floor.

Upper half of the statue fell down as Morgan's eyes got filled with tears and his mouth hung open.

"I'm sorry." Luffy apologized.

"I'm not." Vergil added casually.

"Capture them! I will kill them myself!" Morgan yelled.

"Yes sir!" Marines saluted as Helmeppo recognized the two.

"Father! That's him! That's the guy that punched me!" Helmeppo accused as he pointed at Luffy who appeared in front of Helmeppo.

"We've been looking for you. Come on I need something to be returned!" Luffy said as he grabbed a screaming Helmeppo and ran off with Vergil.

"Helmeppo-sama!" Marines called after them.

"After them! Don't let them escape!" Morgan ordered.

"Captain! There's someone on the execution ground!" Marine informed Morgan as he pointed at the area in which Zoro was held.

"What?!" Morgan asked as he looked down and saw Coby running up to Zoro.

"More traitors appear one after another." Morgan said.

* * *

For her own reasons Nami was also in the marine base. She jumped down to the floor and easily landed on her feet.

She leaned against the wall before she knelt in front of the doors that were next to her.

Suddenly marines ran through the hall not too far away from her.

"Go, go! Don't let them escape!" They exclaimed as Nami quickly leaned against the wall once again. "There is some disturbance…" She said as she ran off.

-*/

Luffy kept dragging Helmeppo across the floor as Vergil ran next to them.

"Where is Zoro's sword?" Luffy demanded to know.

"You better say it now onion head before I force it out of you." Vergil casually threatened.

"I'll tell you! I'll tell you. Just stop dragging me across the floor!" Helmeppo told them and two pirates stopped.

"Okay. Talk." Luffy said as Helmeppo lifted his arm and pointed behind them.

"In my room… We just passed it." Helmeppo told them.

"Why didn't you say so earlier, now we have to go back." Luffy complained, but as he turned he saw three unconscious marines and Vergil cracking his knuckles above them.

"That was refreshing." The white haired demon said.

"Shishishi." Luffy laughed as they went back and quickly enough found Helmeppo's room.

* * *

Outside in the execution field Coby was trying hard to untie Zoro.

"Stop that. If you do that you'll get killed!" Zoro yelled at him but Coby kept trying to untie him.

"Please escape, Zoro-san." Coby asked for Zoro to escape. "I can't watch these marines. I want to be a good marine." Coby added.

"I can't escape. I've got ten more days to go." Zoro told him.

"Helmeppo planned to execute you tomorrow." Coby told him, surprising the green haired swordsman.

"What?" Zoro asked, his eyes wide once again.

"Helmeppo never intended to keep his promise. That's why Luffy-san and Vergil-san got mad and Luffy-san even punched him." Coby explained.

"Those two…" Zoro muttered.

"Luffy-san and Vergil-san are being chased by marines now. Please, I'm not telling you to become a pirate, but please lend them your power Zoro-san." Coby requested as Zoro looked at him.

"Luffy-san and Vergil-san are the only ones who can save you, Zoro-san. And I'm sure that Zoro-san is the only one who can save them as well." Coby said as Zoro looked forward, determined look in his eyes was clearly present.

"Stop right there! For committing treason of disobeying my orders both of you will be executed here." Morgan announced. Zoro glared at them as Coby looked in fear…

* * *

As they entered Helmeppo's room Vergil's hope for humanity was once again lost…

"_The number of things that can't be unseen has just went up by one_…" He thought as he looked around in utter defeat…

"This one right?" Luffy asked.

"I suppose." Vergil replied as they noticed the swords.

"There they are!" Luffy said as he went to the corner at which the swords were, there were three of them though.

"But there are three of them." Luffy said as he looked at the swords.

"Hey which one is Zoro's sword?" Rubber man asked as Vergil looked out of the window.

"Forget that Luffy! Bastard is unconscious and Coby is in trouble, just take all three of them and let's get down there!" Vergil quickly told Luffy their friend's situation.

"Let's go!" Luffy exclaimed as Vergil opened the window and jumped down.

* * *

Coby cried as marines pointed their shotguns at him and Zoro.

"You guys sure did some interesting stuff." Morgan began, his axe hand resting over his shoulder. "Do you, the guy with the straw hat and the white haired one plan on starting a revolution?" Morgan asked, suddenly he got a response, not from Coby or Zoro, but from Vergil.

"Even if we did we wouldn't start it by taking you down!" Vergil shouted as he rushed to the scene, this angered Morgan as he pointed at Zoro and Coby.

"Shoot them now!" Morgan yelled as marines fired.

"_I… can't die in a place like this!_" Zoro thought as he clenched his teeth. Images of the girl he dreamt about filled his mind again.

'You are as weak as always, Zoro.' She repeated to him.

As bullets closed in on them, Vergil smirked.

Luffy jumped in front of the bullets thus startling the two.

"You!" Zoro yelled.

"Luffy-san!" Coby called out to him.

"Straw hat…" Morgan muttered.

To their surprise Bullets hit Luffy, stretched the parts that they hit and then bounced back. On the other hand Vergil casually used **Lightning Rush** to knock out about half of the present marines before jumping back to Luffy.

"No way…" One of the marines muttered.

"Bullets bounced back and he took almost half of us in only an instant…" Another one said as Luffy began laughing loudly.

"I told you didn't I? We are strong!" Luffy repeated.

"You two… What are you?" Zoro asked in utter disbelief as he, Coby and Morgan looked at the half on unconscious marines and perfectly fine boy that was just shot by more than a dozen of bullets.

"I'm Leonidas Vergil. A demon that will take down the Demon World's King." Vergil announced earning a gasp of shock from Coby. An open mouth from Zoro and a grin from Luffy.

* * *

-Flashback-

* * *

Vergil and Luffy were spending the last night in Foosha Village, tomorrow they would set sail.

"I have a friend held captive by Mundus." Vergil spoke up out of blue.

"Let's go save them!" Luffy was immediately ready to help his first mate out.

"We're too weak. Going right now would be a suicide." The demon stated.

"Who's Mundus?"

"Demon King. He is one of the demons I want to kill. I suppose you could say that's my goal. To kill the Demon King. Is that fine with you?" The question was asked mostly out of curiosity.

"Sure, you can do whatever you want." Luffy told him, he trusted Vergil on this, he trusted that his nakama was making a good choice.

"Thanks Captain." Vergil said with a grin.

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

"Shishishi. I'm Monkey D. Luffy. A man that will become the Pirate King." Luffy announced.

* * *

_**That's it for this chapter. As you can see I'll sometimes rely on manga events, for those who don't read manga, Zoro killed the wolf with his sword while in anime he just knocked it away with the chair. There are these types of censures in anime, like Zoro allowing Cabaji to cut him, in the manga he actually cut himself.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Luffy VS Morgan**_


	7. Luffy VS Morgan

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Anime PJ – Thanks for review, trust me if you think that this is going to be epic just wait until you see later fights.**_

_**Blazeinferno – Thanks for reviewing, glad you liked the chapter and approve of my decision.**_

_**Son of Whitebeard – Thanks for reviewing.**_

_**BulletsforValentine – Thanks for reviewing, you'll have to wait a bit more though, while she has appeared she is yet to take the more present role so to speak.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 7 – Luffy VS Morgan**_

* * *

-Last time-

* * *

"You two… What are you?" Zoro asked in utter disbelief as he, Coby and Morgan looked at the half on unconscious marines and perfectly fine boy that was just shot by more than a dozen of bullets.

"I'm Leonidas Vergil. A demon that will take down the Demon World's King." Vergil announced earning a gasp of shock from Coby. An open mouth from Zoro and a grin from Luffy.

"Shishishi. I'm Monkey D. Luffy. A man that will become the Pirate King." Luffy announced. Now if Zoro was surprised with what Vergil had said, he was even more surprised now that he heard Luffy's proclamation.

"What?! Become the Pirate King?! Kill the Demon King?! Do you understand what you are saying?" Zoro asked them while two pirates turned to him.

"The Pirate King is the Pirate King. What else could it mean?" Luffy asked as he grinned at Zoro.

"Trust me, both of us are completely aware of what we are saying." Vergil replied, Zoro grunted while marines watched them with wide mouths and eyes.

"I was surprised as well." Coby began, he got over his surprise over Vergil's statement. "But Luffy-san and Vergil-san are serious. If they say they will do it they will do it." Coby told Zoro, his fists held in front of his chest with excited smile on his face.

Zoro's eyes widened a bit as Luffy laughed and Vergil grinned.

"Here your sword." Luffy got Zoro's attention as he held out three swords. "I didn't know which one was yours so I took all three of them." Luffy stated his grin remaining on his face.

"All three are mine, I use three swords." Zoro explained as he tried to set himself free, to this Vergil looked a bit puzzled but then shuddered.

"_I suppose there is a way to do so_." The white haired demon thought.

"You'll take them right? But if we fight together you'll owe me. Being killed by marines or coming with me… Which one do you pick?" Luffy kind of blackmailed him as Vergil suppressed a chuckle.

"Nice Luffy." Vergil said with a smirk.

"You are a son of the devil." Zoro remarked with a smirk on his face.

"Actually that's me." Vergil butted in.

"Still. I'd rather be a pirate than die here!" Green haired swordsman gave them the answer. Luffy grinned and threw his arms up.

"Great! You'll be our nakama!" Luffy cheered.

"I get it just set me free already!" Zoro snapped at the rubber captain.

"Leave this to me Luffy." Vergil said as he took a hold of a couple of ropes. His right hand gripping the ones that held Zoro's left arm while his left hand gripped the ones that held Zoro's right one.

"What are you going to do Vergil-san?" Coby asked making the white haired demon smirk.

"What's with those guys?" One of the marines asked in fear.

"The bullets were ineffective." Another one pointed out his voice trembling in fear as well.

"That guy with the straw hat isn't a normal human. It seems he ate one of the Devil Fruits." Morgan reasoned finding that to be the only possible explanation as to why bullets didn't work.

"Devil's Fruit?" A Marine asked.

"Ocean's treasure?" Another one questioned as they both turned to Morgan.

"Devil Fruit. It is said that whoever eats one will obtain unbelievable power. The power to breath fire, the power to create tsunamis. There are so many rumors about the Devil Fruits. Too many to know which ones are actually true. The secret is supposedly in the Grand Line. There's no doubt, that straw hat's power is the power of a Devil Fruit!" Morgan explained it to the marines that were confused about the topic.

Vergil concentrated and suddenly they heard a soft crackling, almost as if electricity itself was being formed. A couple of moments later ropes were destroyed and Zoro looked at his now free arms.

"What did you do?" Zoro asked, rather confused as to what exactly Vergil did.

"I channeled electricity into my hands, enough to burn through the ropes but not enough for it to spread through the area. I doubt you can find a demon that has better control over lightning than me." Vergil bragged as he lifted his arm up and allowed a small sparks to circle around his right fist.

"So cool!" Luffy shouted as he looked at the sparks in awe, he touched the sparks but all he felt was a small tingle.

"That was tingly!" Luffy said with a large grin.

"I know. You are made of rubber and that's one of the rare things that's immune to lightning, you can feel it tingling though." Vergil replied with a grin on his own.

"It doesn't matter who he is! If he oppose me than he will be executed! If the guns don't work than cut them all into pieces!" Morgan ordered and as they were told marines charged with swords in their hands and with a battle cry ran toward the group.

"Luffy-san! Vergil-san!" Coby panicked as Marines approached them.

"Hurry up and give me my swords!" Zoro snapped at them. As they were told two pirates gave Zoro his swords and in a matter of moments Zoro cut the remaining rope and stopped the advancement of the marines. His back were turned to the marines as he held two swords in his hands and one in his mouth.

"Roronoa Zoro!" Morgan cursed.

"Whoa cool!" Luffy exclaimed as he and Coby watched Zoro in awe.

"Make one move and you are dead!" Zoro informed the marines threateningly.

At this marines began crying out of utter fear. "I'm so scared." One of them cried out.

"I promised I'll be a pirate." Zoro began as he turned his attention to Luffy and Vergil.

"Opposing marines will make me a wanted man. But let me tell you one thing, I will always follow my ambition." He told them.

"Ambition?" Luffy questioned.

"To become the world's greatest swordsman. If you do anything that would cause me to abandon my ambitions… You will end your life on my sword!" Zoro announced but Luffy just smiled.

"The world's greatest swordsman? That's nice! As the Pirate King's comrade I wouldn't expect anything less from you!" Luffy told him. To this Zoro once again smirked.

"Heh, indeed. It doesn't matter if it's as a devil or a saint. My name will be heard throughout the entire world!" Zoro said.

"Why are you all standing there! Execute them all right now!" Morgan roared at his subordinates who cringed in fear.

"Duck! Zoro!" Luffy said as he prepared to strike. Zoro's eyes widened a bit before he did as he was told.

"**Gomu Gomu No Whip**!" Luffy said as he took out all the marines and sent them back to Morgan with a side kick.

"Alright! Amazing!" Coby cheered.

"What are you?" Zoro asked looking at Luffy.

"I ate Gomu Gomu no Mi." Luffy told him as he held his foot up in the air.

"Gomu Gomu no mi?" Zoro questioned.

"Rubber human." One of the marines said.

"So he is a Devil Fruit user." Morgan confirmed it to himself.

"Captain! What do we do? We are no match for them!" A marine asked.

"We can't do it!" Another one shouted.

"And they've got Zoro on their side!" Third one added.

The crew of now three pirates turned to marines as Morgan grew angrier. "This is the captain's order! Anyone who is complaining shoot yourself in the head! This military officer has no need for the weaklings like you!" Morgan yelled as he lifted his axe hand.

Zoro took a battle stance. "What's with these marine soldiers?" He asked but suddenly Luffy and Vergil ran past him.

"Luffy-san! Vergil-san!" Coby called out to them.

"You can leave marines to me." Vergil said as he took the lead.

"Sure!" Luffy agreed.

"Crush those marines!" Coby exclaimed as Vergil engulfed himself in lightning.

"**Lightning… Rush**!" The white haired demon used the same technique as he used against Alvida Pirates and knocked the marines to the ground, they were still conscious for the most part but they were affected by lightning and pretty much paralyzed for a short period of time.

As Vergil halted in his advancement, Luffy kept going forward and attempted to punch Morgan who blocked Luffy's punch with his axe hand. Vergil jumped back and joined Zoro who took the sword that he was holding in his mouth. Both pirates were content with watching the battle as Morgan threw off his coat.

"A civilian with no rank is no match for me! I am captain of the marines! Axe Hand Morgan!" Morgan hollered angrily.

Luffy, whose face was completely blank responded in a way that only angered Morgan even further. "I'm Luffy, Nice to meet you." At these words Morgan swung his hand toward Luffy.

"Die!" He yelled but Luffy jumped over him and landed behind Morgan who quickly turned around and slammed hiss axe into the ground as Luffy dodged it yet again. However the force put behind the attack made a crack on the ground.

"Aah!" Coby gasped. Luffy while still in the air joined his feet and slammed them onto Morgan's face sending the marine captain back. Morgan hit the ground, rolled back but managed to steady himself.

"Wh… What's going on?!" One of the less paralyzed marines exclaimed.

"Captain is!" Another one yelled. Yes, their captain was being defeated by a no name brat no one knew about, yet.

"Brat!" Morgan shouted at Luffy. "Die!" He demanded as he attempted to hit Luffy, who was once again going toward him. In the last moment Luffy dodged the attack and spun around quickly in the mid air.

"Don't wanna!" Luffy replied as he kicked Morgan much to the surprise of the other marines.

"Captain Morgan… Is no match for him." Came a realization to the marines as Luffy grabbed Morgan by the collar.

"What kind of marine are you… Destroying Coby's dream like that!" Luffy shouted as he punched Morgan in the face.

"Wait Straw Hat! Look at this!" Helmeppo yelled but Luffy just punched Morgan again.

"I told you to wait! Are you an idiot? Can't you see that I have a hostage here?!" Helmeppo yelled out in frustration as he held a gun and pointed it at Coby's head. However while Luffy stood up and began walking toward them Zoro grinned.

"Who has a hostage Onion Head?" Vergil asked as he gripped the back of Helmeppo's neck.

"Helmeppo-sama!" Marines yelled as Helmeppo let out a scream.

"Be a good boy and drop the gun. Trust me, if you even make a single move to fire that gun I won't hesitate to kill you." Vergil threatened as Helmeppo began sweating quite a lot.

"Yes! Yes! Just don't kill me!" Helmeppo obeyed quickly as he dropped the gun.

"Good choice, now do us all a favor and stop butting in." Vergil said as he hit the back of Helmeppo's neck and knocked the stupid son out.

On the other hand Morgan used the small moments of partial distraction to come up to Luffy from behind and attempt to hit him with the axe hand once again, however…

"Shishishishi. Nice, Zoro." Luffy complimented the swordsman who had just defeated Morgan by slicing the man who let out a grunt and fell down to the ground bleeding from his wounds.

"It was nothing, captain." Zoro replied with a grin on his face.

With Morgan and Helmeppo both knocked out marines looked at each other.

"They defeat captain Morgan…" One of the marines realized.

"Who are these guys?" Another one asked.

"If anyone wants to fight come at us now." Zoro told them as he sheathed his sword, but much to their surprise as marines looked at each other for a couple of moments one thing led to another and suddenly they were throwing their weapons and hats up in the air and cheering.

"What? Their captain was just defeated and they are rejoicing?" Luffy asked, surprised at the turn of events and he wasn't the only one Vergil looked confused as well.

"Maybe I put too much electricity into my attack and it messed their brains up…" Vergil offered an explanation but Coby had a much better one.

"It's because everyone was afraid of captain Morgan!" Coby reasoned, but suddenly Zoro grunted and fell down to the ground.

"What's wrong Zoro-san? Are you injured?!" Coby asked frantically.

"I'm hungry…" Zoro replied as he slowly opened his eyes.

* * *

Inside the orange haired girl was doing what she did the best. Stealing…

"Sorry." Nami apologized as she looked at the two tied marines, they were mumbling something that couldn't be understood due to the wraps around their mouths.

"Just hang there for a bit." She told them as she opened the doors to Morgan's office. Going through the office she began searching through the papers.

"It's not here either…" She muttered to herself as she looked around the room, finally she noticed a safe hidden behind two barrels. She knelt down in front of the barrels and with a bit of effort she pushed one of the barrels away. She prepared to crack the safe open but then realized that it had been open all along. Inside of it she found exactly what she was looking for, a roll of paper with was the map to the Grand Line.

"I knew he had it! Map to the Grand Line!" She said as she unfolded the supposed to be map only to find out that it was anything but a map. It was a simple roll of the paper with a jolly roger on it, more precisely Buggy's Jolly Roger. On the map the words 'I have flashily taken the map. Captain Buggy.' Proved that it really was Buggy who took the map.

"This isn't a map! It's the mark of… Captain Buggy…" She realized.

"He is called Heartless Buggy." She thought as she gripped the map and looked out of the window, determined to take the map from Buggy, she had to do it, she just had to do it. She wouldn't allow those two to control her life any longer. She will find and steal the treasure, she will collect the money and she will be free again. Free from them… Images of a village, light blue haired, tan skinned girl with tattoos on her right arm and chest, woman with red-violet hair in a style similar to a mohawk smoking a cigarette and finally a scarred man with pinwheel on his hat. As the images of these people and that village overflowed her they were followed by two more images… One of a large, muscular, light blue saw-shark fishmen with long black hair and the second one of a brown haired demon, his cold yellow eyes originating her fear of demons…

* * *

_**That's it for this chapter. **__**As you have noticed, there is a demon OC that has connection to Nami's past, Nami is actually the only member of the canon Straw Hats so far that will have a direct involvement with a demon for a longer period of time and she is the only one whose backstory will have changes. Now I'd like to point out that Vergil isn't the only demon in the story, as the existence of the Demon World was revealed it is natural that it changed certain aspects of the One Piece universe as well. This relationship between Nami and the briefly described demon is something that will heavily affect relationship between Vergil and Nami.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Coby Becomes A Marine**_


	8. Coby Becomes A Marine

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Anime PJ – Thanks for reviewing.**_

_**Blazeinferno – Thanks for the review.**_

_**Son of Whitebeard – No she didn't sell her soul, the demon in question is the OC first mate in Arlong's crew, but I can probably tell you without spoiling too much that he'll be somewhat worse than Arlong, not in strength but in actual impact on Nami's past and current opinion on demons.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 8 – Coby Becomes A Marine**_

* * *

With Morgan finally defeated townspeople gathered around the bar that Rika and her mother owned for a single reason, Luffy, Vergil, Zoro and Coby were at the bar eating.

"I'm full!" Came Zoro's satisfied voice. "That meal was worth not eating for three weeks!" The swordsman exclaimed as he rubbed his stomach and leaned his back on the chair.

To this Rika, her mother and Coby laughed a bit while Vergil smirked. Luffy on the other hand swallowed another bite. "Eh? Is that all you are going to eat?" The rubber captain questioned and Zoro pointed at the empty plates in front of Luffy.

"I don't understand how you can eat more than me?" Zoro said.

"He's a bottomless pit that's why." Vergil commented as he drank down a glass of water.

"Because it's good… Right Coby?" Luffy requested a bit of support from the pink haired boy.

"Ah, I'm sorry, I helped myself too." Coby apologized as he rubbed the back of his head embarrassed at how much he ate, even though the amount he ate was nowhere near the amount that three pirates ate.

"It's all right, you saved the town after all." Rika's mother told him with a kind smile.

"You were really amazing back there!" Rika said to Luffy who was still eating.

"Yeah! I'm great! I'll be even more awesome, after all I'm going to become the Pirate King. I found a new nakama as well!" Luffy told her as he turned to look at Zoro who was looking at him curiously before giving him a half grin.

"So? How many crew members do we have?" Zoro asked. "I remember you saying that you are looking for a crew. If you are trying to become a Pirate King than you must have a crew already." Zoro reasoned before looking at Vergil. "And you want to take down the Demon King for that you'll need a strong crew." He added prompting Vergil to smirk.

"If we count you than there's three of us." Vergil answered shocking the swordsman.

"Wha…? Then…" Zoro tried to form words as he pointed at Luffy, than at Vergil and finally at himself.

"Yes, the three of us." Luffy confirmed it.

"Can we be pirates with just the three of us?" Zoro asked finally overcoming his shock.

"What does it matter? We are all strong." Luffy told him and he was right, a handful of extremely strong individuals could easily take down a lot of average ones.

"Pirate ship? How about our pirate ship?" Zoro asked now questioning if joining up with the two pirates was such a good idea after all as Luffy pointed through the window at their boat…

"Right over there." Rubber man stated causing Vergil to smirk.

"Temporary one at the very least." Vergil added.

"That?" Zoro asked in disbelief as he looked at the small boat.

"It's small now but I'll get us a big one!" Luffy exclaimed as he showed with his hands that their next ship would be big one.

Zoro began laughing. "How?" He asked the captain once he stopped laughing.

"I want a pirate flag as well." Luffy completely ignored Zoro as he placed more food into his mouth. He was daydreaming about being on a huge ship with his soon to be flag and a sword in his hand.

"He's completely ignoring you. We'll find a ship, I'm still not sure where or how though." Vergil replied to Zoro who nodded.

"How cool!" Luffy stopped daydreaming and commented his imaginary ship as Vergil sighed but then a grin formed on his face and Zoro placed his hand over his forehead.

"Luffy-san was born with no planning ability." Coby told them.

"Go figure, not even Blaiddmon could get to this point…" Vergil mumbled to himself but then he remembered how he and Blaiddmon had first met, the 17 years old Vergil stood in front of the small light brown puppy like demon.

"_On the second thought no one can top that one_…" He inwardly added, it was true, to him, the way Blaiddmon had approached him six years ago was the most reckless thing one could do.

"Am I really going to follow this guy?" Zoro asked himself

"We are going to get more nakama as we go." Luffy told them.

"Where are you guys going to go now?" Rika asked earning Luffy's attention.

"Isn't it obvious. We are going to the Grand Line!" Luffy answered thus shocking Coby and making him spit out his juice.

"With just the three of you?! No matter what that's impossible! Impossible, impossible, impossible!" Coby yelled out.

"Is the Grand Line really that dangerous?" Rika asked not really knowing how dangerous exactly Grand Line was.

"Of course it is! You know that there are two oceans in this world, right? The stretch of land in between the two oceans is called the Red Line. There is a road in the center of the Red Line, that road is aligned with the Red Line… That is the Grand Line… A long time ago the Pirate King, Gold Roger obtained everything in the world… It is said that he left the great treasure, One Piece, in the Grand Line. And that's why hordes of pirates flocked to the Grand Line. Now, the place is a battlefield. It's also known as the pirate graveyard." Coby explained as he held onto his glass, it was clear that he was holding back his emotions as well as he could.

"I heard from the customers that those who enter the Grand Line never return." Rika's mother added.

Luffy, as cheerful as ever and still smiling looked at them. "But One Piece is there somewhere so we'll have to go."

"Well we don't have a choice." Zoro stated casually.

"It'll be fine, I don't know what kind of place Grand Line is, but I doubt it's that bad." Vergil said completely unaware of everything that they would come to experience in the Grand Line.

"Zoro-san, Vergil-san! Not you too!" Coby exclaimed as he stood up.

"Who cares, you aren't going anywhere." Zoro told him.

"He sees us as friends…" Vergil took Coby's words out of his mouth as Coby turned to look at the white haired demon who stood up.

"Look Coby. I get it, you are worried, but we have to follow our dreams. I get the feeling, of being worried about someone, and we appreciate it, we truly do, but we'll be fine, as long as we don't back away from this we'll be fine. But if we back away from this, if we give up, we'll never be able to look back into our past and keep holding our heads up high, because we'd know that we gave up." Vergil told him making the younger boy nod.

"I get that, but still… We are friends aren't we? Can't I worry?" Coby asked.

"Yeah, we are friends." Luffy confirmed it.

"When I was younger I never had any friends, no one stood up for me. And I never stood up for myself. But thanks to you I learnt how to fight for my dream. I decided to make my childhood dream come true! I'll become a marine!" Coby declared.

"Instead of worrying about us you should worry about yourself. Even though you were forced into it, you were still with pirates for two years. Don't underestimate the marine intel, if they find out you'll never be able to join." Zoro told him and Coby looked down for a moment before doors opened and revealed a battalion of marines led by Ripper, the marine commander. The average looking man, with tan skin, brown hair beard and mustache looked at the group for a moment before stepping in.

"Excuse me." He began turning the attention toward him.

"Is it true that you guys are pirates?" He asked, his posture formal and face stoic as he waited for the answer.

"Yeah. I just found a new nakama. We are pirates!" Luffy replied honestly.

"We are very grateful that you saved us from the clutches of Morgan. However, now that we know that you are pirates we can't look the other way." Ripper informed them as he pulled down his hat a bit.

"You must leave this town right away! We owe you our lives so we will not contact the headquarters." Ripper told them earning a small revolt from the citizens.

"Hey, marine! What the hell are you talking about!"

"You guys were also controlled by Morgan!"

"Those people saved our lives!"

"Right, right!" People tried to change the decision of the marines as Rika and her mother looked at the scene.

"No, the marine is right. We should go." Vergil calmed them down as Luffy grinned.

"Well, let's go." Luffy said and stood up. "Thanks for the food!" He thanked Rika's mother.

"Are you guys leaving already?" Rika asked sad that they would go.

"Yeah." Luffy told her as he, Vergil and Zoro began leaving while Coby remained still.

"Are you their comrade?" Ripper asked Coby.

"I… I'm…" Coby tried to reply as he gritted his teeth, Luffy stopped in his tracks and looked back at Coby for a moment before turning back and continuing to leave.

"Wait a moment. Is he with you?" Ripper stopped him. Luffy turned a bit and grinned.

"I know all about that guy." He began shocking Coby.

"_Luffy-san you wouldn't…_" Coby thought.

"There was a huge pirate lady that looked like a duck." Luffy began as he used his arms to show how huge Alvida was.

"Luffy-san!" Coby exclaimed. "_If they find out that I was on the pirate ship I'd never be able to become a marine…_" He realized inwardly.

"What did the ducks ever do to him? Seriously comparing little ducks to that thing…" Vergil muttered earning a smirk from Zoro.

"How would you describe her?" Zoro asked.

"Appearance wise, well she wasn't that bad, but her personality added to her appearance concludes this to me that going as far as to compare her to a sack of crap would end up insulting the crap..." The white haired demon stated as Zoro's smirk widened.

"She had this club and she was one ugly old hag." Luffy told them as he walked up to Coby and poked the side of the boy's head. "This guy served under her for two years." He stated.

"Please stop! Please stop! Luffy-san!" Coby begged but then something inside of him snapped and he punched Luffy knocking the straw hat down and shocking everyone but remaining two pirates who just smiled.

Coby's eyes widened a bit as he looked at Luffy's grinning face. "Now you've done it! You bastard!" Luffy exclaimed as he began punching Coby while continuously repeating 'You bastard' part.

"Stop this at once! I will not allow you to disturb the peace of this town!" Ripper yelled at them or more precisely at Luffy.

"All right, that's enough." Vergil said as he pulled Luffy back.

"You are going overboard." Zoro added as Coby fell back breathing heavily and beaten up to a certain degree.

"It's clear that he's not with you! Leave our town!" Ripper exclaimed as he pointed at them.

Luffy grinned as he placed back his straw hat and turned back to leaving.

"_On purpose…_" Coby realized as he watched Luffy's retreating form. "_He did that on purpose_…" Luffy, Vergil and Zoro left the bar and were now walking down the road. "_For my sake… He made me punch him on purpose!_" Coby once again clenched his teeth but this time to stop himself from crying. "_I_ _received help from him even at the very end. Nothing has changed at all!"_ Three pirates were walking down the stairs coming closer and closer to the harbor and going further and further away from Coby. "_Am I stupid?_" Suddenly Coby stood up and looked at Ripper before declaring.

"I want to become a marine!" He announced. "I want to join the marines! I'll do anything you want… to become a marine!" He yelled out as Ripper looked at him, seemingly analyzing the boy's resolve.

"Commander. I am against it. I still can't trust this boy." One of the marines objected. "It's possible that he is a spy for the pirates, first we have to check on your background." He added, Coby who was bowing slightly up to that point raised his head up high and with determination in his eyes… "I sincerely want to become a marine!" He declared.

"Hmm." Ripper hummed before walking past Coby. "We have lost many marines to the pirates. The life of a marine is not an easy one!" Ripper told him causing Coby's mouth to open a bit and his eyes to widen.

"Then." The word escaped his throat.

"The permission to join granted!" Ripper stated as Coby smiled widely and turned around before saluting to Ripper.

"Yes, sir!"

* * *

Nami was down at the small harbor jumping down into one of the boats. She unfolded the supposed to be map once again to read. 'I have flashily taken the map. Captain Buggy.' Was written, she smiled for a moment.

* * *

Finally, three pirates came to their boat.

"That was certainly something back there. They might find out later though." Zoro commented.

"Shishishi. I'm sure that Coby can handle the rest." Luffy said confidently.

"Well that was a nice experience. Everyone will hate us from now on." Zoro said.

"That's the life of the pirate, or any other criminal." Vergil casually said.

"Shishishi. Right!" Luffy said as they boarded onto their little boat.

"Luffy-san! Vergil-san!" They suddenly heard and turned back to see Coby, Rika and her mother.

"Thank you very much! This marine will never forget you!" Coby exclaimed as he saluted to them.

"I've never heard of a marine thanking a pirate before." Zoro commented.

"Neither have I." Vergil agreed as Luffy laughed. They set sail and their boat sailed out of the harbor as Luffy waved to Coby.

"We'll see you again! Coby!" Luffy shouted.

"Luffy-san…" Coby muttered as Rika waved to Luffy as well.

"Goodbye!" Rika yelled.

"Everyone, salute!" Suddenly they heard Ripper's voice as the marines all saluted to the three leaving pirates.

"Now this is a sight that you have to see to believe it." Vergil said with a grin.

"See ya!" Luffy shouted.

"You have a great friend there." Ripper said to Coby whose eyes watered up but he shook the tears away.

"Yes, sir!" he agreed loudly.

"What we are doing now is against the code of the marines! Our punishment will be three days without food! Understood?!" Ripper commanded.

"Yes, sir!" Marines replied as Coby looked forward to the horizon.

"_Someday… We'll meet again, Luffy-san, Vergil-san! As marines and pirates! We will meet again someday!_" Cob thought as he bid the temporary farewell to his friends.

* * *

Zoro and Vergil sat in the boat while Luffy stood and held his straw hat safely on his head.

"Now! We are well on our way to become pirates!" Luffy exclaimed.

"It looks like it's going to be one hell of an adventure." Zoro stated.

"It just started but I suppose you are right." Vergil added as Luffy grinned.

"I will become. The Pirate King!" Luffy declared yet again.

"You are always rambling about becoming the Pirate King… Is there a particular reason?" Zoro asked curiously as he arched his eyebrow.

"Nope, no reason. But…" Luffy began.

"But?" Zoro urged him to continue.

"I made a vow to that man!" Luffy stated as he remembered the moment at which he received his straw hat. "To form an amazing crew… To find the greatest treasure… And become the Pirate King!" His voice kept getting stronger and stronger as he went on. "This straw hat knows it all!" He finished as he let go of his precious hat and it remained on his head.

"I see." Zoro said.

"Alright! Let's go! Grand Line! Here I come!" Luffy declared loudly.

* * *

-Somewhere else-

* * *

A small pirate boat with Buggy's jolly roger on it sailed in the middle of an ocean. Three pirates looked at the treasure filled chest they had taken.

One of the pirates snickered a bit. "Look at all this loot." He said to his two companions.

"Buggy-sama won't be able to stay mad once he sees this." Second one said while the third one noticed something in the distance.

"Hey, look at that." He told them and soon enough they all looked at the boat that was close to their own. Unknown to them Nami was on that boat, she looked weak and exhausted, her right arm was hanging from the side of the boat and she looked barely conscious.

"Oh, it's a girl." The second pirate pointed out as the first one snickered a bit.

"Hey, what's the matter?" He asked with a smirk on his face, Nami slowly lifted her head and looked at them, a weak smile adored her face.

"Ah, am I dreaming? To run into someone on this vast ocean, what a stroke of luck." She said happily but still she sounded rather exhausted.

"I don't know who you are but please, will you give me some water?" She asked for water as three pirates smirked.

"I'll give you as much money as you want." She told them as she motioned to the chest on the boat. "Just please help me."

"Sure, we'll help you." The first pirate said as he stepped onto Nami's ship. "But first we'll check on your treasure." He added as the other two followed him.

"It's stuck…" He mumbled as he tried to open the lock. Finally it opened and even though they expected some treasure all they got was a toy panda head sticking out of the chest…

"Eeh!" They exclaimed as they realized what was in the chest, but then the situation turned worse for them when they hard Nami laughing.

"If you like it so much you can take it, the boat as well." Nami told them as she sailed off on their boat.

"Our boat!" Second pirate yelled.

"You tricked us!" The first pirate hollered at her.

"Dark, low clouds indicating an approaching cold front have been sighted to the south." She began as she looked to the south. "Heavy rain will soon begin to fall accompanied by a gusty squall. Small boats in the area should beware of the capsizing!" She told them as clouds accompanied by a roar of thunder came above the three pirates. The rain began falling down upon them and the ship sunk as pirates screamed.

"Bingo!" Nami cheered as she raised her thumb up.

"See ya! Thanks for the treasure!" She sweetly bid her farewell to them.

"Wait! You bitch!" The first one yelled after her.

"We won't forget this!" The second one hollered but the last part came more as a gurgle…

* * *

_**And that's it.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Luffy's Past, Red Haired Shanks**_


	9. Luffy's Past, Red Haired Shanks

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Anime PJ – Thanks for reviewing. I'm trying to hype that arc as much as I can with bits and pieces that would be relevant to it, although it will probably take me a while to get there, there's still Orange Town Arc, Ganzack Special (the movie that came out even before the anime), Syrup Village Arc, The first movie and Baratie Arc prior to that particular arc, but I will try to at the very least reach it before this year ends.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review, glad you liked it.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 9 – Luffy's Past, Red Haired Shanks**_

* * *

_**Before we start, this chapter is mostly Luffy's flashback, it's the same as in anime so if you don't want to read it I understand, however beginning of the chapter is something I suggest reading.**_

* * *

'_So what do you have to say? CTS – S – 1?'_ A voice echoed.

'_I don't want name of an object, I want your real name.'_ A soft, child-like voice spoke.

'_Don't call me by the name of an object.'_ An angry outburst followed…

Vergil's golden eyes snapped open and he found himself on the boat with Luffy and Zoro.

"_A dream huh?_" He thought as he turned to look at his nakama.

"Ah. I'm hungry." Luffy complained as he hung by the edge of the boat.

"When will we reach the land?" Zoro questioned

"Who knows… We go where the wind and sea take us. Will we reach the land?" Luffy said wondering about the future of their journey. "Well we will, eventually." He added, a bit more cheerful this time.

Zoro got a bit annoyed though. "Isn't it strange? You are aiming to become the Pirate King yet you don't know a first thing about navigation!" Zoro scolded him, Vergil on the other hand looked up to the skies the dream he had, he didn't have it that often but it was still enough to take his mind off of the current situation.

"It's not strange. We just drift in the sea." Luffy explained as if drifting in the sea was the most common thing to do.

"I thought that at least you had some common sense!" Zoro snapped at Vergil who however stayed silent.

"Vergil!" Zoro called out to the white haired demon that was finally brought out of his thought.

"Sorry. I kind of got lost in the thoughts." He apologized. "What did you say?"

"I said that I thought that at least you had some common sense here." Zoro repeated.

"Common sense? Who needs that anyway?" The white haired demon replied as he looked up again.

"You too. Aren't you a notorious pirate hunter?" Luffy tuned Zoro's attention back to himself as he pointed out Zoro's previous occupation.

"I don't recall ever being a pirate hunter." Zoro replied and also looked up to the sky. "I set out searching for a man, but I got lost and couldn't go back to my village." He admitted.

"I had no other choice but to hunt down pirates for the reward."

"What so you were lost?" Luffy questioned as Zoro got angry and slammed his foot down.

"Don't say it like that!" Zoro yelled.

"You said it exactly like that too!" Vergil snapped at Zoro recalling exactly how the swordsman said 'I got lost.' However the boat swayed violently for a couple of moments and that resulted in Luffy's straw hat falling off of his head. It slowly got raised up by the wind as three pirates' eyes widened.

"Ah!" "Huh?" "Hmm?" As the hat went up Luffy muttered a single name.

"Shanks."

'_I've been through many battles with this straw hat and it's very important to me. Luffy, I can't give this to you._' Shanks' words echoed as Vergil jumped up after the straw hat.

* * *

-Luffy's flashback, 10 years ago-

* * *

10 years ago there was a certain pirate crew in the Foosha village, the Red Hair Pirates led by none other than Red Haired Shanks a man that became Luffy's role model. Shanks' crew was large, but the most prominent members were, Shanks himself, a red haired man with three claw shaped scars over his left eye, he was wearing a half buttoned up white shirt, a red sash, slightly loose brown trousers and his straw hat. His first mate Benn Beckman, his black hair tied in a pony tail and cigarette almost always present in his mouth were his signature features. He was wearing a black v-neck T-shirt, a yellow sash and green pants tucked into his buckled boots. Then there were Yasopp, blond man with a bandanna over his forehead, his name was written on it, he was dressed in dark blue shirt and dark green pants. The last one was Lucky Roo a round, always smiling meat lover. He wears a green shirt with white stripes, a matching bandanna, beige shorts and a dark bluish green sash.

However right now Luffy was planning on showing off his courage and he planned on doing something king of stupid.

"I'm not playing around!" 7 years old Luffy exclaimed loudly as he held a knife up high in the air, he was on Shanks' ship, more precisely on its figurehead. "I'm serious now! I'll show you!" To this Shanks laughed before he raised his fist up.

"All right show us! I wonder what will you do this time!" Shanks encouraging having no idea as to what exactly Luffy had planned to do.

"Knowing Luffy it'll be something childish again." One of the pirates commented as Luffy brought the knife down beneath his left eye. Shanks' happy mood was exchanged for a more serious one as he watched Luffy curiously.

Luffy was having a mental debate, probably one of his last ones, as his instinct told him not to do what he had planned to do, either way he gathered enough courage to stab the knife just beneath his left eye, forming what would later be his first long lasting scar.

"Ouch!" Luffy yelled as pirates gasped.

"You idiot! What are you doing?!" Shanks yelled at him.

"It hurts!" Luffy yelled gaining the attention from nearby villagers as well.

* * *

-A bit later-

* * *

"Cheers to our voyage and Luffy's great courage!" One of the pirates cheered in Makino's bar.

Red Hair Pirates were having a rather big party in the bar, drinking, eating and simply having fun, however there was someone who wasn't a pirate among them, Luffy was sitting next to Shanks.

"Then take me on your next adventure, Shanks! I wanna be a pirate too!" Luffy requested happily, it was clear that the boy was cheerful and a wanted to become a pirate even at this age.

"Dahahaha! How can a boy like you become a pirate?" He asked him with a grin on his face.

"Why not?!" Luffy yelled out as Beckman smirked slightly at the antics of Shanks and Luffy.

"Luffy." Yasopp got Luffy's attention. "It's not just about how well you can swim, a pirate is more than that." He stated as Lucky Roo munched on meat next to him.

"I can fight too! My punches are as strong as pistol!" Luffy exclaimed as he threw a punch.

"Eh, really?" Shanks asked in a mock amazement as he appeared like he wasn't interested at all, seeing as he was eating his food.

"What do you mean by that?!" Luffy raged at Shanks.

"Luffy is still just a kid." Lucky Roo commented.

"You are about the same age as my kid." Yasopp added turning Luffy's attention back to himself.

"I'm not a kid! I'm a man!" Luffy claimed strongly.

"Don't get so angry. Here, have some juice." Shanks told him as he placed a glass of juice in front of Luffy.

"Thanks." Luffy thanked him as he began drinking his juice.

"See still a kid!" Shanks exclaimed through laughter as he slammed his palm onto the counter repeatedly.

"Damn you, Shanks!" Luffy cursed as other pirates joined their captain.

"Don't laugh at me!" Luffy raged.

"What the hell! Stinky Shanks!" Boy continued yelling as Makino smiled a bit at Luffy. The happy mood was however stopped temporarily by doors being kicked down.

"Sorry for the interruption." A man said and suddenly the only sounds that were heard came from Shanks eating, others were looking at the man that just came in.

"Oh, so these are the so called pirates. They look like the idiots." He said as he walked up to the counter next to Shanks who looked up slightly. Makino approached the man and welcomed him.

"We are bandits. We are not here to destroy your bar. We need ten barrels of sake." Bandit, Higuma requested as his bandits, all of them dressed pretty much the same in light gray clothing while Higuma himself was a tall man, with black hair, a black goatee and an x shaped scar over his right eye, he was wearing a long purple coat over a white shirt, black trousers and a golden necklace.

"We are sorry, but we're out of sake at the moment." Makino apologized.

"Hmm? That's strange. Pirates are drinking something, is it water?" He questioned still showing no signs of possible violence.

"All the sake we have is out there." Makino replied, there was no hesitation behind her words, she was standing up to the bandit with no fear.

"That's not good. We drank everything." Shanks got involved.

"Sorry." He apologized to Higuma as he offered a unopened bottle of sake.

"If you want it you can have this. I haven't opened it yet." He added, but his act of kindness was taken as mocking and only angered Higuma who clenched his fist, slammed it against the bottle shattering it in process and spilling its content all over Shanks. The pirate crew remained silent along with Shanks while Makino and Luffy looked shocked to a certain extent.

"I'm a wanted man. Worth 8 million Beri. One measly bottle won't be nearly enough, don't take me lightly." He hissed at Shanks who was still silent.

"Ah, now the floor is all wet." Finally the red haired man said as he looked at the floor and the remains of sake and the bottle that contained it.

"Sorry about that, Makino-san. Do you have a mop?" He asked as he picked up the largest part of the shattered glass.

"I'll take care of that." Makino said as she went inside to get a mop, however when she got back she saw Higuma had drawn his sword and sliced it through part of her counter, shattering the plate and spilling the still filled bottle of sake that Shanks was drinking.

"Looks like you enjoy cleaning. You'll enjoy this even more." Higuma said, Shanks was sitting on the floor his hat covering his eyes.

"No point in wasting time here if you don't have any sake. Let's go! Later, cowards." Higuma ordered his man as they left the bar. Luffy gritted his teeth as he watched the remaining doors of the bar swaying back and forth. Everyone was still silent as Makino ran up and knelt down next to Shanks.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere, captain?" She asked worryingly as Shanks casually raised his left hand.

"Nah, I'm fine, don't worry." He replied before snickering a bit, this of course launched a full blown laughter from his crew.

"He sure got you boss!" Yasopp said through laughter.

"How shameful!" Lucky Roo joined in as well. At this Shanks finally began laughing. However there was someone that wasn't so happy about this.

"Why are you laughing!" Luffy stopped their laughing as he stood on the chair.

"That wasn't cool at all! Why didn't you fight back! No matter how many of them there are or how strong they look if you don't fight back you are not a man! You are not a pirate!" He yelled, his current belief getting the better of him. Shanks looked at him for a couple of moments. "It's not that I don't understand how you are feeling…" He began.

"But they only spilled some sake. It's nothing to get angry over." Shanks told him as he sat up with his legs crossed.

"I don't care anymore!" Luffy exclaimed as he turned to his side and looked to his left to see a small treasure box with a strange, purple fruit. Shanks and Makino looked at each other for a couple of moments before they heard Luffy eating something.

"Haha, stuffing it down Luffy." Shanks laughed.

"Shut up!" Luffy shouted at him as Shanks finally realized what exactly Luffy was eating, his eyes widened as his voice got completely serious for the very first time.

"What are you eating?" He demanded to know as Luffy gulped down the food he had in his mouth and turned to look at Shanks, a bit scared though.

"That box… Did you eat the thing in that box?" Shanks asked as Luffy slightly nodded. Shanks grabbed him and turned him upside down as he began shaning the boy up and down.

"Spit it out! Spit it all out right now! All of it!" He ordered Luffy, but what was done could no longer be undone.

"Wh… What are you doing Shanks?" Luffy asked the pirate captain, but suddenly his legs stretched down prompting his face to hit the ground, a couple of moments later his legs returned back to normal and then his neck stretched before it also returned back to normal length. The surprise was written all over Luffy's somewhat red face.

"What was that?" He wondered out loud as Shanks raised him to his face's level.

"What you ate was the Gomu Gomu no mi. The Gomu Gomu no mi is also called the Devil Fruit." To this Makino covered her mouth. "After you eat it you become a rubber man and you won't ever be able to swim!" Shanks finished explaining it briefly.

"Eeeh! No way!" Luffy shouted loudly.

"You idiot!" Shanks yelled even louder.

-A couple of days later-

Makino's bar was trashed, broken tables, chairs and furniture, it looked like a battle broke out. Makino was running down the street of the Foosha village.

At the same time Luffy slammed against the wooden well and Higuma towered in front of him.

"We were having a great time drinking sake. What's the meaning of this kid?" He asked Luffy, his voice dangerously threatening.

"Damn it! Apologize! You were making fun of Shanks and his crew!" Luffy demanded while Makino kept running towards mayor's house.

Higuma planted his foot over Luffy's face. "Did I say something that you didn't agree with?" Bandit questioned.

"You did! Apologize!" Luffy yelled, his new rubber body was the reason as to why he wasn't hurt by Higuma's kick.

"You have made a poor choice of words kid." Higuma told Luffy without removing his foot away from his face.

"I've never let anyone who has pissed me off live." He stated as he reached out for his sword and began unsheathing it.

"Please wait. Let that kid go, I beg of you." Woop Slap, who just arrived with Makino, pleaded Higuma making Luffy's eyes widen. "I have no idea what Luffy did, but I have no intention of fighting you. We'll even give you money." Woop Slap told him as he dropped down to his knees and bowed down to the ground. "I beg you, please let that kid go."

"Mayor…" Luffy breathed out.

"Old people know what to say, but it's already too late since this kid pissed me off. I'll have to kill him." Higuma replied, he drew his sword as Luffy glared at him.

"You are the bad guy, mountain monkey!" He insulted the bandit thus infuriating the man once again.

"What a hopeless kid. Think about your actions in the afterlife!" Higuma exclaimed as he lowered his sword.

"Luffy!"

"Please let him go!" Makino and Woop Slap screamed completely unaware of who was behind them.

"I wondered why no one was at the bar. If it isn't the bandits from before." Shanks said, officially announcing the presence of his crew and himself as Makino and Woop Slap turned to look at him in pure surprise.

"Captain." Makino breathed out revealed to see the man. Higuma looked at Shanks while Luffy's eyes widened.

"Shanks…" He mumbled as Shanks smiled a bit.

"Pirate, you are still here? Are you cleaning up the whole village?" Higuma asked, mocking the pirate.

"Luffy." Shanks called out completely ignoring Higuma. "Isn't your punch as strong as pistol?" He teased Luffy as he began walking toward Higuma.

"Shut up!" Luffy snapped.

"I don't know what you are here for, but you'd better run before you get hurt." Higuma warned Shanks who didn't even hesitate to keep moving. "If you come any closer I'll blow your head off, coward."

Shanks stopped as a bandit placed a pistol next to the side of his head, but not out of fear, he simply stopped.

"He said not to come any closer or you'll get your hear blown off." Bandit reminded Shanks as other bandits snickered. Higuma chuckled evilly as Luffy watched the situation progress.

"Risk your life on it." Shanks began.

"What?" A confused bandit asked.

"With that pistol you will risk your life." Red haired pirate continued.

"What the hell are you talking about bastard?" Bandit questioned, he didn't get what Shanks was trying to say.

"This isn't a child's game." He said as he turned a bit to the side to look the bandit in the eyes and raised his hand to point at the gun. A gun fired, but the one that was shot was no one other than the bandit. The one who pulled the trigger, Lucky Roo bit off a part of his meat as bandit fell down, dead. Makino covered her mouth with her hands, Woop Slap's mouth widened, Luffy watched in disbelief along with the bandits.

"You killed him!" One of the bandits yelled.

"What unfair bastards!" Another one accused.

"Unfair?" Yasopp questioned.

"Don't misunderstand, you are not fighting against saints." Beckman told them.

"The ones before you are pirates." Shanks stated.

"Shut up! We don't have any business with you!" A bandit yelled.

"Listen bandits. I can have food or drinks spilled on me, or even be spit at and I'll laugh about it. However, if for any reason… You hurt a friend of mine, I won't forgive you!" Shanks announced, thus cementing his influence on Luffy.

"Shanks…" Luffy muttered, he was near crying as his pupils wavered a bit.

Higuma however laughed at Shanks. "You won't forgive us? Freaking pirates! Men! Kill them all!" He ordered arrogantly.

Bandits rushed at Shanks' crew shouting out the battle cries as Benn Beckman stepped to the front holding onto his rifle.

"I'm enough to take care of all of them." He stated and like he said he was indeed enough, without breaking a sweat Beckman easily took down all the bandits with a couple of swings of his rifle. A sword flew through the air and stabbed into the ground close to Higuma who was now getting scared.

"You're dreaming, bandit. If you want to fight us you better bring a warship." Beckman stated confidently and he sure had a reason to be confident.

"Strong…" Luffy uttered in awe.

"Wa… Wait a minute! This kid started it all!" Higuma tried to find a way out of the situation he was currently in clearly showing the difference between those who were seen as coward for not fighting the meaningless battle and real cowards.

"Isn't there a reward on your head?" Shanks asked making Higuma take a step back in fear. He became desperate and threw a smoke bomb to the ground concealing himself and Luffy.

"Smoke bomb!" Shanks yelled and as smoke cleared Luffy and Higuma were nowhere to be found.

"Luffy!" Shanks yelled, calling out to the rubber boy.

Shanks suddenly gripped the sides of his head in panic. "Oh crap! He took Luffy! What are we going to do?!" he yelled out.

"This isn't the time to panic! We'll find them if we all look!" Lucky Roo tried to calm him down as Benn Beckman smirked a bit. "Geez… This guy…" He said.

* * *

-With Luffy-

* * *

Luffy was however at the most unfortunate place for him right now, alone with the enemy, one that he couldn't actually harm right now, on a small boat out in the middle of an ocean… Perfect situation for a Devil Fruit user… Truly perfect.

Higuma laughed as he held Luffy in the air. "I escaped easily. They'd never think a mountain bandit would flee to the sea." He bragged.

"Damn! Let me go, you stupid mountain monkey!" Luffy yelled as he trashed his arms and legs around trying to get free.

"You should just die!" He added as he turned to glare angrily at the bandit.

"Idiot, you are the one that's going to die. You really pissed me off. Bye bye." Higuma said as he threw Luffy into the water.

Tears fell down Luffy's eyes. "_Damn! Damn! I wasn't even able to hit him once!_" He cursed in his mind as he approached the sea surface.

"_Damn!_" He hit the water and emerged trying to keep his body on the surface, however the fact that he was now a Devil Fruit user rendered him unable to swim.

"Sorry, but you are of no use to me now." Higuma apologized although he sounded anything but sorry, in fact he began laughing. All the commotion must have gotten them the attention of a local sea king as the gigantic sea monster emerged behind Higuma.

"Eh?! What the hell is this?!" Higuma screamed as malicious red eyes looked at him. Luffy's eyes widened in fear as sea king opened his mouth and swallowed the entire boat along with Higuma. It turned its attention to Luffy and began swimming toward the boy.

"Someone help!" Luffy screamed in panic as monster opened its mouth to swallow him. His call for help was answered as Shanks arrived just in time to move Luffy away from the monster. Luffy looked at Shanks and muttered the pirate's name as sea king looked at them.

"Get lost!" Shanks said as he glared dangerously at the beast, the beast growled a bit but as it and Shanks had a small stare down it was conquered and ran away.

"I owe you one, Luffy. Makino-san told me everything. You fought them because of us." Shanks thanked Luffy who cried into Shanks' chest.

"Hey don't cry, you are a man aren't you?" Shanks told him but Luffy didn't stop crying.

"But… Shanks… Your arm!" Luffy yelled, indeed Shanks had sacrificed his left arm to save Luffy, the blood dripped into the water, but the red haired pirate showed no signs of pain.

"It isn't worth much, it's just an arm. I'm glad you are safe." Shanks comforted him as Luffy truly began crying.

* * *

-Some time later, the day of Shanks and his crew's departure-

* * *

Some time has passed since the encounter with Higuma and Shanks losing his arm to a sea king and now it was time to leave.

The pirates filled their ship with supplies.

"Leaving, right?" Luffy asked Shanks who was walking toward his ship as well.

"We've stayed here for a long time, but it's time to leave. Will you miss us?" Shanks asked Luffy as they watched the horizon.

"Yeah, I'll miss you guys." Luffy admitted.

"I won't ask you to take me with you this time. I decided to do it myself. To become a pirate." Luffy told him, at this Shanks turned his head to Luffy and stuck his tongue out.

"Even if you asked I wouldn't have taken you with me! As if you can become a pirate!" Shanks teased him for the last time, at least for the time being though. Luffy naturally frowned at Shanks.

"I will! I will gather a crew that will beat yours and find the world's greatest treasure! No matter what I will become the Pirate King!" Luffy announced and Shanks smiled a bit.

"Oh? So you are going to beat us." He said as Luffy looked down.

"Then." He began as he took a hold of his straw hat and placed it on Luffy's head. Luffy let out a small gasp.

"I'll let you take care of this hat. It's very important to me. Take good care of it." Shanks told him as Luffy finally began crying the tears that he was holding back.

The ship set sail as the villagers bid their farewells to the pirates. The captain looked at the rubber boy with a fond smile on his face.

"Some day… Return it to me, as a great pirate. It's a promise, Luffy."

* * *

-Luffy's flashback ends-

* * *

"Got it." Vergil said as he caught the straw hat and handed it back to Luffy.

"Thank you, Vergil." Luffy thanked him as he sat down again and looked fondly at the straw hat in his hands before placing his precious hat back onto his head.

"It's precious to you isn't it. Don't drop it again." Zoro told him, he wasn't scolding Luffy or anything, he was simply stating the fact.

"Yeah. I won't." Luffy said with a large grin on his face.

* * *

_**Romance Dawn Arc – Finished**_

* * *

_**That's it for this chapter. So we'll start off the next arc from the bird scene. Flashbacks are the most painful thing for me to write, I was even tempted to skip through it, but I know that they are important, they are a bit boring to write down and read because they are mainly word to word like the original, that's why I added the bit at the beginning.**_

* * *

_**Trivia:**_

* * *

_**-Vergil was supposed to fight against Ripper prior to showdown with Morgan.**_

_**-Vergil and Zoro were supposed to finish Morgan off together.**_

* * *

_**Next Arc – Orange Town Arc**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Navigator, Nami**_


	10. Navigator, Nami

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Anime PJ – Thanks for reviewing.**_

_**Blazeinferno – Thanks for the review, no, they don't know each other, the demon in question knows about Vergil but that's all there is to it.**_

_**MusicOfMadness – Thank you for reviewing, while you do bring up some good points I think that when someone does a 'companion to the canon' story like this one, he or she should develop the characters like they are their own and the flashbacks are there for that reason.**_

* * *

_**Arc 3 – Orange Town Arc**_

* * *

_**Chapter 10 – Navigator, Nami**_

* * *

-Last time-

* * *

"Got it." Vergil said as he caught the straw hat and handed it back to Luffy.

"Thank you, Vergil." Luffy thanked him as he sat down again and looked fondly at the straw hat in his hands before placing his precious hat back onto his head.

"It's precious to you isn't it. Don't drop it again." Zoro told him, he wasn't scolding Luffy or anything, he was simply stating the fact.

"Yeah. I won't." Luffy said with a large grin on his face.

A couple of moments of silence passed before Luffy and Zoro looked up to the sky.

"A bird, eh…" Zoro muttered but while the swordsman and the first mate appeared to be uninterested in the bird Luffy had other ideas.

"Let's eat, that bird!" He decided with a large grin on his face.

"How?" Zoro asked as he looked at Luffy.

"Leave it to me!" Luffy assured them as he stretched his arms and grabbed onto the sails…

"Be careful Luffy." Vergil warned the rubber man.

"**Gomu Gomu no… Rocket**!" Luffy yelled as he shot toward the bird.

"I see." Zoro said to himself.

"Aaah!" Luffy let out a loud yelp as two pirates realized that Luffy's head was inside of the bird's beak.

"Aaaahhhhh! Help me!" Luffy yelled as the bird flew away.

"You idiot!" Vergil yelled.

"You dumbass! What are you doing!" Zoro yelled as well as he and Vergil rowed as quickly as they could.

"Can't you shoot the thing down with some demon powers or something?!" Zoro snapped at Vergil.

"I would if I could but, even if I hit the bird it would probably fall into the sea and then Luffy would be in trouble!" Vergil snapped back, he knew that lightning wouldn't hurt Luffy, but he wasn't a long range attacker, especially not with the lightning techniques, the techniques that could reach the bird would probably hurt Luffy as well…

Duo kept rowing after the bird and their captain as they came across three pirates that Nami had tricked.

"Hey, you on the boat! Stop!" One of the pirates told them as Zoro glanced at them.

"Castaways at a time like this…" He muttered.

"We're not stopping the boat, jump on if you can!" He told them as three pirates' eyes widened in surprise.

"What?!" All three of them shouted.

"Human survival instinct, such an amazing thing." Vergil commented as he noticed that three pirates actually grabbed onto the boat.

"Hehe, you actually got on." Zoro said with a smirk.

"Are you trying to kill us?!" Pirates yelled at the duo.

The probable leader of the three pirates pointed the sword at them and Vergil turned to look at them. "Hey, stop this boat now. We are the crew of Buggy the Clown." He warned them as Vergil stood up.

"Keep rowing, I've got this." Vergil said as he took a step forward and towered over three pirates, glaring at them he clenched his fists making three pirates hug each other in fear.

"We are trying to follow our captain. Do not interfere…" Vergil said coldly as he punched the pirates a couple of times.

"I think they'd be happy enough to take our places when it comes to rowing, don't you think so Zoro?" Vergil asked with a grin, one that Zoro responded to with a smirk.

In a matter of moments two of the three Buggy pirates were rowing.

"We had no idea that you were the famous pirate hunter, Zoro-san and that Vergil-san is a demon.. Please forgive us!" They begged for forgiveness.

"The bird is too fast for our boat. I guess we'll just have to take a chance." Vergil said to Zoro who nodded.

"That Luffy, he should be able to take care of himself if he lands on the ground." Zoro stated but Vergil frowned.

"I'm more worried about him possibly falling into the water." Vergil added with a frown.

"But… What should we do now?" One of the pirates asked as they rowed.

"Right, we can't let Captain Buggy know that a girl took our boat and treasure." Other one replied getting Zoro's attention.

"Hmm? Who is this Buggy you're talking about?" Zoro asked them.

"Eh? You don't know about Buggy the Clown?"

"Never heard of him." Zoro replied casually.

"Maybe they work for a circus. You know, that Buggy being called 'The Clown' and all that." Vergil commented.

"How dare you disrespect out captain?!" Pirate yelled at them but Vergil glanced at him clearly showing that it would be better for them to calm down. "He is a captain of our pirate crew. With the strength of the Devil Fruit he is one of a kind. In any case he is a very fearsome man." Pirate explained fearful for his life, the demon was controlling the situation on his own and he was sure that the pirate hunter, Roronoa Zoro was even more dangerous.

"A Devil Fruit huh?" Zoro muttered to himself.

"_Devil Fruit isn't everything, depending on experience, skill, fighting style and countless of other factors that are bound to exist during a battle it's rarely possible to predict the outcome of the battle fought by two people who have never faced each other._" Vergil thought.

* * *

-Orange Town-

* * *

Orange town was currently the base of Buggy and his pirate crew and because of that it was pretty much a ghost town. All the citizens have fled in fear but right now a certain someone was running away from three pirates known as Superhuman Domingos.

"I did it! I finally got it!" Nami thought as she held the roll of paper, most likely a map, in her right hand, she was running away from Buggy's pirates.

"Wait you bitch!" One of them yelled.

"You thief give us back the map!"

"We just stole that map! The map to the Grand Line!" They kept yelling but Nami refused to stop.

"Damn it! If we don't get it back quickly our lives will be in danger!" The frustrated pirate exclaimed.

"I don't want to be killed by captain's cannon!" The second one added.

The cannon fired and hit the bird causing Nami and three pirates to look at the sky.

"What?" Pirate asked as the bird miraculously survived, but it also dropped Luffy who crushed into the ground in front of Nami with a loud yell. Nami screamed as smoke that was created from the impact engulfed him.

"What?" She questioned.

"What?"

"Someone fell from the sky." The pirate observed.

"Damn it. Why was there a cannon ball all of a sudden?" Luffy thought out loud.

"Eh?" Nami was surprised that someone actually survived.

"But it saved me." Luffy said as he got up to his feet as if nothing happened. "That was a pretty interesting experience." He commented, the three pirates and Nami just looked at him trying to overcome their surprise, but then Nami got an idea and a mischievous smile appeared on her face.

"I'm hungry." Luffy complained as held onto his empty stomach.

"Boss, you came to save me!" Nami exclaimed happily as she walked up to Luffy who turned to look at her.

"Eh?" He questioned, he honestly had no idea who the girl in front of him was.

"Who are you?" He asked her as pirates growled behind them.

"Sorry, I'll leave the rest to you!" Nami told him as she ran away and turned around the corner disappearing from their line of sight.

"Hey, she's getting away!" One of the pirates yelled.

"It doesn't matter. We have her boss here." The second one said as they turned their attention to Luffy.

"Protecting his crew I see." The last one said with a grin.

"Say, is there any place where I can get some food?" Luffy asked them, still completely oblivious to the situation he was in.

"Don't screw with us!" The largest pirate said as he punched Luffy's face, of course being rubber and all, Luffy didn't feel any pain from that punch, but it did cause Luffy's straw hat to fall off.

"Ah!" Luffy gasped as he looked at the hat. He glared at the pirates before punching and knocking out the pirate that knocked his hat off. As two pirates looked at their fallen comrade Luffy caught his precious hat.

"Don't touch my treasure." Luffy told them as he placed the straw hat back onto his head.

"You bastard!" The remaining pirates yelled as they attacked Luffy, this time intending to use their sabers.

Nami on the other hand was on the roof, nearing its edge so she could see what kind of situation was down on the street.

"I wonder if he's beaten." She mumbled to herself.

"**Gomu Gomu no Pistol**!" Luffy yelled as he slammed his fists into two pirates' faces thus knocking them out as well.

"Wow!" Nami exclaimed, clearly impressed by what Luffy had done.

"You're strong aren't you?" She asked getting Luffy's attention.

"You won bare handed against sabers." She explained as she jumped down to the balcony.

"Ah! You were that… Who are you?" Luffy asked her.

"I'm a thief that robs pirates. My name is Nami. Hey, why don't you join me?" She offered as she leaned toward him.

"No, I have no reason to join you." Luffy plainly answered as he turned around and began walking away.

"Wa… Wait!" Nami called out to him as she jumped down to the street and ran after him.

"I said wait!" She repeated and finally Luffy's stomach growled.

"Now I remember." Luffy began as he held his stomach once again. "I'm hungry." He said and dropped down to his knees.

"How about I treat you?" Nami offered hoping to get on his good side and it sure worked as Luffy jumped back to his feet standing excitedly in front of the female thief.

"Really?" Luffy asked her in delight making her back away a bit.

"Y… Yeah." She replied, she was anything but used to the behavior of the rubber captain.

"_Where have I seen him before?_" She wondered as she looked at Luffy.

* * *

One wouldn't be wrong if he said that Buggy was currently rather unhappy.

"You still haven't caught that thief?" He asked, his words filled with threat.

"N-No. N-Not yet." The blond pirate who got misfortunate enough to speak with Buggy stuttered. "But, we are hot on her trail, Captain Buggy. Sir." He tried to calm the clown pirate down.

"How the hell did the map to the Grand Line get stolen that easily, anyway?" Buggy asked as the pirate stepped back in fear. "We were just about to head over there and go on a rampage!"

"Well captain, we screwed up and left the key to the storage room in the lock." Pirate said.

"What?!" Buggy demanded, but he wasn't exactly angry because of the act…

"Well with the key left in…" Pirate repeated but Buggy misheard it.

"This nose isn't fake!" Buggy yelled as he went so close to the pirate that his red nose hit the pirate's face. "You find it amusing don't you?! 'It looks fake' huh?!" Buggy shouted.

"This is a misunderstanding!" Pirate tried to explain but he only managed to infuriate Buggy even more.

"It's so big and red?!" Buggy yelled once again as the pirate fell onto his ass and moved as far away as he could.

"Please don't hurt me!" He begged as other pirates watched in fear.

"There it is." One of them muttered.

"The power of the Devil Fruit." Another one added as the blond pirate fought to breath. He was lifted into the air as he tried to loosen the grip of whatever was holding his throat.

"Who am I?" Buggy asked.

"Captain Buggy!" Pirate answered, he moved through the air and stopped in front of Buggy.

"What do I do with traitors?" Buggy asked another question.

"You flashily kill them. Please forgive me." Pirate begged but it was too late.

"Die flashily! Men fire the Buggy Ball!" Buggy ordered as the soon to be blown up pirate's eyes widened in fear. He begged for Buggy not to kill him, but his comrades did as they were told, the cannon fired blowing the pirate up…

"Now bring me back the map and no more mistakes. Got it?!" He ordered.

"Yes captain Buggy!" Pirates replied fearful of what could happen to them.

* * *

Luffy stuffed his mouth with some rather tasty food as Nami leaned back against the table.

"Tasty!" Luffy exclaimed. "Do you live here?" He asked, he was yet to swallow the food in his mouth.

"I don't live in this town. The locals ran away from the town because they were afraid of Buggy." Nami replied.

"So you are a burglar." Luffy said.

"Don't be rude! I only steal from pirates! Don't compare me to a common burglar."

"But a thief is a thief." Luffy pointed out as Nami frowned a bit and looked a bit to the side.

"I need to save up 100 million beri no matter what." She revealed.

"What are you going to do with all that money?" Luffy asked her.

"It's a secret." Nami answered as she turned away from Luffy who went back to eating.

"Now that I have a map of the Grand Line, 100 million beri is doable." She said as she hid the map under her shirt.

"Map?" Luffy muttered as he seemed to realize something. "Are you a navigator?" He asked.

"I'm the best navigator you'll ever meet!" Nami bragged, although she did have a reason to brag.

"I see! That's perfect!" Luffy said as he stood up. "Why don't you become our navigator?"

"Really?" She asked, after she saw him taking down those pirates she thought that joining up with him would be a good idea.

Luffy raised his hands up. "Yeah! We can be pirates together!" He told her and that's when her expression and more importantly opinion changed.

"I refuse." She clearly stated as she looked at him, her eyes were filled with disappointment and a certain dose of anger at first but then she became skeptical..

"Wait, you are a pirate?" She asked. Luffy took off his hat and looked at it.

"Yeah. I promised the man who gave me this that I would gather a crew and become a pirate." Luffy told her. Nami slammed her hands against the table.

"I hate pirates and demons more than anything in the world! I like money and tangerines!" Nami announced.

"Come on be our navigator." Luffy tried to persuade her.

"I said no." She replied as she walked to the window.

"That's too bad." Luffy said as he went down to eating, suddenly Nami remembered exactly why she thought she had seen Luffy somewhere.

"You… Do you have a demon in your crew?" She asked suddenly as Luffy turned to look at her.

"Yeah. Vergil is a demon." He replied as Nami gritted her teeth.

* * *

-Flashback, 5 years ago-

* * *

Nami was once again locked in her room, Arlong, a fishmen and the captain of the Arlong Pirates was standing in the room along with his first mate Krim, a demon.

"What was it that you wanted to talk about Krim?" Arlong asked curious as to why his first mate seemed so eager to make a bold move after 3 years of moving in the shadows and not attracting too much attention.

"It's been a year since Black Thunder attacked anyone, I assume it's safe to step out of the shadow, for that Nami, we need you to make new charts." Krim explained but then smirked at Nami.

"You better hurry up, if you don't finish the maps I've requested in seven days I'll bring you to our village and destroy it right in front of your eyes. Not to mention that I'll kill your dear sister and that stupid pinwheel man right in front of you." He threatened with a smirk.

"Shahahaha. You are as cruel as always I see." Arlong laughed as Nami fought hard not to cry, she promised after all, she wouldn't cry, not in front of them, not in front of Krim…

That week she spent all her time drawing maps, they were stained with blood, both the maps and her pen and when Krim saw that he just laughed, a demon… She hated him so much…

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

_**And that's it, ten chapters down, countless to go. By the way I'm using original Japanese version and for those who don't watch the subs 'left in' is similar to 'fake nose', well that's one of the examples I wanted to point out. Also you get a small sneak peek at Nami's back story.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Unnatural Darkness**_


	11. Unnatural Darkness

_**Answer on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Anime PJ – Well I sure agree with you, I wouldn't want to meet Krim either, thanks for the review.**_

_**ChrisZilla18 – Thanks for reviewing, trust me Vergil will do more than that. As for the question, well yeah, I plan on adding some, lesser demons without a doubt and a couple of bosses as well.**_

_**Blazeinferno – Thanks for reviewing.**_

_**MusicOfMadness – Thanks for reviewing, well these few couple of chapters are unfortunately similar to anime/manga, you'll see that even in this chapter there are some changes. It will be a while until I get to that point though, but hopefully it'll be by the end of the year.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 11 – Unnatural Darkness**_

* * *

"You… Do you have a demon in your crew?" She asked suddenly as Luffy turned to look at her.

"Yeah. Vergil is a demon." He replied as Nami gritted her teeth.

She took a deep breath and calmed down, looking out of the window she noticed the pirates that were chasing after her previously.

"_Those guys again. I have to do something about them._" Nami thought and then turned to Luffy. "_His crewmate is a demon… Can I really risk that much? Well whatever, that demon won't care, there is no way a demon could care about anyone._" She decided.

"You know I might just reconsider your offer if you do me a little favor." She began and walked up to the pirate captain as Luffy turned to her once again.

"Really?" Luffy asked. "Whatever you want!" He agreed rather easily.

"I want you to come with me to see Buggy the pirate. But first…" She said and just a few moments later Luffy had his hands and arms tied while Nami held the end of the rope…

"Why'd you tie me up?" Luffy asked.

"It's just a rope. Any objections?" She asked innocently.

"Well no. I wouldn't mind meeting some pirates. Let's go." He replied completely oblivious of the possible danger he could get himself into…

"Hey, hold your horses." Nami told him as Luffy started walking before she did.

They walked through the town and Nami sighed.

"That demon you have in your crew… What is he like?" She suddenly asked not really sure why she was asking about some damn demon.

"Vergil?" Luffy asked.

"Yeah, that Vergil guy." She said, she didn't feel good when she used the demon's name, not just Vergil's but any demon's name.

"He's awesome." Luffy replied with his signature grin.

"_Figures a pirate would find a demon to be awesome. Both pirates and demon destroy other people's lives after all_." She thought bitterly.

* * *

"What's that?!" Buggy yelled loudly."The thief got away?!" Three pirates that were sent to find Nami hugged each other and backed away.

"Our deepest apologies, captain!" They tried to apologize.

"You three are pathetic! Die flashily!" Buggy exclaimed, as three pirates screamed in fear another smaller pirate came running and calling Buggy.

"What?" Buggy asked.

"That thief came back on her own!" He told Buggy.

"Seriously?!" Buggy yelled out, shocked that Nami would return and indeed, smiling Nami and expressionless, tied Luffy walked through the pirate crew.

"That's her!" One of the pirates said.

"She's the one that stole the map!" Another one added.

Nami pushed Luffy and the rubber captain fell to the ground with a small grunt, she stuck her tongue out for a moment before she turned to Buggy.

"I've brought you a ringleader, captain Buggy the Clown. Here's your map." She told him as she began walking forward.

"You did good on returning the map…" Buggy began with a huge, evil smile on his face. "But what's with the change of heart?" He questioned. Nami gave him the map and stepped away.

"I've had an argument with my boss. I'm sick of him. And I'd like to join the Buggy Pirates." Nami explained sweetly, at this Buggy narrowed his eyes.

"Captain Buggy looks furious!" One of the pirates exclaimed.

"He'll use the demonic powers!" Another one said.

"Demonic?" Luffy questioned.

"Gyahahahahaha!" Instead of being furious as his crew had suspected Buggy began laughing and he sure laughed hard. "You're sick of him? That's a flashily interesting women. I like you! Very well! You may join my crew. Gyahahaha." Buggy accepted Nami into his crew. Nami looked a bit surprised at first but then she grinned slightly.

"_Mission accomplished! Pirates are so simple minded_." She thought.

Well from that point one thing led to another and Luffy was suddenly in a cage…

"Why am I in a cage?" Luffy asked.

"Kakakaka! I'm in a good mood today! What's your name, girl?" Buggy asked as he stood in front of Nami who was still smiling at him.

"Nami." She replied.

"Yosh! Let's have a welcome party for Nami! Make it flashy!" Buggy exclaimed and his crew cheered loudly.

In a matter of moments the party had started, pirates ate and drank, danced around and simply partied.

Nami however wasn't that eager to party. "What's wrong? This is your party. Have some more food." Buggy told her before drinking down more beer.

"Yes! Thank you." Nami said and then smiled slightly. "_I'll just bide my time until I can steal the map again. Then I'll loot all of Buggy's treasure while I'm at it._" She thought, on the other side Luffy desperately tried to reach some food, he had stretched his hand but it seemed like he couldn't stretch it any further.

"I want some… food too." He said, none of the pirates seemed to notice his abilities. His hand stretched back and he fell down. "Damn…" He muttered.

Buggy began laughing maniacally. "I'm in a flashily good mood today. Men prepare a Special Buggy Bomb!" Buggy ordered as he stood up. At this the pirates once again cheered. Nami watched as they pushed the cannon to the roof of the building and one of the pirates bringing the cannon ball with Buggy's Jolly Roger on it.

"It's loaded." He stated.

"Wh-What's going on?" Nami asked starting to feel a bit uneasy about the potential answer.

"Behold the power of my Buggy Bomb. Light it." He ordered and as ordered pirate lighted the cannon.

Nami's eyes widened as the cannon fired and the cannon ball blasted through entire row of the houses, the destruction it caused had proved that rumors of Buggy destroying town with his cannon was true.

* * *

Vergil, Zoro and three pirates had reached the town just in time to see the massive explosion caused by the Buggy Bomb.

"What was that explosion?" Zoro asked.

"A powerful person or a cannon." Vergil guessed although he was leaning more toward a cannon or some kind of stronger weapon. Potential of demons other than him being around was easily ruled out and he sighed.

"That's one of Buggy-sama's Special Buggy Bombs." One of the pirates informed them.

"A Buggy Bomb?" Zoro questioned.

"Stupid name." Vergil added.

"Hey!" Pirates yelled at him but he turned to glare at them.

"Got something to say?" He asked them in a cold tone.

* * *

Nami was looking at the destruction with wide eyes as pirates and Buggy along with them laughed, or in Buggy's case chuckled.

"That was truly flashy. My Buggy Bombs and Devil Fruit power will allow me to conquer the Grand Line. Right Nami?" Buggy commented.

"But of course." Nami quickly agreed.

"Ah?" Luffy finally turned the attention to himself.

"I'm the one who's going to conquer the Grand Line!" Luffy said as Buggy became angry. "I'm gonna be the Pirate King!" Luffy announced.

"You are an idiot!" Nami scolded him.

"Now I get why you can't stand him Nami." Buggy said.

"Exactly. He just doesn't understand how the world works. I won't follow someone like that." Nami said hoping to get out of the potentially bad situation.

"Naturally. In that case let me give you a little present." Buggy began. "A Buggy Bomb to blow him up!" The announcement of what her present would be made Nami's blood run cold, sure she wanted to get the treasure, sure she hated pirates, but to just watch someone die, she wouldn't be any better than Arlong, although she'd probably still be better than Krim…

"Eh?"

"Of course I'll also test your loyalty to me." Buggy added as pirates pushed the, once again loaded cannon to Nami and positioned it so that the cannon blast would hit Luffy.

"I see no need for that. You went through trouble to set up this party, let's just enjoy ourselves." She tried to talk him out of it but Buggy turned to her and smirked evilly.

"Do it. This is how we party." He ordered and handed her the matchsticks.

"Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!" Pirates began chanting repeatedly.

"If I don't do it he'll kill me… But if I do I'll be no different than these pirates!" She realized.

"Now! Flashily light 'er up!" Buggy exclaimed as his crew continued chanting 'Fire!'.

Luffy kept looking at Nami who was clearly hesitating.

"Nami! Don't be a wet blanket!" Buggy yelled at her as her hands began trembling.

"What's wrong?" Luffy suddenly asked her.

"Your hands are shaking." He commented with a slight smile as she scowled.

"That's what happens when you go up against pirates without having determination." He stated.

" Ugh. What determination? The determination to kill people without hesitation? Is that what it means to be a pirate?" She asked him angrily.

"No!" Luffy strongly disagreed. "The determination to put your own life on the line." He told her with a grin on his face.

"Fire! Fire! Fire!" Pirates kept chanting as Nami stood there, seemingly frozen, well until one of the pirates took the pack of matchsticks out of her hand.

"Eh?"

"Hey now. Don't keep us waiting newcomer." He told her as he pulled out a matchstick.

"You just go like this." He said as he lighted the match and began moving it toward the fuse, Nami's eyes widen as Luffy straightened up, the fuse was almost lighted when Nami finally made her decision, she pulled out her three part staff, combined them into one and slammed the wooden staff over pirate's head. Everyone looked at her wide eyes but then Luffy realized something.

"Damn! I couldn't stop myself!" She cursed.

"Just what do you think you are doing Nami!" Buggy demanded angrily.

"I'm sorry!" Nami apologized as she bowed down.

"What?! It's a bit too late to apologize now!" Buggy yelled.

"What's with you? Didn't you just save me?" Luffy asked completely forgetting something he had just realized.

"You wish! I just got anxious so I couldn't help myself! I have no intention of becoming a barbaric pirate like that!" She told him.

"Anxious huh?" Luffy wondered.

"Pirates like that took someone precious from me! I hate their guts!" She revealed.

"Oh, so that must be why…" Luffy realized but then remembered another thing he realized but forgot not too long ago.

"Ah! It lit up!" He yelled and Nami gasped as she realized that he was indeed right, the fuse was lit.

"I've had enough of your games, girl! Flashily kill her!" Buggy ordered and four pirates attacked Nami. She swung her staff but they jumped over it, one of them attempted to cut her but she quickly blocked his sword only to lose her staff when other three attacked her. She moved to the side and evaded them.

"Get her!" They yelled as she ran up behind them.

"W-W-Water! Water! Water! Water! Luffy began panicking and looking around searching for some water.

Nami kept running as Luffy gave up on his search for water and looked at the cannon that would soon fire.

"This is bad!" He exclaimed but then Nami grabbed the fuse with her bare hands. She screamed as the fire burned her hands.

"You are…" Luffy said as she bit back another scream. The smoke slowly ceased and the fire was put down.

"Behind you!" Luffy suddenly yelled.

"Flashily die!" Pirates yelled as they attacked her.

Luffy's eyes widened as two familiar faces stepped in, a couple of punches and sheathed sword swings later four pirates were down on the ground.

"Oi, oi. Ganging up on a girl like that isn't very nice." Zoro commented and Vergil grinned.

"Don't bother with lectures, they are already unconscious." The white haired demon said as Luffy grinned happily.

"Vergil! Zoro!" He exclaimed as Nami turned to look at two pirates. Zoro had one sword placed on his shoulder while he held the other one by his side, Vergil was casually looking at the pirate crew in front of them.

"Are you hurt?" Zoro asked her as he turned his head slightly to look at her.

"Uh?" Nami mumbled unsure of what to say.

"Did they hurt you?" Zoro repeated the question.

"No, I'm fine." She replied and now, as he finally heard her voice Vergil looked at her to confirm what he believed.

"It's you." He said and she looked at him, it was clear that this was the demon she had encountered a couple of times and that he was the pirate Luffy had mentioned.

"Demon…" She muttered, unsure of what to do at this point, her fear kicked in as he walked up to her and knelt down.

"Man am I glad to see you! I didn't think you'd find me! Hurry up and free me!" Luffy exclaimed once again sounding rather happy.

"What on earth are you doing? First a bird takes you and now you are in the cage." Zoro scolded him as Vergil patiently waited for Nami to get a bit more comfortable around him, when he realized she wasn't going to stop being defensive or afraid he sighed.

"Show me your hands." He softly told her and she was torn between getting away or staying still to keep glaring at him, the sole reason for not running away was the fact that she knew she couldn't run away from a demon, she knew that, from her own experience.

"I was just having fun." Luffy replied to Zoro as pirates around them tried to get over their shock.

"Look, I'm trying to see if I can help you out. I know you are afraid and I won't ask you to trust me but you can have my word, I won't hurt you." Vergil tried to reason with Nami who, mostly out of fear showed him her hands.

"Thanks for helping Luffy out." Vergil said as he looked at her palms, the burns weren't too severe but he supposed that cooling it down a bit wouldn't make any damage.

"I'll kill you flashily!" One of the pirates exclaimed as he attacked Vergil, Zoro smirked knowing that the white haired demon wouldn't get taken down by some random person and indeed as pirate approached Vergil and Nami the white haired demon lifted his left fist and collided it with pirate's stomach. Pirate doubled over and fell down unconscious, Vergil eyes the pirate and noticed a bottle hanging by the pirate's belt.

Nami looked at Vergil as he took the bottle opened it and sipped a bit of its content.

"How convenient, a cold water." He said with a small grin and turned back to Nami who retreated her hands.

"Like hell if I'll trust a demon." She said and glared at Vergil.

"Try it yourself then." He said as he gave her the bottle, Zoro eyed the duo's interaction kind of curious as to why things went like this, he knew that Vergil was still paying attention to every move of the pirate crew behind them. Nami took a small sip and realized that it was indeed water.

"It'll cool your burns down a bit. Better something than nothing, right?" Vergil said as he took the bottle back and held his other hand out prompting Nami to show him her palms yet again. She obliged and he slowly spilled the water down onto her burns until the very last drop got spilled.

"Thanks…" She mumbled almost inaudibly but Vergil smiled.

Pirates had finally gotten over their shock.

"Did he say 'Zoro'?" One of them asked.

"It sure sounded like that to me. And that one is a demon." Another one said.

"_He has Pirate Hunter Zoro for a crewmate and this Vergil demon…_" Nami thought as she eyed Vergil. "_A demon, well if nothing else he should be better than Krim, at least this one seems to care about his captain enough to thank someone_." She thought.

Zoro began walking pass the cannon and toward Luffy as Vergil and Nami stood up.

"So you are Zoro." Buggy said bringing the attention to himself.

"What do you want? Are you here to collect my bounty?" Clown pirate asked.

"Nope. No interested. I quit being a pirate hunter." Zoro replied.

"Well I'm interested in you. Taking you out will earn me a lot of fame." Buggy said.

"I wouldn't do that. You'd only get yourself killed." Zoro stated.

"_That's not good. With that cocky attitude there's no way he can become the strongest swordsman. He's no different than I was ten years ago and that cost me too much…_" Vergil thought as he looked at Zoro, he closed his eyes for a moment trying to get the pictures of crumbling town, blood splattering and people he cared about the most dying out of his mind… For now he succeeded.

"Oh, is that so?" Buggy taunted as he spun a knife around in his right hand.

Zoro sighed. "I guess I can't talk him out of it." He commented.

"Get him good, captain!" One of the pirates cheered.

"Captain Buggy!" Another one exclaimed and soon all the pirates began cheering.

"Buggy! Buggy! Buggy!" They repeated again and again as Zoro put his sword into his mouth and prepared. Nami and Luffy looked intensely as Vergil carefully watched Buggy's reckless assault. The Clown pirate ran completely open for a counter attack.

"Flashily die!" Buggy yelled as he jumped into the air, however before he could actually attack Zoro cut him into three pieces, Buggy's body was cut in half and his right arm and leg were cut off as well. Nami looked away and pirates' jaws slackened.

"He didn't even try to dodge." Zoro commented.

"Uwa! What a weakling!" Luffy exclaimed.

"No way." Nami said in disbelief.

"Something's wrong here." Vergil said and Nami looked at him. If she was about to say anything to him her attention was drawn away and to the crew that began laughing. Zoro looked at the laughing crew and then glanced at Luffy.

"What's with them?" Luffy wondered.

"Wh-What's going on? They are laughing even though their captain just got killed." Nami muttered.

"Hey! What's so funny!" Zoro demanded and Vergil's eyes widened. He turned back to where Buggy's body laid to see the supposed dead man rather alive.

"_I don't have enough time!_" Vergil cursed as he rushed and pushed Zoro out of the way completely surprising the swordsman.

"Oi Vergil! What was th…" Zoro's voice got lost in shock as a knife went through Vergil's right forearm, he wasn't the only one to get surprised Nami and Luffy both looked shocked.

"Vergil!" Luffy yelled.

"What's with that hand?!" Nami shouted.

"What the hell is going on?!" Zoro demanded, his eyes widened as Buggy's arm floated in the air.

"Devil Fruit… We were careless…" Vergil cursed as blood soaked his sleeve.

"It's **Bara Bara no Mi** _**(Chop Chop Fruit)**_. That's the Devil Fruit I ate, cutting me is useless I'm a splitting man! Gyahahaha." Buggy explained.

"He put his body back together." Nami realized. "I thought the Devil Fruits were just a legend!"

"Right into the trap huh?" Vergil said with a small grin.

"Splitting man? Is he a monster?" Luffy asked and Vergil sweat dropped.

"Says a rubber man…" The white haired demon commented.

"I am impressed that you stopped me from cutting Zoro though. But still that wound you got ain't joking matter." Buggy said with a wide grin and he was right, Vergil's forearm was bleeding a lot.

"Zoro can't defeat me and you are almost done for, this battle is over!" Buggy bragged confidently as Zoro glared at him.

"Way to go captain!"

"Buggy! Buggy! Buggy!" Pirates cheered yet again.

"_This is bad! Things have taken a turn for worse yet again! If we don't do something soon, we'll all be dead!_" Nami thought, Vergil noticed the look on her face, lifted his wounded hand and clenched his fist.

"It'll be fine." He assured her and her eyes widened, for some reason she didn't doubt his words.

But before Vergil could say anything else Luffy, angered by Buggy's action decided to voice his opinion.

"Attacking from behind is cowardly you big nose!" Rubber captain yelled.

"_Th-That idiot! Now he's done it!_" Nami thought while Vergil and Zoro smirked.

"Who're… you… calling… big nose?!" Buggy demanded as he threw his hand back and then launched it at Luffy.

"Luffy!" Zoro exclaimed but Luffy had caught the knife Buggy's hand was holding with his teeth.

"Buggy! I'm gonna kick your ass!" Luffy announced causing Buggy and his pirates to start laughing.

"You kick my ass? In your dreams. I'm gonna kill all four of you!" Buggy announced.

"You are noisy. Since a swordsman can't hurt you I suppose I'll be your opponent for now." Vergil said, Nami shivered at the tone of his voice. Quicker than Buggy could follow Vergil disappeared and reappeared once again in front of the clown pirate.

"This is for attacking from behind." The white haired demon said as he threw a punch directly at Buggy's face, the surprise combined with speed of the punch sent Buggy flying back to his crew.

"Kill me, my ass! Run, Zoro, Vergil!" Luffy yelled.

"What?" Zoro questioned in surprise.

"They came here to save you and now you're telling them to run away? What about you?" Nami asked in disbelief.

Luffy kept smiling and two pirates caught on. Zoro smirked and Vergil grinned.

"Roger that." They both agreed.

"Forget it! I don't get these people at all! This is why I hate pirates." Nami thought.

"Zoro." Vergil said and the swordsman nodded.

Buggy recovered from Vergil's punch and attacked the wounded demon who evaded the knifes.

Zoro ran up to the cannon and crouched under it as Vergil did his best to evade the slices and stabs that Buggy attempted, still not even he could do through unscathed, Buggy managed to make a couple of small cuts on his arms but then Vergil backed away for a moment and attempted to kick Buggy who separated.

"Where's all the tough talk now! Huh?!" Buggy taunted as Vergil grunted as he backed away from the swing of a knife.

"**Bara Bara Kick**!" Buggy sent his foot toward Vergil who managed to block it, but the force coupled with the position Vergil was in forced him to stumble back.

"Behind you!" Nami exclaimed, not exactly knowing why but she supposed she did it because the demon in question was potentially their last hope.

Vergil looked behind and turned around only to get a knife into his guts, he however smirked as he grabbed the hand.

Suddenly Buggy's eyes widened and he stumbled back.

"What did you do?" Buggy asked as he panted.

"What just happened?" Nami wondered as Zoro finally pushed the cannon to the other side. Vergil joined Zoro and a created a small spark, just about strong enough to relit the fuse. Nami could now guess what happened as she looked at the small blue spark of electricity.

"_He used the electricity to shock Buggy!_" She realized.

"Are you crazy! The cannon is pointing at us now!" Buggy exclaimed as he and his pirates looked at the cannon in fear.

"He lit it! Wait! That's dangerous! Stop! Stop!" Buggy yelled as Nami covered her ears, the cannon fired and Vergil grinned.

"_Grom… Now I'm certain, I've found more people I'm willing to protect with darkness._" Vergil thought.

* * *

-Flashback, 14 years ago-

* * *

9 years old Vergil lied on the grass field in the Demon World, the sky was surprisingly clear and he felt calm. The white haired boy was dressed in a simple light blue T-Shirt and brown jeans, his eyes were yellow and even now he had his scars.

"What are you doing here all alone kid?" A voice he was familiar with brought him back from his small nap.

He opened his eyes to look at a tall demon that currently stood above him. He was a black haired demon, the spiky hair, golden eyes, a couple of scars here and there and the age of 24 the demon's name was Grom. He was for once in his more casual clothing, showing that he hasn't been on a demon hunting job for a long period of time, well long for him at least. He was dressed in a white T-shirt and black trousers.

"Taking a nap." Vergil muttered.

"I'll join." Grom said as he lied down as well, the two demons had a father-son relationship even though they were in no way related by blood.

"Grom." Vergil said.

"Hm? What is it?" The black haired demon asked.

"Is it possible to use darkness as a shield?" Young boy asked. Grom took a deep breath and looked at Vergil.

"Darkness doesn't exactly have a form, you know? It's not like earth, solid enough to make a shield out of it, or air that you can spin around fast enough to deflect the attack." Grom said but then looked at the sky, almost as if thinking more about Vergil's idea.

"I know that. But it sounded impossible to mix lightning and darkness and you did it. So maybe you can solidify darkness enough for it to form a shield." Vergil argued.

"Well it could feel a bit unnatural but if you have any actual idea as to what to do let me hear it." Grom stated and Vergil quickly sat up, eager and ready to say his idea.

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

"_It is unnatural, but it'll do._" Vergil thought as explosion engulfed Buggy's pirate crew and Buggy himself.

* * *

_**And that's it.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Chouchou**_


	12. Chouchou

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review.**_

_**Guest – Thanks for the review.**_

_**Anime PJ – Nope I didn't kill him, I've got plans for him later on, what kind of plan well I can't say that, there is a list of characters that will die though, especially in a certain saga, in my opinion Straw Hats need to learn that they can't protect everyone. Other than Ace no actual relevant ally or really important character died in the series, something that kind of takes away the seriousness of the situation for me. As for Buggy, well Vergil will explain how come he didn't get killed.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 12 – Chouchou**_

* * *

The force of cannon blew up most of the area but more importantly it created enough smoke to cover the escape. With some strain Zoro had managed to lift the cage Luffy was in.

"Need help?" Vergil asked as he looked at Zoro.

"You are injured, I'm doing this on my own." Zoro said, his voice was a bit strained but he could manage.

Nami went down the roof after them. "What's with these people?" She wondered, Zoro was straining himself to lift the cage while both him and Vergil risked their lives to find a way to escape.

"Luffy, who's that girl?" Zoro asked, he was getting used to the weight of the cage.

"Oh, she's our navigator." Luffy stated.

"This is insane. What are you guys?" She said more to herself.

"Can you pick a lock?" Vergil asked and she nodded.

"I'm a thief, of course I can pick a lock." Nami replied making the white haired demon sweat drop.

"That's not something you should say so proudly…" He muttered.

"Like demons are the ones to talk, all you ever do is kill." She said and Vergil looked at her for a couple of moments before sighing.

"Can you come with us and get Luffy out of this cage? Sneaking in there to get the key could be dangerous, especially now that they are enraged." The white haired demon said, Nami pondered on it for a moment.

"It's my fault that he is the cage anyway." She reasoned and followed them.

* * *

Buggy wasn't feeling that good, he had survived the blast of his cannon, but only because he used his crew as a shield, but still his left hand was pretty much numb right now, after all whatever the white haired demon did to him, he was pretty sure it was through direct contact with his left hand.

"Those four aren't taking me seriously! This isn't a game! Their actions are nothing short of a declaration of war against me." Buggy said as a huge lion paw hit the ground.

"There you are, Mohji." He said as his first mate and the beast tamer Mohji appeared on his gigantic lion Richie.

"Do you want me to take out Roronoa Zoro?" He asked.

"Hehehe. By all means." Buggy stated.

* * *

Zoro dragged Luffy's cage down the street.

"We have to hurry up! I heard pirates!" Nami warned them, Vergil gritted his teeth as he looked around for shelter when he found none he let out a sigh and grabbed onto the cage with his left hand.

"We are going up." The white haired demon said.

"And how do you plan on taking that cage all the way up there?!" Nami shrieked at him, not even an hour has passed since they officially met and she was already yelling at him, but she felt much more comfortable around him than she felt when she was with Krim.

"Ever heard of an **Air Hike**?" Vergil asked and her eyes widened.

"Nope." Zoro and Luffy replied.

"_He can use it too?_" Nami thought.

"**Air Hike**…" Vergil mumbled and jumped up all the way to the roof, however the weight of the cage was too much and he only reached high enough to grab onto the rake.

"Damn it all to hell." He cursed as he felt blood sliding down his right forearm, not to mention that straining seemed to worsen his wounds. Zoro and Nami climbed onto the roof and Zoro grabbed onto Vergil's hand helping the white haired demon climb up and just in time as pirates came by the corner just a couple of moments later.

"That was too close." Zoro said.

"Damn wounds…" Vergil commented.

"We need to get out of their sight, if we stay on the roof Buggy will probably see us." Nami said.

"Is that guy still alive?" Luffy asked.

"He is, but his hand is probably starting to hurt him by now." Vergil replied.

"What did you do anyway?" Zoro asked curious as to what exactly forced the clown captain to back down like that.

"I used lightning to shock him. I took a chance to induce a small paralyze on his body." The white haired demon replied.

"How? Couldn't you kill him with that?" Nami asked, she figured out what was it that Vergil did, but she wanted to know how.

"Well electricity isn't what kills you, it's the energy produced by voltage, electrical current and time. Generally speaking there are couple of main factors deciding the effect of lightning or electricity based attacks. First of all voltage, volt is the unit of electrical potential and it is required to send a current. Ampere is the unit of current, one ampere is the current which one volt can send, common people can be killed by current equal or higher than 0,1 ampere. Finally there's resistance, one ohm is resistance offered to the passage of one ampere when impelled by one volt. Resistance varies based on the individual and the state of the body, a wet body has lesser resistance than a dry body. 0.02 ampere is enough to cause a slight shock and paralyze the victim, that's the current I used coupled with a single second and 500 volt I hit Buggy with energy equal to 10 joules which is 5 times less than it's needed to kill a common person, but it was enough to shock him for a couple of moments." Vergil explained Luffy and Zoro looked blissfully ignorant though.

"You didn't understand a single thing I said, did you?" Vergil stated and turned to Nami who had understood what he had said.

"I see, thanks for clearing things out for us, well me." She said making the white haired demon smile.

"Glad to see that all the talk wasn't wasted." He replied.

"But why didn't you kill him? You are a demon after all." She asked and Vergil grinned.

"Luffy said he'd kick Buggy's ass. I can't stand in the way of my captain's decisions." Vergil said.

"Shishishishi. Thanks Vergil." Luffy thanked him while Zoro smirked.

"Let's go and find a better place. You up for a walk Vergil?" Zoro asked and Vergil nodded as he stood up.

"Let's get down, then you can pick this lock, right… What was your name again?" Vergil asked.

"Nami. Yeah I can do that." Nami said as they went down back to the street.

Nami was busy picking the lock while Zoro and Vergil guarded her and Luffy from the potential dangers.

"Almost there." Nami said but then they heard a loud roar.

"What was that?" She asked as panic threatened to overcome her.

"I'll go and check it out." Vergil said.

"With those injuries?" Nami asked him.

"If it's Buggy, than Zoro will be unable to fight." Vergil stated and while the swordsman didn't like that he had to face the truth, if it was Buggy he wouldn't be able to win.

"Be careful." Zoro told him making the white haired demon nod.

* * *

Mohji was searching the town, looking for Zoro, but his lion, Richie sensed food nearby, he began approaching the smell.

"Once we kill Zoro we will get more fame." Mohji commented and then noticed a pet food store in front of them. Mayor he had seen a couple of times ran away to find shelter thus Mohji grinned.

"Come on Richie." Mohji urged his lion that was however far more concentrated on the food store in front of him.

"Well fine just be quick." Mohji agreed, he noticed Chouchou, a dog that was guarding it in front of them barking.

Not too far away Vergil looked at the scene, he watched as Chouchou barked at Mohji and Richie.

"Probably won't last for too long." Vergil muttered, he knew that a dog that small wouldn't be able to defeat that lion. Richie slammed his paw and sent Chouchou flying, what made Vergil's eyes widen was the fact that the small dog stood up and albeit injured ran up to Richie.

Chouchou lunged at Richie but the lion just hit him again.

"That dog, he'll get himself killed." Vergil growled as he ran forward. He jumped and caught the injured dog. Mohji's eyes widened at sudden interruption as Vergil knelt on the ground.

"You must be one of the thieves." Mohji reasoned as Vergil glared at him.

"Kill him Richie!" The beast tamer ordered, the lion roared and tried to smash Vergil and Chouchou but a shield of darkness stopped him.

"What?!" Mohji exclaimed.

"**Darkness Shield**… You shouldn't mess with demons." Vergil said, and though his vision was getting blurry, he still found strength inside of him to grab Richie's paw and throw the lion back. Mohji jumped down to the street and Richie stood up once again.

Blood dripped from Vergil's wounds as Richie approached him and Chouchou.

"Damn it! If it wasn't for these wounds I wouldn't have any trouble at all." Vergil cursed. Being a demon didn't help much, blood lose was blood lose, especially with no reserves of energy to keep him going, the stupid seal was really making some major problems for him now.

"Come on you can do better than that!" Harsh words from way back seemed to affect him even now as he stood up.

"You are finished kitty cat." Vergil taunted, Chouchou was behind him while Boodle who was driven by guilt and came back looked worried.

"Run away youngster, you can't win!" Boodle shouted at him.

"We'll see about that." Vergil said as Mohji smirked, Richie was just a couple of feet away from Vergil now.

"Get him Richie!" Mohji ordered but he would soon come to regret that. Richie roared as he attempted to hit Vergil with his massive paw.

"**Lightning Strike**!" Vergil exclaimed as he kicked Richie's paw away with a lightning powered up kick. Mohji looked terrified while Boodle looked downright surprised.

"Time to finish this you overgrown cat." Vergil said as he jumped above Richie and punched him with a darkness coated arm. "**Darkness Slam**." Vergil said as his fist collided with the top of Richie's head knocking the lion out.

"Richie!" Mohji yelled out as he cried.

"Your turn." The white haired demon said and walked up to now trembling beast tamer. "**Lightning Punch**." Vergil's punch sent Mohji flying and the now dizzy lion ran away after his owner. "It's done." Vergil said as he let out a deep breath.

Unknown to him Nami had freed Luffy and had decided to find him, what she saw pretty much changed her plans…

Nami looked furious, to her injured dog looked like a victim of Vergil's attack, the awe struck mayor looked like a scared civil and Vergil looked like the one responsible for the damage around.

"_He'll just destroy everything! He's no better than other demons! It's better if I kill him here and now, it'll be one demon less in this world!_" She ran up to Vergil who brushed her running toward him as simply rushing to check the situation, he couldn't be more wrong when she slammed the back of his head with her staff.

"The hell's that for Nami!?" Vergil yelled at her as he turned to look at her, the anger in her eyes told him exactly what was wrong, in her eyes he was the one who hurt the dog.

"Stop it miss!" Mayor Boodle exclaimed as he ran up to them but halted to a stop when Vergil showed him to stay out of it.

The white haired demon began standing up but Nami kneed him into the stomach, right into his wound, he gritted his teeth and took another hit of her staff right on top of his head still he didn't fall.

Luffy and Zoro had finally caught up with Nami.

"That wench!" Zoro cursed and was about to interfere when Luffy stopped him.

"Luffy!" Zoro yelled at the rubber captain.

"Vergil's got this." Luffy said, Zoro sighed and gave up, Luffy was the captain after all.

Vergil gritted his teeth as Nami attempted to hit him with her staff once again, he however reacted in time now and caught the staff, the moment of surprise cost Nami her staff as Vergil took it from her and dropped it to the ground behind him.

He lunged forward and pinned Nami against the wall of the house that was close to them.

"_That's it, he'll kill me!_" She thought, even if she was somehow capable of escaping him she'd still have to escape both Zoro and Luffy. She went and did it, she failed, everything she worked for, she threw it all away. What surprised her though was the fact that while he held onto her wrists and pinned them to the wall he did that rather gently, in fact, she could probably push him away if she tried.

"You think this is my fault? You think that I hurt the dog?" Vergil asked as he panted but instead of allowing her to answer, he continued.

"I am a demon, I know that. I can understand your fear, I get the fact that you are hostile toward me because I am a demon… However, I will not stand by if you blame and attack me because of something I have not done! I am not the bastard that caused your suffering, whichever demon it is, I know that it's not me so fuck off my case Nami." He told her and backed away still panting, his yellow eyes met with Nami's brown ones before she leaned against the wall and slid down until she sat there.

"Hey old man, what happened here?" Zoro asked as he looked at slightly injured dog and Vergil who looked more injured than before.

"The beast tamer Mohji came with his lion and they attacked Chouchou, but this young man defeated them." Boodle briefly explained making Nami's eyes widen.

"Nice Vergil!" Luffy cheered as he patted Vergil on the back.

"Luffy I'm hurt, I don't need more hits…" Vergil scowled at his captain.

"Ah! Sorry!" Luffy apologized quickly making the demon grin.

"Don't worry, I'll be fine." He assured Luffy who grinned as well.

"Sorry for that, I guess I couldn't control myself." Nami apologized.

"I kind of get it, you were hurt by a demon and now you are angry at every demon, not that I see too much fault at that, if nothing else you shouldn't get comfortable around demons." Vergil told her and looked at Chouchou before he knelt down in front of the dog.

"His name is Chouchou, right?" Vergil asked as he patted the dog's head a bit.

"Yes." Boodle confirmed it.

"It's a dog!" Luffy exclaimed as he crouched down next to Vergil and poked Chouchou's eye.

"Hey leave Chouchou alone!" Boodle yelled, but Chouchou defended himself as he bit onto Luffy's finger.

"Aahh! Let go! Let go! Stupid dog!" Luffy screamed as he shook his hand up and down trying to get Chouchou off. Vergil laughed a bit as Zoro smirked, Nami allowed a small smile as she stood up.

"What are you doing! Let go!" Luffy yelled and finally Chouchou let him go. Luffy fell onto his back panting.

"Damn dog!" He exclaimed tiredly as his first mate followed the example.

"Too tired…" Vergil complained.

"Seriously you two…" Zoro said.

"Anyway boy, you should see a doctor, those are quite serious wounds." Boodle said to Vergil as the white haired demon turned to look at him.

"I'll be fine, I just need to catch my breath." He replied.

"That's not going to solve anything!" Nami scolded him.

"One moment you are afraid of me, the second one you are trying to kill me, the third one you are worried about me. What's next? Falling in love with me?" Vergil asked.

"As if! Keep dreaming demon! I'd never be with a stupid demon even if my life was in danger!" Nami yelled at him.

"Well I wouldn't be with a human even if she was the last living being in this universe!" Vergil yelled back.

"Yeah because we humans are so bellow you!" Nami snapped.

"It's because the last hu…" He was about to blurt something out but caught himself in the middle of a sentence. "My reasons are none of your business!" He settles for that being his reply but the half finished sentence wasn't lost to Nami.

"Stop fighting you two." Boodle tried to make them stop fighting.

"Why was Chouchou so protective over that Pet Food store?" Vergil asked after a couple of minutes of silence.

"The store owner was a good friend of mine and Chouchou's master. I usually come here to feed Chouchou in his stead." Boodle explained.

"In his stead?" Nami asked.

"Yes, he died from an illness three months ago." Mayor revealed.

"So the dog is waiting for his master to return?" Nami questioned as Luffy, Zoro and Vergil listened to Boodle.

"That's what everyone thinks." Boodle told her as he sat down in front of the store.

"Eh?"

"I disagree though. Chouchou is a smart dog, I'm sure he is aware that his master is dead." Boodle said.

"So why is he still guarding the store?" Nami asked yet another question.

"Because to Chouchou, this store is a treasure, I think it reminds him of his loving master. I tried taking him away but he won't budge, so boy thank you for protecting the store and Chouchou." Boodle said and thanked Vergil who sat up.

"Don't thank me, I did it on a whim, although not helping the dog like Chouchou would leave a bad taste in my mouth." Vergil said.

"Woof! Woof! Woof!" Chouchou barked a couple of times making the demon and the captain grin.

"Sure, you keep up the good work too." Luffy said.

"Take good care of the store." Vergil added and Chouchou barked a couple of times before leaving to the inside of the store.

Nami smiled while Zoro had a satisfied look on his face.

As Chouchou left Boodle finally showed his true frustration.

"I'm powerless! Chouchou and an injured boy fought so hard, yet I, the town's mayor have done nothing to save this town!" Boodle reathed out in frustration.

"Mayor please calm down." Nami said as she and Luffy ran up to the mayor.

"Forty years ago there was nothing here. We all worked hard together to clear the land… Harvested crops, opened the stores and built a community. This town and its people are my treasure. I won't let this fiends violate this town any further." Boodle announced.

"Too late for preventing any more damage now." Vergil commented as he saw the cannon being fired, the cannon blast destroyed a row of houses not too far away from them.

"Aah…" Boodle gasped.

"Lucky them, they didn't destroy Chouchou's treasure, listen old man, I don't really care about all this and I don't particularly like or care about you, nothing personal I just don't come to care about someone in such a short period of time. But if you want to fight alone then give it up." Vergil said as he stood up.

"What are you saying youngster?! If I don't fight who will?!" Boodle yelled.

"Please calm down. It's reckless!" Nami tried to calm him down.

"I know it's reckless! But I have to fight and I can't endanger other people!" Boodle told her.

"Luffy?" Vergil questioned as he saw the determinate look on Luffy's face.

"Yeah, I'm kicking Buggy's ass." Luffy announced surprising Boodle.

"I won't let you boy! You'll die!" Boodle yelled at him.

"You can't do it alone. You don't have power to do it alone, in this world each individual has limits as to what he or she can do on their own, a common human filled only with 'self sacrifice in vain' kind of crap can't do a single thing. Forty years ago you needed so many people to build this place, do you honestly think that you can protect it on your own if you couldn't create it on your own?" Vergil stated his opinion and walked up to Mayor.

"Leave it to us." The white haired demon said as he knocked Boodle unconscious.

"What did you do that for?!" Nami snapped at Vergil.

"He'd be in way." Luffy and Zoro explained in simply.

"Hey Nami." Luffy got Nami's attention.

"What is it?" She asked.

"We are going to kick Buggy's ass and get the map of the Grand Line, so be our navigator, be our nakama." Luffy invited her as he held out his hand in a high five manner.

"I will never become a pirate, but for the sake of our common goal I suppose we can team up." Nami said and they high fived.

"Shishishi, Nice, we've got a new nakama!" Luffy cheered as Vergil and Zoro began walking toward drinker's pub.

"Did you speak from experience back there?" Zoro asked curiously.

"In a way, long ago someone very important to me told me something similar. Although much shorter." Vergil admitted.

"A demon can't do it alone, but maybe a…" The same words echoed again.

"Are you sure you can fight with those injuries?" Zoro asked.

"If I can't fight with these injuries than I have no right to attempt to kill Mundus." Vergil stated with a smirk. The group of four marched toward Buggy and his crew.

* * *

_**That's it for this chapter. The explanation about electricity is actual facts, Vergil isn't smarter than Nami or any other smarter One Piece characters, he has knowledge about lightning and electricity that's more advanced than most if not all One Piece characters, seeing as he is a lightning demon it comes natural to know a lot about his main fighting style. Other than that, Vergil knows about the Demon World, the remaining knowledge he has is rather basic.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Zoro VS Cabaji**_


	13. Zoro VS Cabaji

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Anime PJ – Thanks for the review, yeah, they sort of get along, they'll get along much better soon though, as for Nami's staff, well I didn't really see that as necessary furthermore it would only antagonize Vergil even further in her eyes.**_

_**jack – Thank, yeah, I had a FMA story, lack of time made me delete it.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review, glad you like the chapter.**_

_**Trappedindarkness13 – Thanks for reviewing.**_

_**Guest – Thanks for the review, I'll try.**_

_**ChrisZilla18 – Thanks, yeah, he predicted the future. XD The irony is the best. Well for the pairing for Robin or any other pairing. I suppose there could be some subtle signs of some less major pairings like maybe ViviXKohza. The Robin X someone, personally if I had to pair Robin up with someone, that would be Zoro, there might even be some actual plot moments that could be used for the potential relationship. I'm still not sure about what to do with the romance though, but Luffy is just too innocent for being in a relationship so he'll probably stay in Luffy X Food relationship. The funny thing is, when I thought out the basics of this story the one thing that I had so much trouble at deciding was which pairing to take Vergil X Nami (obviously that one was chosen) or Vergil X Robin, eventually the Vergil X Robin one failed in my attempt to make some less subtle moments without pushing Robin too much out of the character prior to entire CP9 thing. Anyway I'll take the pairing suggestions into consideration and if more people request some specific pairing I might actually do it.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 13 – Zoro VS Cabaji**_

* * *

Another Buggy Bomb was ready to be fired while the Straw Hats approached.

"Captain Buggy, the cannon is loaded!" One of the pirates exclaimed.

"Yosh! Fire!" Buggy ordered, however that was the order that would wait a bit before being executed.

"Buggy! I'm here to kick your ass. Just as I promised!" Luffy shouted as he, Vergil, Zoro and Nami stood in front of the pub.

"Straw Hat!" Buggy hissed as he and his crew looked at the four pirates from the roof.

"You bastard. You actually have guts to return here! To face this captain Buggy!" Buggy yelled out.

"Act high and mighty all you want, you are returning back to the circus you escaped from." Vergil taunted.

"I flashily did not escape from circus!" Buggy yelled.

"So you are born a clown, man I pity you now." The demon brushed it off enraging Buggy even further.

"Listen, all I want is the map and treasure. Got that?" Nami asked the three males.

"Yeah, I know." Zoro replied.

"Want me to go with you?" Vergil offered.

"Never in a million years will I accept a help from a demon." Nami told him harshly.

"Back to square one, huh? You allowed me to cool down your palms didn't you?" Vergil asked making her glare at him.

"That was out of fear!" She snapped.

"Humans…" Vergil muttered.

"Demons." She said bitterly.

"Here I go." Luffy said as he took a deep breath and walked a bit more forward. "BIG NOSE!" He yelled as loudly as he could making the jaws of the Buggy Pirates drop, Nami held the sides of her head in utter fear while Zoro and Vergil smirked.

"That's something you definitively can't say!" Nami exclaimed.

"Why not, he's going to fight Buggy either way?" Vergil asked her.

"You shut up!" She snapped but then sighed. "Sorry, I'm just not used to demons that act like you…" She said and to her surprise he smiled a bit.

"You wouldn't be the first one to tell me that." The white haired demon confessed with a fond smile, she knew that the smile wasn't directed at her but more so at some memory, still a honest peaceful smile on a demon's face, she found it hard to believe her own eyes.

"You are pissing me off asshole. You dare call me that?" Buggy hissed and finally snapped. "Fire the Buggy Bomb right now!" He yelled.

"Why did you say that, you fool!" Nami yelled as she ran to the side hoping to get away from the cannon blast.

"Hey, Luffy! Run!" Zoro yelled at the captain.

"It's nothing." Luffy assured them.

"It'll be fine." Vergil added.

"Fire!" Buggy

"That won't work on me! **Gomu Gomu no**…" Luffy exclaimed as he sucked in a lot of air and became a balloon. "… **Balloon**!" As his it's name has suggested the technique make Luffy's body larger and filled with air, the cannon ball hit Luffy's now large stomach. Nami, Buggy and his pirates looked utterly shocked.

"Don't tell me Buggy Bomb…" Buggy realized a bit too late as the bomb went back.

"Tell us beforehand." Zoro said as he face palmed.

The bomb hit the building and caused massive damage to it.

"Alright it hit the enemy." Luffy said.

"What the hell are you?!" Nami snapped at him as Zoro walked up behind Luffy and Vergil.

"Don't surprise people like that." Zoro scolded him.

"You were surprised?" Vergil asked as he and Luffy calmly observed the damage, many of the pirates were unconscious, some may even be dead and the building was no more than a bunch of rubble right now.

"Ever since you defeated that lion I knew your captain couldn't be normal either!" Nami yelled at Vergil, honestly she should have expected something crazy, after all how many times did she see a demon following someone's lead. She then turned to Luffy without giving Vergil the opportunity to answer.

"That's not something a human can do. Please explain it to me clearly. That balloon thing you just did, what was it?" She asked and Luffy smiled.

"That's **Gomu Gomu no Balloon**." Luffy stated the obvious.

"I'm not asking that. I'm asking what was it! Are you some kind of a monster!" She yelled.

"Actually that's exactly what that was, a rubber balloon." Vergil replied and Nami punched him on the side of his head.

"Stay out of this unless you've got something smart to say." She snapped.

"_I'm going to get you back for that Nami_." Vergil thought as a smirk appeared on his face, he had just thought of a way to pay Nami back without hurting her in any kind of way.

"How dare you do that to me?" Buggy demanded angrily as he held two of his subordinates in the air and used them as a shield from the explosion.

"Using his subordinates as a shield eh?" Nami asked as she folded her arms across her chest disapprovingly.

"So that's how he survived the first one, lowly." Vergil commented.

"Like you are the one to talk, demon." Nami initiated yet another bicker time with Vergil who kind of began losing the patience.

"I thought I made myself clear back when you attacked me. Don't judge me just because I am a demon." Vergil told her harshly.

"Like there is anything good in demons." Nami said.

"If I were that much of a monster you'd be dead long ago!" Vergil snapped at her.

"Don't ignore me you flashy bastards!" Buggy yelled.

"Don't interfere!" Both Nami and Vergil yelled before they went back to glaring at each other.

"I can't eat anymore…" Mohji said as he slowly woke up to find the pub in the ruins, he stood up and began looking around. "What's going on here?" He asked and then noticed Vergil.

"Aaahhh! It's you!" He yelled as he pointed at Vergil.

"Get lost." Vergil growled at him and the beast tamer hid under the rubble.

"So what are you?" Nami asked Luffy as she still glared at Vergil.

"I'm a rubber man." Luffy said as he stretched his cheeks.

"Rubber man?!" Nami exclaimed in shock.

"I see, so that's why Buggy Bombs bounced off of you." Buggy realized, at that point another pirate emerged from the rubble, this time it was the second mate Cabaji who was holding Richie as a shield.

"You bastard what are you doing to Richie!"Mohji yelled but then felt Vergil's glare and piped down.

"This is our greatest humiliation, captain." Cabaji stated.

"Oh, Cabaji. I cannot suppress my anger any longer." Buggy said as Cabaji walked up behind his captain.

"Captain Buggy, please let me handle this." Cabaji suggested making Buggy smirk as the Straw Hats looked at their new opponent.

"Yosh! Show them your acrobatics!" Buggy encouraged him.

Cabaji jumped up and landed on the ground, however he was riding a unicycle…

"I am the second mate of the Buggy Pirates, Cabaji the acrobat. Captain Buggy's anger has been transferred to me!" Cabaji exclaimed as he attempted to stab Luffy.

His attack was effortlessly stopped by Zoro who was now standing in front of a bit surprised Luffy. "Since you use sword I'll be your opponent." Zoro stated.

"That seems fair, Roronoa Zoro. To fight you as a swordsman." Cabaji said calmly.

"Don't get in my way." Zoro said to Luffy and Vergil.

"**Acrobatic special, Old Man's Flame**!" Cabaji exclaimed as he breathed fire at surprised Zoro, the swordsman covered his face and shielded it from the flames, but he was defenseless against a kick. The kick was aimed directly at Zoro's waist, yet it wasn't enough to affect Zoro even though Cabaji had attempted to use all of his strength.

"I won't get defeated by a loser like you." Zoro said as he clenched his swords and got into his signature **Onigiri** stance.

"**Onigiri**!" Zoro exclaimed as he cut Cabaji who fell down from his unicycle.

"Cabaji! How dare you low life thieves trample over my crew!" Buggy yelled.

"We are not thieves, we are pirates." Zoro stated surprising Buggy.

"Pirates? You guys are pirates?" Buggy asked.

"Yeah, we are going to the Grand Line." Luffy replied.

"Tch, that's not a place you can just casually go to." Bugy stated.

"Speaking from experience?" Vergil taunted and while Buggy wanted to stay calm the anger was clouding his judgment.

"Men! Get up and take them down!" He ordered and though unwilling and mostly if not completely out of fear the pirates stood up from the rubble.

"I suppose you are still battle thirsty." Vergil said to Zoro as he walked up to the swordsman.

"That wasn't satisfying at all. At least there are still some opponents left." Zoro agreed.

"Hey Vergil, shouldn't you be resting?" Luffy asked.

"Nope. Can't have you two take all the fun away." Vergil replied casually.

"It's dangerous to fight with such wounds!" Nami yelled at him.

"You make up your mind already! Do you hate my guts or do you not hate me!" Vergil yelled back.

"Seriously those two…" Zoro muttered as Nami looked away and sighed.

"I don't care. Do whatever you guys want. You pirates can just kill each other. Whether you lose or win it has nothing to do with me." Nami stated as she began walking away.

"Eh?" Luffy mumbled.

"I'll go find the treasure and that will be the end of it. If fate has it, we'll work together again." Nami told them.

"See ya. Good luck fighting!" She wished them good luck and ran off.

"That girl…" Vergil breathed out and turned back to the pirates in front of him.

"Thank you!" Luffy thanked her as he waved at her.

"Go! Vergil! Zoro!" Luffy cheered his nakama.

"**Devil Arms… Dark Edge**!" Vergil exclaimed as the gigantic broadsword appeared in his left hand.

"We have to spar one day." Zoro said with a smirk when he saw the gigantic blade.

"Sure, but let me tell you, I'm not a swordsman, I'm a free style fighter." Vergil said as he lunged forward.

"Leave some for me!" Zoro exclaimed as he joined in. The two pirates made a quick job out of the Buggy's pirate crew. Blood was spilled as Vergil cut the unfortunate souls that attacked him, seeing as he had no dull side of the blade he couldn't take it easy on the pirates, but he managed not to hurt some of them by simply swinging the side of his sword instead of the edge.

Zoro was quickly taking pirates down, Three sword style appeared to be rather effective against the inexperienced opponent such as Buggy pirates.

"That's too easy." Vergil commented.

"You can say that again." Zoro said as they now stood in the middle of the defeated pirate crew, the only remaining one was Buggy himself.

* * *

Nami began searching around for Buggy's treasure.

"They aren't normal. Luffy and Zoro and that stupid demon Vergil is the worst. Nothing good will come out of joining up with those guys." Nami said as she noticed the underground part of the pub and moved some of the rubble aside. She walked into it to find a couple of unconscious pirates and supplies.

"Here it is." She said quietly. "I'll take this opportunity to steal the map and treasure." She said as she broke the lock and entered the room. She found gold, a lot of it, there was at least a couple of million berries worth of gold right there.

"All this gold, all mine." Nami said as she took a bit of gold before placing a crown on her head.

To her surprise a pirate had woken up and placed the edge of the sword next to her neck.

"_Crap he woke up._" She thought.

* * *

-A bit earlier-

* * *

Vergil glanced around just in time to see Nami getting into the remaining part of the pub.

"Luffy, I'm going to see if Nami needs help."

"Why? She's been quite a bitch toward you." Zoro asked pointing out the current relationship between the two.

"She's a human one that's simply scared of demons. That doesn't make things right between us, but certain someone I cared about was a human, I will not just stand by and let an innocent human get hurt, even if it's just for the sake of those distant memories." Vergil explained and ran off.

* * *

"What are you doing here?" Pirate demanded to know.

"Stealing, not that you'll be able to stop her." Both the pirate and Nami turned to see Vergil walking up to them. "Sweet dreams." And he knocked the pirate out with a simple punch.

"Why are you…?" Nami looked at him.

"Thought you'd need help so I kinda dropped by." Vergil said and she kind of smiled.

"I didn't need help but thanks anyway." She told him.

"When are we going to stop this?" Vergil asked and she blinked in confusion.

"You know, first we sort of get along, then we fight and then it all goes back and forth." Vergil explained once he saw her confusion.

"I, just need time to get used to this…" Nami muttered and looked away.

"I'll wait, if it'll be worth it." Vergil said as he turned around and walked away, leaving a stunned Nami alone but not before making sure the remaining pirates were unconscious.

Nami overcame her shock and looked at the pirate Vergil had knocked out only to notice a key.

"It must be…" She muttered and took the key before kneeling down on one knee and unlocking a chest with the taken key. Lock opened and she grinned as she opened the chest.

"There it is! The map to the Grand Line!" Nami exclaimed as she held up the unfolded map.

A bit of the time passed and Nami had all the treasure in a huge bag, the one that she was currently pulling after her.

"As expected of a devil like Buggy, with this much treasure I can…" She said as she leaned against the bag, memories came over her again.

* * *

-Flashback-

* * *

Nami was pushed down against the floor of her cartography room by none other than Krim, she had just began making charts for Arlong and his crew and from time to time she would simply draw Bell-mere's face that is until now, Krim had found out about it and was now holding her harshly against the floor.

"You think we are playing around, lowly human?" Krim asked her, his tone was threatening and Nami fought hard against the pain.

"You are not free to do whatever you please you know. You are our possession." Krim told her and lifted her into the air, the demon was holding her by her neck slowly choking her.

"If I find you drawing that lowly marine bitch again I'll make sure you regret it for as long as you are alive." He told her and dropped her to the floor before leaving.

That night she had cried herself to sleep…

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

Nami let out a deep breath.

'_I thought I made myself clear back when you attacked me. Don't judge me just because I am a demon.' _Vergil's words echoed, his words made her halt for a mere second back then.

"And if you are just like Krim? What am I supposed to do then?" Nami wondered out loud. She quickly regained her composure and turned back to the treasure.

"Anyway I have to get off of this island as quickly as possible." She reasoned but still looked behind her directly toward the place of the battlefield.

* * *

"What are you idiots going to do at the Grand Line? Go sightseeing?" Buggy asked before he began laughing.

"I'm gonna become the Pirate King." Luffy stated as Vergil joined them once again.

"You are going to become the Pirate King?!" Buggy questioned.

"Then I'm a god! The one who will become the Pirate King and own all the treasure in the world is me! Stop dreaming!" Buggy informed them.

"You talk too much." Luffy said as he prepared for the battle.

"Just bring it on." Rubber captain challenged the showdown was about to begin as Vergil and Zoro leaned against the wall to watch.

* * *

_**That's it for this chapter. Well another chapter to go and Orange Town Arc will be finished. Zoro VS Cabaji was rather quick because Zoro wasn't injured during this arc as opposed to the battle in which he had a weak spot. In fact anything more than what I did is what I consider a downgrade of what Zoro can do at this point with all three swords by his side and at full health. Furthermore, let's face it both Mohji and Cabaji are weak, not that their captain is much better but at least Buggy has a handy ability.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Rubber Man VS Splitting Man**_


	14. Rubber Man VS Splitting Man

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Anime PJ – Thanks for the review, nah, as funny as that could be he won't.**_

_**jack – Thanks.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review.**_

_**Guest – Thanks for the review.**_

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_**Theboblinator – Thank you for the review, I'm happy you think that. Well paragraphs were never my strongest point, but until I get better with them I'll rather make incorrect ones that walls of text as you have said. For your question I can't actually go into details since I don't want to spoil anything I could say about that could potentially spoil things and I don't want that. But I can tell you at the very least that the OC you asked about isn't going to become a main character but rather a crucial point of a certain arc (Vergil's flashback).**_

* * *

_**Chapter 14 – Rubber Man VS Splitting Man**_

* * *

-Last time-

* * *

"I'm gonna become the Pirate King." Luffy stated as Vergil joined them once again.

"You are going to become the Pirate King?!" Buggy questioned.

"Then I'm a god! The one who will become the Pirate King and own all the treasure in the world is me! Stop dreaming!" Buggy informed them.

"You talk too much." Luffy said as he prepared for the battle.

"Just bring it on." Rubber captain challenged the showdown was about to begin as Vergil and Zoro leaned against the wall to watch.

Four knives appeared in each of Buggy's hands. "Tch, when I look at that straw hat of yours, it reminds me of that man, it's pissing me off. That despicable redheaded bastard!" Buggy said angrily.

"Redheaded?" Luffy questioned. "Did you say redheaded? Do you know Shanks?" Luffy asked and Vergil observed the scene, he didn't know who Shanks was but it seemed like he was important to Luffy.

"Eh? So what if I know him?" Buggy asked.

"Do you know where he is right now?" Luffy asked, hoping for an answer.

"Well. To say I know him, I know him. To say I don't know him, I don't know him." Buggy said with a grin on his face, although kind of sick grin.

"What are you talking about? Are you an idiot?" Luffy said expressionlessly.

"You are the idiot! Like I would tell you something that you want to know. I'm not that nice of a guy." Buggy stated as he prepared to fight.

"Well then I'll beat it out of you." Luffy decided.

"You'll be dead before you get to ask!" Buggy proclaimed as he tapped his foot on the ground and a knife appeared on his boot.

"Rubber can't bounce knives off." Buggy stated.

"Yeah, that's right." Luffy confirmed it.

"Don't tell him that." Zoro said as he and Vergil face palmed, nearby Nami sneaked by and hid behind the wall observing that battle.

"**Bara Bara Rice Cracker**!" Buggy exclaimed as his lower half dethatched from his body and spun like a cartwheel, he aimed at Luffy who jumped up to avoid it.

"If you are in the air I can predict your movement!" Buggy exclaimed as he shot his knives at Luffy.

"Who said?" Luffy sort of taunted as he stretched his arm, grabbed onto the wooden pool and pulled his body toward it thus evading the knives.

"Oh I see, interesting." Buggy commented.

"You too." Luffy said with a small smile on his face.

"**Gomu Gomu no Pistol**!" Luffy exclaimed as he aimed his punch at Buggy's face, however Buggy moved out of the way. "That's an interesting skill, but it left you wide open!" Buggy stated as he raised a knife.

"I'll chop it off!" Buggy attempted to cut Luffy's arm off, but Luffy grabbed onto the tree and flung toward Buggy.

"**Gomu Gomu no**…" Luffy exclaimed.

"**Bara Bara Emergency Escape**!" Buggy's head detached from his body.

"**Sickle**!" Luffy finished as he attempted to hit Buggy's head, but due to it being split from the body he just flew by, went pass the tree and crashed into the rubble.

Buggy laughed as his head flew around before reattaching to the rest of his body. "Too naïve, rubber man." Buggy stated. Luffy emerged from the rubble holding his straw hat in his left hand. He returned the straw hat back onto his head. "Damn, he splits…" Luffy complained as Buggy gave a short bark of laughter.

"What kind of battle is this? It's like watching a dream." Nami wondered as she watched the two Devil Fruit users battle.

"Well would you look at that." Vergil thought as he noticed Nami.

"Who do you think got this?" Zoro asked out of blue.

"Luffy, I know he can do it." Vergil stated what he believed was obvious.

"**Bara Bara Cannon**!" Buggy shot his armed hand toward Luffy who managed to stop it by catching to forearm.

"**Release**!" However the hand dethatched from the forearm and while Luffy managed to dodge it, it still cut him and more importantly…

"Gyahahahaha! How do you like that, kid?" Buggy taunted as Luffy looked at the straw hat that was now damaged, one of the knives had cut it…

"You bastard!" Luffy yelled angrily.

"What's wrong? Was it wrong of me to cut your face?" Buggy taunted.

"How dare you… You dare damage this hat!" Luffy yelled confusing Buggy.

"Eh?" Buggy muttered.

"I won't forgive anyone who damages this hat! This hat is my treasure!" Luffy yelled at top of his voice.

Zoro and Vergil had grim looks on their faces.

* * *

-Flashback-

* * *

"I made a vow to that man!" Luffy stated as he remembered the moment at which he received his straw hat. "To form an amazing crew… To find the greatest treasure… And become the Pirate King!" His voice kept getting stronger and stronger as he went on. "This straw hat knows it all!" He finished as he let go of his precious hat and it remained on his head.

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

Nami was however remembering as well.

'_Yeah. I promised the man who gave me this that I would gather a crew and become a pirate_.' Luffy told her.

"I thought that he was someone who couldn't take anything seriously. But he's that passionate about it…" She muttered.

"Huh? It seems like that hat has some history." Buggy commented.

"That's right!" Luffy replied but then as Buggy threw one knife at him he was forced to dodge and left his hat open.

"If it's that important… Then take good care of it!" Buggy yelled as his hand shot toward the hat.

"Ah!" Luffy gasped but the knives were stopped by his two crewmates. Zoro was blocking them with his sword while Vergil grabbed the hand and shot electricity through it, however this time to power behind it was much bigger.

"Sorry for interfering Luffy, but…" Vergil began as he glared darkly at Buggy whose hand he had let go, the clown pirate was trying to overcome the lightning shock he had just received.

"If someone is trying to destroy you treasure what kind of nakama would we be if we just sat by and watched." Zoro finished

"Shishishi! Thanks, Vergil, Zoro." Luffy thanked them, interfering with battles, he sure didn't want that, but he cared about his straw hat more.

"You, how dare you try to do that to Shanks' hat!" Luffy yelled at Buggy whose eyes widened.

"Shanks' hat? No wonder it looked so familiar, he always wore it next to me." Buggy said bitterly.

"You were on the same ship as Shanks?" Luffy asked.

"Yes, we were still pirate apprentices though. Shanks, that despicable redheaded bastard is one man I can never forgive." Buggy hissed.

* * *

-Flashback-

* * *

While they were both still cabin boys Buggy and Shanks were on the same ship and one they they were attacked by another pirate crew.

Fight broke out and while killing one of the pirates Buggy came across a map. He took it and unfolded it to see that it's a treasure map.

"This is a treasure map! This is the first time I've seen one! Incredible!" Buggy exclaimed while everyone around him kept fighting. "It's buried deep beneath the sea." He stated as he noticed the position of the 'X' mark. "_All right, my life is going to be much more interesting from now on_." Buggy thought with a smirk on his face as he hid the map.

-That night-

While other pirates were celebrating Buggy was looking at his newfound map sitting alone outside, or so he thought.

"Hey Buggy! Won't you join others! There's some interesting loot!" Shanks scared the hell out of the future pirate captain as he waved around a bottle of sake.

"I… I never stole anything! I don't know anything about it!" Buggy obviously panicked.

"What are you talking about?" Oblivious to the existence of the now hidden map Shanks asked.

"It's nothing." Buggy said trying to change the subject, the two comrades sat by next to each other.

"You said you would leave this ship one day, what do you plan on doing?" Buggy asked.

"I want to get my own ship." Shanks began. "Gather a group of trustworthy people and slowly travel around the world, as pirate of course." He revealed.

"Heh, you are still naïve." Buggy commented.

"What did you say?" Shanks asked.

"I admire your combat skills, if you weren't so innocent it would be nice to have you as my follower."

"Me as your follower? Are you kidding?"

"Eh?" As Buggy looked at Shanks the red haired pirate took a sip out of his bottle.

"We think so differently, it's better to go separate ways. As pirates of course."

"Heh, can you even become a pirate? If we meet on the sea I'll have to kill you." Buggy told him, both pirates had smiles on their faces.

"That's what pirates do too." Shanks stated.

"I don't understand you at all. By the way you said something about the loot." Buggy questioned.

"Ahhh, they found the Devil Fruit." Shanks replied.

"Devil Fruit?" Buggy questioned curiously.

"There's a rumor that the Devil Fruits are reincarnation of the ocean's devil. If you eat it you'll have the power of the devil, but you won't be able to swim." Shanks explained.

"Only an idiot would eat that." Buggy said confused as to why someone would sacrifice the ability to swim, especially if they were pirates.

"If I can't swim I can't get the treasure that's on the bottom of the sea." Buggy thought.

"I've also heard that you can sell the fruit for over 100 million beri." Shanks stated the fact that would soon change Buggy's life.

"What did you say?!"

* * *

-Tomorrow-

* * *

Buggy was now standing in front of the crew holding the Devil Fruit.

"I, Buggy the pirate will now eat the Devil Fruit!" Buggy exclaimed.

* * *

-That night-

* * *

"All right, everything went smoothly. They would have never thought that the one I ate this morning was a fake. I better leave the ship before they find out. When I sell this fruit and get the treasure from the map I'll be able to form my own crew." Buggy muttered to himself as he chuckled. Suddenly…

"Oi Buggy!" Shanks surprised him and Buggy hid the map and fruit, although he hid the fruit in his mouth…

"What are you mumbling about?" Shanks asked him as Buggy turned to him, to say that the clown pirate looked strange was an understatement.

"Oh, it's you. Don't scare me like that." He said while Shanks looked at him kind of strangely.

"What kind of expression is that? If you are stealing the food you better stop, you'll get scolded by the cook." Shanks warned him as he began walking away.

"_That was too close_." Buggy thought when suddenly.

"Oh yeah, jus now the captain was…" Shanks began and out of the pure shock Buggy swallowed the fruit… He looked completely shocked but then he stood up and held Shanks by the rim of his shirt.

"Shanks! You!" Buggy yelled, his teeth now resembling a shark.

"My… My… My…" Buggy tried to say when Shanks noticed something.

"What's that paper?" Shanks asked as Buggy turned to see his map flying away…

"Ahhh! My map!" Buggy screamed as he jumped into the water.

"Oi, Buggy!" Shanks called out after him but Buggy was no longer capable of swimming.

"_What? I can't move? The rumor about not being able to swim is true? No way!"_ Buggy realized the hard way that he was no longer capable of swimming.

"Hey Buggy, what are you doing?" Shanks asked. "Aren't you a great swimmer?"

"_H… Help me_…" Buggy thought, hoping that someone would help him.

Shanks suddenly realized what's going on… "I'm coming! Buggy!"Shanks yelled as he jumped into the water.

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

Buggy growled as Luffy looked at him.

"Eh, so Shanks saved your life?" Luffy came to the conclusion.

"That's not the point I was trying to make!" Buggy yelled as he pointed his finger at Luffy accusingly.

"Because of him my plan was delayed for ten years. I realized, f I can't have the treasure beneath the sea than I'll have all the treasure on the ground! With my splitting ability. So if anyone touches my treasure… No matter who they are I won't let them live!" Buggy yelled as he shot through the air right past Luffy.

"My treasure! Give it back!" Buggy yelled and trio realized that he was going after Nami.

"Huh?" Luffy questioned.

"Crap! He saw me!" Nami yelled as she began running.

"No matter where you run I'll find you Nami! I'll cut you up really well!" Buggy threatened, Nami kept running but Buggy was about to catch up to her.

"Damn it!" Vergil hissed as he tried to move but the wounds finally kicked in and he fell onto his knees.

"Don't push yourself!" Zoro scolded him as the white haired demon growled in frustration. Buggy got only a couple of feet away from Nami when he suddenly stopped, his face contracted and frozen into the expression of pure pain, not that it was surprising seeing as Luffy had hit him into jewels… You could even here something similar to cracking sound… Vergil and Zoro looked rather disturbed at the scene, kicking someone in the jewels, silently wondering just what kind of dishonorable man did they decide to follow…?

"Balls…" Buggy moaned in pain as he fell down in front of Nami. "M…My… B…Balls… Balls…" He moaned as he cried waterfalls.

"I kinda pity the bastard…" Vergil muttered.

"Yeah, kinda…" Zoro agreed uncomfortably.

"Your opponent is me." Luffy reminded Buggy.

Nami was standing in front of the still lying Buggy.

"What the hell are you doing! Run!" Vergil yelled at her while Zoro just motioned her to go.

"Leave the treasure and run or he'll come after you again." Luffy stated the obvious.

"Leave the treasure you say? Definitely no! Why should I throw away my treasure?" Nami questioned, but her attitude had angered Buggy who lifted his face from the ground to glare at her.

"Those are your treasure?" He asked angrily.

"Of course they are, I'm a thief that steals from the pirates! Now that I've stolen from one. Of course this treasure is all mine." She stated as if it was the most obvious and true thing in the world, she even proudly held her clenched fist in front of her.

"Oh… I see." Luffy seemingly understood and it also seemed to make sense to him as he lightly knocked his open palm.

"That doesn't make sense at all…" Vergil said as he sweat dropped.

"Greedy witch…" Zoro commented.

"Bullshit! That's my treasure! You think it's yours just because you stole it?! What kind of education did you have?!" Buggy lectured her but she looked at him with half closed eyes, silent rage burning in them.

"A crook lecturing another crook. Ridiculous." She said as she turned her head to the side and smiled, although not in the nice way.

"What?" Buggy growled.

Nami looked at him and with a grin she said, "I will not bring myself down to the same level as you pirates!" After she said that she stuck her tongue out.

"You better prepare yourself, Nami." Buggy hissed and Nami backed away a bit.

"Run!" Vergil yelled. Now Nami wasn't someone who'd just listen to a demon, but she sure as hell didn't need anyone telling her that again as she took off running.

"**Bara Bara Festival**!" Buggy exclaimed, his entire body separated into small segments and he began following Nami.

"If you think you can help your friend you better do it now, rubber man!" Buggy stated loudly.

"Damn! He split into eve more pieces!" Luffy cursed but then he noticed that Buggy's feet were still on the ground. "What the?"

"Shit!" Vergil cursed as he tried to push himself away from the wall.

"_Damn it! If I could only cut the bastard_!" Zoro raged on the inside as he gripped the handles of his swords.

"Nami! Give me back my treasure!" Buggy demanded.

"No way!" Nami refused. Luffy grabbed one of Buggy's feet and pulled it out of the boot. He began tickling Buggy who laughed but still followed Nami who just screamed and ran further away. Luffy changed his tactic into pinching and pulling at the foot causing Buggy to grit his teeth. Luffy lifted the foot above his head.

"How much more can you take!" Rubber man yelled as he slammed the foot onto the ground, fingers first. Buggy screamed along with Nami as he halted to a stop.

"Stop that!" He yelled at Luffy.

"The one who should stop, is you!" Nami exclaimed as she swung the treasure bag toward Buggy. Luffy looked impressed but Vergil and Zoro narrowed their eyes, Buggy had caught the treasure bag and Nami gasped as she realized that as well.

"You've returned the treasure to me." Buggy stated.

"Let go!" Nami ordered as she waved the bag around trying make Buggy let go of it.

"Let go?" Buggy repeated. "You should ask my body instead!" He said as Nami kept telling him to let go. "You are the one that should let go!" Buggy yelled as he attempted to stab Nami. The female thief screamed as Luffy began running toward them.

"I told you that I'm your opponent!" Luffy exclaimed as he kicked Buggy right into the face, the clown pirate collided with the treasure bag taking it along with him and thus due to the impact spilling most of its content out. The kick sent Buggy sliding down the street and digging a long path before he finally stopped seemingly unconscious, his body parts fell down to the ground. "You can take that kick as the gift from the mayor." Luffy said. His crewmates grinned, feeling revealed that it would soon be over.

"Thanks, you saved me." Nami thanked him with a smile.

"She's completely fine with Luffy but I'm getting the cold shoulder. Incredible…" Vergil said sort of annoyed.

"Don't tell me it bothers you." Zoro said and Vergil smirked.

"Nope, just kind of annoys me." The white haired demon replied.

"Ah, no problem, oh yeah, the map!" Luffy remembered.

"I have it." Nami said but then screamed turning the attention of the three pirates to the cause of her scream, Buggy…

"It's not over yet, rubber man." Buggy stated as Nami slowly backed away again.

"He's persistent." Zoro said.

"He's a pain in the ass if you ask me." Vergil growled.

"He's still alive!" Luffy said in surprise.

"Don't joke around! How dare you inflict so much pain to me!" buggy exclaimed. Nami ran off again as Luffy prepared to fight more.

"**Reassemble! Bara Bara Parts**!" Buggy declared but as his body reassembled he was only a head with pairs of hands and feet… "Eh?"

"The hell…" Vergil mumbled.

"Now that's something you don't see every day." Zoro said.

"And of course… It's her fault…" Vergil grumbled as he looked at Nami.

"The female in question was resting her foot on the tied parts of Buggy's body. "Are you looking for these?" She taunted.

"My parts!" Buggy yelled.

Luffy began laughing as he threw and stretched his arms back. "No wonder you're a thief. "Hey Buggy! **Gomu Gomu no**…"

"I'm dead." Buggy realized.

"**Bazooka**!" Luffy exclaimed, the attack hit Buggy dead on and sent him flying far away. Nami sweat dropped as Luffy lifted his arms up and cheered. "I win!"

"Your hat is a bit damaged." Nami commented as she looked at the slightly cut part.

"It's fine, I can still wear it. I'm not angry at Buggy anymore since I kicked his ass." Luffy stated.

"Don't worry, I'll help you patch it up later…" She muttered, Luffy didn't hear her, but Vergil who was helped out by Zoro and the swordsman had heard her.

"Huh?" Luffy asked.

"Nothing at all. Hey I had to split this in tow and it's really heavy. Will you help me carry one?" Nami asked him.

"You never give up do you?" Luffy asked her.

"Buggy was very selective about his treasure so everything here is high quality. There's got to be at least 10 million beri here." She stated happily and with a rather big smile on her face as she pressed the bags against her face. Luffy and Vergil smiled while Zoro looked neutral. Nami looked at Luffy for a moment and the offered him the map. "Here, the map to the Grand Line. You want it right?" She told him.

"You'll give it to me?" Luffy asked, things were going surprisingly well.

"You did save my life." She reasoned and looked at Vergil for a moment. "You helped out as well." She added.

"Thank you, Nami!" Luffy thanked her cheerfully. "All right! I've finally got the map to the Grand Line!" As the rubber captain cheered and celebrated Nami smiled, kind of sadly though, it didn't went unnoticed by Vergil who looked at her. "Does that mean you'll be joining us?" Luffy asked eagerly.

"Didn't I tell you that I won't become a pirate." She retorted, her hands were on his hips but after a short pause. "But, It's okay, being with you guys will earn me a lot of money. I'm only working with you, okay?" Nami stated and Luffy nodded. Then Luffy turned to his wounded first mate.

"Are you going to be fine?" Luffy asked making Vergil smirk.

"I will, I'll just need to rest a bit after we get back to the boat." Vergil replied he stopped leaning against Zoro and while not exactly stable he managed to make couple of steps. "See, just fine." He said.

"We should check on the mayor first." Nami suggested.

"Yeah, the old man." Luffy agreed, the group made their way to the place where they left Boodle unconscious only to see the residents of the city around him.

"Who are they?" Zoro questioned.

"If I had to guess, I'd say they were the citizens…" Vergil said.

"Hey, who are you guys?" Luffy asked getting the attention of the people around Boodle.

"We are the citizens of this town. Do you know what happened to the pirates? Please tell us if they were the ones who did this to the mayor." One of the citizens asked for the answers.

"I had to knock him out." Vergil admitted casually. His confession earned him the anger filled looks from all the citizens.

"Hey! You didn't have to say that!" Nami hissed at him.

"I don't want to lie." Vergil replied.

"Why did you hurt our mayor?!" One of the citizens demanded as they were suddenly standing in front of Vergil, this also made Nami scream.

"No excuses!" Another one stated.

"Are you related to those pirates?" The third one asked furiously.

"Such a scary death vibe… If we are not careful and use words such as thief or pirate…" Nami realized then the trouble magnet known as Luffy's mouth opened.

"We are pirates." He stated, Nami began falling to the side comically as Vergil and Zoro laughed.

"We knew it!" Citizens yelled.

"Stupid!" Nami yelled at Luffy furiously.

"What? It's truth." Luffy defended himself.

"What are we going to do now? They aren't going to listen anymore." Zoro asked making Luffy grin.

"Shishishihi. Run!" Luffy yelled as he grabbed onto Vergil and began running away.

"We won't forgive you for hurting out mayor!" "We won't let you escape!" And all other sorts of threats burst from behind the running pirate crew.

"Why are you always talking without using your brain?" Nami demanded as they kept running.

"This is a good town." Luffy told her.

"Eh?"

"They are all willing to do their best to fight for the mayor's sake. No matter what excuse we make they'll still be mad at us." Luffy explained, Vergil and Zoro grinned as Nami looked back. "Hey turn here!" Luffy informed Nami as he and Zoro suddenly turned to their right and went through the smaller street.

"W…W… Wait! Don't say it at the last second!" Nami shouted after him.

"They turned to the alley!" One of the citizens shouted.

Their eyes widened when they were greeted by the familiar dog.

"Chouchou?" Nami exclaimed.

"Dog?!" Luffy yelled out.

Running trio jumped over Chouchou and kept running but as the citizens tried to follow them Chouchou barked. "Woof! Woof!"

"Hey, move out of the way Chouchou! They are the evil pirates! You shouldn't be barking at us!" one of the citizens told the dog, but Chouchou just kept barking and blocking their path.

"Slow down Luffy." Vergil said as he looked at Chouchou. "Chouchou!" Vergil yelled out and the dog turned slightly to look at him. "We'll meet again, so keep guarding that shop!" Chouchou's beady eyes met with Vergil's golden ones before the dog replied with a loud bark.

At this Luffy grinned. "Thanks doggie!" Rubber boy thanked Chouchou as well.

Some running later and mostly thanks to Chouchou, the group had successfully escaped without engaging in a fight and reached the shore.

"Finally… We managed to escape somehow thanks to Chouchou." Nami said as she panted a bit. "Why did we have to get into this situation?" She asked.

"It's not that bad. We finished what we planned." Luffy pointed out.

"Well that's true, but…" Nami said as Luffy watched a boat in awe.

"Is this your boat, amazing!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Well it's not mine. I took it from a bunch of stupid pirates." Nami told them.

"You really are a professional at what you do, aren't you?" Vergil asked her and she stuck her tongue out at him.

"How dare you say that?" Suddenly three pirates that she stole the boat from appeared thus making Nami gasp.

"We've been waiting for you, thief." The leader stated.

"Who would have thought we would meet you at the beach." The last one said. Nami began laughing uncomfortably.

"You know them?" Luffy asked but before anyone could say anything else, Zoro, who was kind of frustrated glared at the three pirates.

"Get lost." He hissed at them making the trio scream and swim away.

"What just happened?" Nami asked.

"Zoro and I ran into them before we got onto his island." Vergil explained.

On the sea Luffy's boat joined up with the boat Nami had stolen and the crew, now counting four in a way was moving to the next step of their journey.

"Your boat still has Buggy's flag." Zoro pointed out.

"It's their boat, I'll take it down some other time." Nami reasoned, suddenly they heard a shout.

"Hey, wait!" They turned to the town to see Boodle, panting and tired but there.

"It's the mayor!" Luffy said.

"I always thought it would be fine for me to die. I thought that at that critical moment it wouldn't matter if I died." He thought. "Sorry! I'll return the favor one day!" Boodle said as tears fell down his cheeks.

"Don't worry! Take it easy!" Luffy told him.

"_You brats… You brats… You brats…_" He thought "I have nothing else to say." He said aloud and then noticed a bag behind him.

* * *

"What did you say?!" Nami yelled. "You left a bag of treasure behind?!" She demanded a confirmation.

"Yeah." Luffy replied casually as he leaded his elbows against the boat.

"Just that one bag was worth 5 million!" She yelled.

"But if they want to rebuild the town they need money." Luffy pointed out.

"That was my treasure!" Nami shouted.

"He makes a good point you know." Vergil sided with Luffy and unfortunately turned Nami's anger at himself.

"Do you know how hard it was for me to steal that!" She shrieked at him.

"Don't care." He replied indifferently.

"That does it!" Nami yelled as she grabbed his neck and pushed him head to the water.

"What the hell are you doing!" Vergil yelled as he tried to fight back but surprised coupled by exhaustion, wounds and simply not taking Nami too seriously made it impossible to win.

"Shut up! How dare you fight back!" Nami shouted. "I'll really push you into the water!" And then it happened.

Vergil fell into the water… At first Luffy and Zoro laughed while Nami breathed hard, but when the demon didn't emerge the laughter stopped and two pirates began panicking as Nami began looking a bit worried.

Suddenly Zoro noticed a thumb up beneath the surface and smirked but continued acting as if he was panicking.

Nami turned around to the other side of her boat to look but as she turned her head to the left another thing happened.

"Kyaaa!" Nami screeched as she felt hands grab her waist and pull her into the water. Zoro and Luffy burst out laughing when she emerged on the surface completely soaked and strangling the white haired demon.

"You bastard!" Nami yelled at him while Vergil grinned in a rather triumphal way before raising his right hand.

"Hey guys! It's a freaking progress! Now I'm a bastard!" Vergil exclaimed as Nami squeezed his neck even harder. Two dry pirates were however still laughing.

"Shishishishi!" Luffy laughed hard.

"Hahaha." Zoro couldn't help but join in, the crew had become far livelier.

"Come on now Nami, it's not that bad." Vergil said, his grin never once fading.

"Shut it! Now I'm all wet!" She yelled at him but then he grabbed her waist and lifted her up.

"There you go Princess. A little joke can't hurt right?" Vergil said as he sat her down on the edge of the boat.

"You are an idiot, pulling me into the water like that…" She muttered feeling a bit less angry as the white haired demon smiled.

"See? We really are making progress, as silly as it is." Vergil said, she smiled a bit and looked him in the eyes.

"You aren't like him…" She mumbled almost inaudibly.

"Huh?" Vergil was confused but figured she was talking about the demon that hurt her.

"It's nothing. Forget what I just said." She told him and while not buying that it's nothing Vergil still nodded.

"Whatever you say Princess, I'm here if you need to talk though." He told her and climbed onto her boat before jumping over to Luffy and Zoro who fortunately didn't pay much attention to the last part of the conversation.

"Why Princess?" Nami asked as she finally registered the way he had called her, twice. Vergil shuddered.

"Don't know. It kind of felt right the first time so I called you 'Princess' again. Anything wrong with that?" Vergil asked. Nami shook her head.

"It's all right." She replied trying to sound indifferent but they both knew that she like the nickname, at least a little bit.

* * *

_**Orange Town Arc – Finished**_

* * *

_**And that's it, you could call the last part of this chapter the first real Vergil / Nami moment, although at this point it's more of a nakamaship than relationship moment.**_

* * *

_**Trivia:**_

* * *

_**-Vergil wasn't supposed to get stabbed into the right forearm, instead he was supposed to catch Buggy's hand.**_

_**-During brief Vergil VS Buggy, Buggy was supposed to stab Vergil's left shoulder, instead Vergil was stabbed into the guts.**_

_**-When I first imagined Vergil VS Mohji either Richie or both Mohji and Richie got killed.**_

_**-At one point I intended to make Nami attack Vergil with a knife.**_

_**-Nami was supposed to pick a lock in front of Chouchou's Pet Food store.**_

_**-Chouchou was supposed to swallow Nami's lock picking equipment.**_

_**-Vergil was supposed to get in between Nami and Buggy during Buggy's little chase after Nami.**_

* * *

_**Next Arc – Movie 0**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Defeat The Pirate Ganzack**_


	15. Defeat The Pirate Ganzack

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review, glad you liked it. As for this arc, well it's the One Piece OVA so it's nothing original, although it does have major differences as you will notice if you have watched the OVA.**_

_**Anime PJ – Thanks for the reviewing. While that scene was development, this chapter will develop it into a bit more defined progress.**_

_**Guest – Thanks for the review.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**Kakusei – Thanks for reviewing and compliments.**_

* * *

_**Arc 3.5 – Movie 0**_

* * *

_**Chapter 15 – Defeat The Pirate Ganzack**_

* * *

About a week has passed since the crew left the Orange Town, the four companions were drifting in the sea completely exhausted.

"We had a whole month worth of fish… How did it only get eaten in four days?" Nami asked no one in particular as the tired look on her face showed exactly how hungry and exhausted she was.

"Maybe you miscalculated." Zoro suggested. His words made Nami stand up angrily.

"What are you saying?! It's because of you three!" She yelled.

"I should dive in again…" Vergil muttered.

"You aren't diving again!" Nami snapped at him.

"Come on Nami, you are wasting energy…" Vergil muttered as he remembered what happened a week ago.

* * *

-Flashback-

* * *

A couple of hours after they set off from Orange Town the crew became hungry and since they knew Nami's supplies wouldn't last for too long Vergil decided to do one thing.

"I'm going to catch some fish." The white haired demon stated as he jumped into the water.

"Food!" Luffy cheered happily with his arms high up in above his head.

"How?" Zoro asked as he and Nami looked at the once again soaked demon.

"I'll swim deep enough and electrify the fish around me, after some time I should get us enough fish for some time." Vergil stated and went underwater.

His tactic proved to be useful as he managed to get a rather big amount of fish in about half an hour, but then as he dived in again his wounds finally kicked in.

"He's been down there for a long time." Nami said as she eyed the water and finally noticed a red tint not too far away from the boat.

"His wounds opened up again!" She yelled, Zoro's eyes widened as he jumped into the water just in time to see Vergil swimming to the surface and gasping for air.

"Vergil!" Luffy yelled out in worry but then grinned in relief. "Shishishi. He's alive." The straw hat wearing pirate said happily.

"Damn the wounds…" Vergil muttered as he held his right forearm above the water and clutched his stomach.

"Let's go, you've caught enough." Zoro told him as he helped the demon swim back to the boats.

"We seriously need to stitch those wounds up." Nami said, the seawater has irritated Vergil's wounds and the pressure reopened them.

"It's going to be fine." Vergil said but Nami glared at him.

"Off with the shirt, now." She ordered, the tone of her voice was enough to make Luffy and Zoro back away slightly.

"I'm fine." Vergil told her but she still took the needle and the thread.

"Look I'm not a doctor but I'm the best choice you have right now so hurry up and take the jacket and the shirt off." Nami said and looked at the soaked demon.

"Why are you so stubborn?" Vergil asked her.

"Why don't you just eat, that'll help." Luffy suggested.

"Or drink sake." Zoro added making Nami look at both of them as if they were crazy.

"That's not going to do the entire job!" Nami snapped at two pirates.

"Thanks for trying to help." Vergil thanked them as he finally relented under Nami's gaze and took off his jacket revealing the cut on his right forearm and so the stitching began. Nami worked the best way she could and to her surprise Vergil didn't make a single sound of protest.

"You do feel that, right?" She asked kind of hoping that he would answer yes, not because she wanted to hurt him, well not anymore, but because not feeling it when someone is stitching you up would be weird.

"I do. It's just that I felt worse." Vergil replied and looked at his stitched up right forearm.

"Better than I expected it to be." He said and pushed himself up a bit before pulling up his shirt revealing half of his stomach and part of the large scar. Nami eyed the scar for a couple of moments before she began stitching up the wound.

"Where did you get the scar?" Nami asked both Luffy and Zoro had no interest in the answer whatsoever, Vergil's past was none of their concerns and they didn't care about it.

"Mind your own business." Vergil replied, there wasn't anything cold or harsh in the way he said it, but it was the lack of emotion that made Nami stop questioning it.

"There you go." Nami said as she moved away.

"Thanks." Vergil said with a small grin.

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

"I can go now. The wounds healed…" Vergil said and Nami snorted.

"Yeah, but you are so tired you can't even create a single spark." She said.

Grumbling Vergil sat up and looked at her. "I'll be the judge of that." He said.

"Why are you so stubborn?!" Nami yelled but then held onto her stomach. "I can't my stomach hurt when I yell." She complained.

"No matter what we say the food isn't going to just fall down from the sky." Zoro said suddenly they heard something coming down. "What?" Zoro question as he, Nami and Vergil looked up

"Maybe it's food!" Luffy shouted as he excitedly stood up.

"Oh shit!" Vergil cursed as he grabbed hold of Nami's boat and used pretty much the remaining of his strength to push two boats away by firing **Darkness Blasts** at the water. The boats barely managed to survive as large torpedo exploded near them.

"That was too close!" Nami yelled in fear.

"Out of energy…" Vergil muttered as he took deep breaths.

"What was that?" Zoro asked as Luffy looked completely disappointed.

"It's not food…" Luffy said.

"I agree with that…" Vergil agreed.

"Stop thinking about food! You are only making us hungrier!" Nami yelled at them in frustration.

"Is that even possible?" Vergil wondered.

"Hey concentrate! Something else is coming!" Zoro warned them as they noticed a large something, most likely a creature, approaching from beneath them. They didn't need to wait for too long to find out exactly what it was as gigantic sea monster known as plesiosaur emerged from the water. One thing that made it different from the others was the fact that it had a helmet with Jolly Roger on it…

"Oh yes!" Luffy yelled as he tried jumping to the monster, however Vergil caught the rubber man's neck and while Luffy stretched a bit he stopped to look at Vergil.

"Why are you stopping me Vergil?" Luffy asked making the white haired demon sigh.

"Wait a bit will you? You'll get your food soon." Vergil stated making an instant change in Luffy's mood.

"It's time for food!" Luffy cheered as Zoro smirked.

"All right! I'll cut it up." Zoro stated he took his signature stance as Nami moved behind Vergil.

"You sure got comfortable around me, you are even using me as a shield now." Vergil commented and looked at her.

"You are a demon, if nothing else I'm safer behind you." She told him as she held her hands on his back, he felt her trembling a bit due to the gigantic monster.

"It'll be fine Princess." Vergil said. Nami's eyes widened before she finally nodded.

"Vergil! Food!" Luffy yelled at Vergil while sea monster roared at them.

"We have to beat it in one shot. I'll try to paralyze it, the two of you, hit it with everything you've got." Vergil said and jumped to the monster's body before climbing to its head. The white haired demon let the lightning flow through the body of the monster, it began trashing around but seemed unable to actually counter them. "Now!" Vergil yelled, Luffy and Zoro.

"**Gomu Gomu no**… / **Three-Sword Style**…" They began and Zoro lunged toward monster. "**Gatling Gun**! / **Tiger Hunt**!" While Zoro slashed the monster just beneath its neck Luffy hit its head, the gigantic monster was about to pass out.

"Time to finish this, **Devil Arms: Dark Edge**…" Vergil muttered as his Devil Arm appeared in his hands he drove it deep into monster's neck killing the creature.

Zoro and Vergil returned to the boat as monster began sinking in.

"Food!" Luffy bellowed as Nami looked completely wide eyes, defeating Buggy Pirates was one thing, this monster was something she didn't believe they could take down.

"Are you ready for a bit of swimming?" Zoro asked, Vergil nodded as two pirates swam after the sinking monster, they approached it and cut of large piece of its body. Although the piece was insignificant when compared to the rest of the body it would be enough to satisfy their hunger and still make some descent supply, for another meal or so.

* * *

Or maybe not… The piece of meat that was supposed to last for at least two meals was unfortunately already devoured, still it satisfied everyone's hunger, even Luffy's, well for the next ten minutes or so.

"I'm full." Vergil said as he leaned against the mast.

"Me too." Nami added as she took a deep breath, after not eating for some time she welcomed the meal they just got.

"Me three! Shishishi!" Luffy laughed, the other three looked at him utterly shocked.

"You are full?" Zoro asked in utter disbelief, no matter how much the rubber captain ate he never said he was full, but this time he looked like he used his **Gomu Gomu no Balloon**.

"I suppose anything can happen once." Vergil muttered.

"Anyway, even though we ate we need to refill our supplies." Nami began and pulled out a map.

"Any idea about where to go?" Vergil asked as he leaned over to her and looked at the map.

"You can read the map?" Nami asked, slightly surprised, Vergil had never shown interest in looking at the maps.

"Nope, not a single clue about what's what on the map." Vergil honestly admitted.

"You idiot! You are just as hopeless as the other two!" Nami yelled before she punched Vergil and sent him crashing into the mast.

"Sue me, violence Princess…" Vergil complained as he rubbed the side of his head, Nami turned and glared daggers at him.

"What did you say?" She asked, her tone low yet dangerous.

"I told you to sue me, Princess of the violence." Vergil repeated with no hesitation whatsoever. Nami growled and stepped on the second boat.

"Three… Two…" Vergil began counting down as Nami lifted her fist to clobber him. "And one." He muttered as he jumped up to his feet, caught Nami's fist making girl's eyes widen. He swiftly spun around and took a couple of steps forward while holding her in his arms.

"Let go of me right now!" Nami yelled as she tried to make him let her go. Vergil grinned at this and did as he was told, dropping Nami directly into the water.

"As you wish." He said with a grin, Nami glared at him while Zoro smirked, Luffy laughed at the antics.

"I'm going to miss this when we get a bigger ship." Vergil confessed as he ignored Nami's glare.

"You sure are scum aren't you?" Nami said as she climbed up to her boat knowing that it would be better not to try anything against the white haired demon.

"Of course I am. I'm the worst kind of scum you can find, but that works out just fine for me." Vergil stated with a grin one that infuriated Nami even further.

"Stupid demon…" She said to herself as she looked at her map once again.

"Keep the course." She said and looked forward, they were approaching an island.

"You think they'll have food?" Luffy asked innocently.

"You just ate! Stop thinking about food all the time!" Nami yelled at him, she was still furious after what Vergil had done to her and in the need of a punching bag Luffy served as the great substitute, she punched the young captain making his neck stretch and his head hit the boat.

"_She sure has short temper_." Vergil thought as he looked at Nami, now the white haired demon may have returned the favor any time she went out her frustration on him but she would need to know that there are those she can't boss around if he was going to act like a scum, toss her into the water, dodge in the last moment and make her hit the wood then so be it.

It didn't take them long to reach the island, it wasn't anything spectacular or anything but they should be able to find supplies on it.

"It's an island!" Luffy cheered happily as they reached one of the shores.

"So how are we going to do this?" Vergil asked out of blue.

"What do you mean?" Zoro replied they looked around searching for any kind of road.

"Go on our own, in two groups or go together." Nami explained.

"Alone is out of option, Luffy would get lost." Zoro told her.

"Like you wouldn't." Vergil added.

"What was that?!" Zoro snapped at Vergil.

"Remember Orange Town? It took us all that time only because you kept going the wrong way…" Vergil reminded the swordsman.

"It's not my fault building got lost!" Zoro defended himself.

"Can they be any more stupid?" Nami wondered breaking a discussion.

"You are not helping Nami." Vergil complained.

"I'm not trying to help." Nami said coldly, she looked at him from the corner of her eye. "_Seriously he's worse to deal with than Krim… With Krim I at least knew the situation. With him? I have no idea one moment I feel like beating him up, the second I feel like going to him for protection…_" She remembered hiding behind him when the sea monster emerged.

"Let's just go already!" Luffy hurried them up snapping Nami out of her thoughts.

"Yeah, yeah." Zoro said as he went after Luffy. It didn't take long for the other two to come after them.

"Hey you four!" A voice boomed through the beach. They looked to their right to see two men, most likely pirates.

"You are coming with us." The second one said. The fatter pirate however jumped in pain making them realize that someone just poked the man's ass with something sharp.

"What was that?!" The fat man yelled and then turned to glare at the small armored person.

"A kid?" Nami realized.

"Who are you?!" The second one demanded as he grabbed the armored forearm and pulled up the helmet to reveal the determined eyes.

"Give back papa! You pirates!" Child, probably a girl yelled at two pirates.

"Ehe, just a kid from the island." The taller pirate said.

"You've got guts. Maybe we should make you our comrade." The fat one said as he held a knife.

"I'm not a brat! I'm Medaka!" Medaka stated loudly, however before she could say anything two pirates fell down unconscious.

"I don't like it when people gang up on a kid." Vergil said as he stood in front of her.

"Vergil?" Nami muttered.

"Sorry, Luffy. I couldn't help myself." Vergil apologized as he walked back to the crew.

"Nah, its fine." Luffy brushed it off, there wasn't anything to apologize for anyway.

"Can you take us to the village, or some town?" Nami asked Medaka politely.

"Uh… Yeah." Medaka said, slightly confused at what just happened, as the now group of five began walking down the roar Vergil bluntly asked.

"What was that about pirates giving back your father?" He asked with no compassion at all, he was as blunt as one could be.

"Hey! Be a bit more compassionate would you!" Nami scolded him as she punched the demon's head, however this time it had no effect whatsoever.

"Sorry, I refuse." Vergil stated bluntly and looked at the girl, looking for the answer.

"Ganzack and his pirates took him. Papa is my treasure, but they took his away with other adults. All they left are kids and old people." Medaka explained, Nami's eyes softened, she knew that the girl wasn't having it easy.

On the other hand captain, the first mate and the swordsman exchanged glances.

"Show me where that Ganzack is." Luffy declared surprising Nami and Medaka.

"Your dad is your treasure and those pirates were right, you've got guts. There's no reason for us not to help you." Vergil said.

"Well other than being pirates ourselves." Zoro said with a grin.

"I hate pirates!" Medaka yelled, her hopes disappeared with those words, there was no way pirates would help her father.

"She hates us as well." Vergil said as she pointed at Nami. "Hell she hates my guts as much as possible, but she's still with us. Trust me, we aren't that bad." Vergil told her with a slight grin, Nami shook her head.

"I did hate you, but I don't hate you now." She corrected him, Vergil let out a small chuckle.

"Glad to know." He replied and turned back to Medaka. "So will you show us where that Ganzack is?" He asked and albeit after some pondering on what to do Medaka nodded.

"I'll take you, to the Devil's Tower." Medaka stated.

"No, just show us the way. Then go home with Nami, the three of us can take care of the problem." Zoro told her, now Zoro wasn't one to get all protective over kids, but he knew that a kid on the battlefield would only bring unnecessary trouble.

Vergil saw that Nami wasn't too happy about just staying, probably since she thought she could get Ganzack's treasure. "I'll see if I can get any treasure for you. Stay with the girl in case she needs protection." Vergil told her.

"You will?!" Nami asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, I'll get any treasure I can find, don't expect me to come millions worth of gold but if I find something I'll bring it back to you." Vergil assured her with that being said Nami nodded eagerly and began pushing Vergil forward.

"Come on now! You need to get going." She reminded them.

"Greedy Princess." Vergil said but the smile on Nami's face never faded.

"Yeah yeah, just get going." She told him.

Luffy suddenly wrapped his arm around Zoro and Vergil's necks shot out his other arm and two unfortunate souls paled.

"Wait! Luffy!" Zoro yelled as he remembered what happened the last time Luffy tried that with someone.

"She still didn't tell us where to go!" Vergil shouted but it was too late.

"**Gomu Gomu no… Rocket**!" Luffy lunched all three of them through the air leaving two girls alone on the beach.

"Uh let's go. Before more pirates find us." Nami said a bit unsure about how to react to this.

* * *

Vergil, Zoro and Luffy after countless attempts to reach the city in the same way Luffy decided to get them off the beach they finally landed on the roof, broke through it and landed in the house. Luffy fell onto bed, Zoro fell onto the kitchen table and Vergil fell onto the floor completely surprising the family.

"Why the hell does the rubber man get to land on something soft!" Vergil yelled as he glared at Luffy, he wasn't the only one, Zoro was glaring at the captain as well while the residents of the house, an old couple looked afraid.

"Shishishi!" Luffy laughed.

"This isn't funny Luffy!" Zoro yelled at him while Vergil finally noticed the old couple.

"Ah, I apologize. Can you point us to the Devil's Tower, we are going to kick Ganzack's ass." Vergil told them bluntly, the couple looked surprised but they pointed outside the window toward a huge tower.

"How come we didn't realize that?" Zoro asked as Luffy jumped to his feet.

"Goodbye, old man, old lady." Vergil bid them a goodbye as the three pirates left the house.

They got out just in time to see torpedo being fired from the tower.

"That's the damn thing that almost destroyed our boats!" Zoro realized.

"Well this just got personal." Vergil said with a grin.

"Let's go!" Luffy stated, all three were pumped up for the battle.

"What's the plan?" Zoro asked honestly hoping that the white haired demon actually had some kind of plan.

"Plan? Well we can go for A – sneak in and find an opportunity to strike. B – Go home and think of a better plan or C – Rush in and kick some ass." Vergil pointed out the possibilities.

"Shishishi. C." Luffy gave them the only answer they needed, it was one of the first direct captain orders.

"Wouldn't want it any other way, now would we?" Vergil said with a grin as Zoro tied his bandanna.

"Of course we wouldn't." Zoro stated, the trio entered the tower with a loud bang caused by the fall of the main doors.

The pirates watched wide eyed as the intruders rushed in completely demolishing the first wave of pirates. To say that the three monstrously strong pirates were having an easy fight would be an understatement. Zoro cut anyone that attacked him, Luffy punched everyone that was within his range and boy was that one hell of a long range while Vergil mostly punched anyone who dared to approach him.

"What's going on here!" Loud voice boomed as Ganzack the captain of the Ganzack pirates appeared above them, he was wearing a crab like armor.

"Look! It's a crab!" Luffy exclaimed as he pointed his finger at Ganzack.

"I'm not a crab! I'm Ganzack-sama to you!" Ganzack seemed completely enraged by Luffy stating the truth, with the crab like armor Ganzack certainly looked like a crab.

"Who are you anyway? I've never heard of you?" Vergil added the salt to the wound although he honestly didn't head about Ganzack, not a single damn thing.

"What?! I am the pirate general! Ganzack! On this island, no on this sea I am a supreme ruler!" Ganzack boosted.

"If you are supreme ruler than I'm a freaking bug." Vergil said bluntly. "Actually forget what I said, I am more of a bug than you are a supreme ruler." He corrected himself enraging Ganzack even more.

"How dare you! You think you can just come here and insult the supreme ruler, the pirate general, Ganzack-sama!" Ganzack yelled.

"OI crab!" Luffy began.

"I am not a crab!"

"He has shorter fuse than Nami…" Vergil muttered but then remembered all the times Nami acted violently. "On the other hand I doubt that's possible for humans…" He corrected himself once again.

"Looks like we are finished here, all that's left is for Luffy to beat him." Zoro pointed out.

"Yeah." Vergil agreed as Luffy slammed his fists together.

"I'm your opponent." Luffy stated.

"Not so fast! Let's see how you fare once you see my pet! Plesiosaur!" Ganzack clled out to his pet but nothing emerged from the water near them.

"Now that I think about it that jolly roger is the same as the one on the helmet of the creature we ate." Zoro pointed out.

"You do have a point. Sorry Ganzack! We ate your pet, well part of it!" Vergil apologized although there was a bit of mocking in his tone.

"You did what!" You insolent little!" Ganzack was now truly enraged, he jumped down and hit Luffy with the crab claw, Luffy was slightly pushed back but bounced right back.

"It won't work! I'm rubber!" Luffy told him as he stretched his mouth to the sides.

Ganzack tried to punch Luffy a couple of times but the younger captain evaded the blows. "**Gomu Gomu no… Pistol**!" Luffy hit Ganzack with his signature punch. Ganzack however proved to be somewhat resistant as he remained on his feet.

Out of desperation Ganzack fired sticky pinkish mass at Luffy, Vergil and Zoro jumped in the way and Vergil blasted the mass with lightning while Zoro moved Luffy out of the way, still the moment of diversion was enough for Ganzack to board his ship and begin the retreat.

"Luffy! Go after Ganzack! Take him down!" Vergil rushed Luffy to go, the rubber captain nodded as he stretched out his hand and grabbed the mast of the large ship. The battle between captains was about to start.

* * *

Nami was sitting with Medaka and Skid, Medaka's grandfather, they were patiently waiting for the battle to draw to its closure.

"Those three, what kind of people are they?" Medaka asked out of blue. Nami looked at her for a moment before allowing a small smile. The first one he thought of was Zoro.

"They are good people. Zoro often looks cold and serious, well other than on few occasions, he's not that nice but he's not bad, although he can be annoying, all three of them can." Nami finished describing Zoro her smile remained as she thought of Luffy. "Luffy is the captain, he's a complete idiot, childish and naïve, he's also curious. But he is also strong and protective at least from what I've seen. Luffy can't swim because of the Devil Fruit he ate so he's hammer." Finally her smile widened. "Vergil is the first mate, he is that white haired demon. At first I hated his guts but he's not like other demons I've met. He's, I don't know, good…" She tried to describe him, but whatever she thought she could say ended up sounding too dishonest to herself, she wasn't angry yet she didn't fully accept him either… Good was the best answer she could give to Medaka.

"Let's go! I want to see the fight and help papa!" Medaka announced and ran out.

"Medaka!" Skid yelled after her. Nami stood up and followed the girl.

* * *

Ganzack and Luffy stood on the board of the ship.

"You can still give it up kid. The death is the only fate that awaits those who oppose me." Ganzack told him.

"I won't get killed by you." Luffy said he prepared to attack.

"Fine! Let's see who dies here!" Ganzack challenged as he charged at Luffy.

"**Gomu Gomu no**…" Luffy's arms twisted as he broke the crab weapons, grabbed the hold of Ganzack's shirt and as his arms untwisted he slammed Ganzack onto the floor. "**Hammer**!"

Luffy began stumbling around as ship began sinking but it seemed like Ganzack wasn't defeated yet.

"If I can't have the island, I'll destroy it…" He muttered as he fired the large torpedo.

"Oi crab!" Luffy yelled at him as he saw that Ganzack was still conscious.

"I'm not a crab!" Ganzack yelled.

"**Gomu Gomu no Pistol**!" Luffy hit Ganzack once again only this time with much more power, Ganzack was sent flying and collided with the torpedo.

"I'm going to drown!" Luffy panicked as he saw that he couldn't reach the island from here.

* * *

Medaka and Nami finally joined Zoro and Vergil at the small port.

"Why did you come here you two?!" Vergil scolded them, not that it would matter now that all the enemies were defeated but the two could have gotten hurt if they came earlier.

"Where's the gold?" Nami growled at Vergil when she saw that the demon had no gold whatsoever.

"All they had were weapons, they had nothing of that kind of value you'd want." Vergil said as he looked forward to the ship Luffy and Ganzack were fighting on.

"I'm leaving this to you Zoro. I'll go get Luffy." Vergil said as he jumped into the water.

"Where are you going?" Zoro asked not really happy about being left alone with Nami especially now that she wasn't happy.

"To get Luffy, he's hammer remember. And there's no way that ship will last for too long." Vergil reasoned and began swimming.

"Traitor…" Zoro cursed under his breath.

Vergil managed to reach the sinking ship and saw Luffy panicking.

"Luffy! Jump!" Vergil yelled Luffy's eyes shone brightly from the happiness as he jumped down.

"Vergil! I thought I'd drown!" Luffy exclaimed as he held onto his first mate.

"I swear making sure you survive is worse than having to take care of a child." Vergil said as he tried to loosen the grip Luffy had on him.

"I'm not going to let you drown so loosen up the hold…" Vergil pointed out.

"Shishishi. Sorry." Luffy apologized as he loosened the hold on the demon,, two returned back to the shore only to get greeted by not only Nami, Zoro and Medaka but the captured villagers as well.

Ganzack was officially defeated and the island was once again free.

* * *

Nami was moping in the boat due to not getting any treasure.

"All they had were weapons, not a trace of gold…" Nami moaned.

"Don't worry about it, we got supplies." Zoro reminded her as he pointed at the bunch of food and stuff behind him. On the other hand since Luffy was already eating it probably couldn't last them that long…

"It's good! It's so good!" He exclaimed.

"Luffy!" They suddenly heard and saw Medaka, albeit without her armor running up to the boat with a life preserver, her father was running after her.

"Who are you?" Luffy asked when she once again repeated his name.

"Seriously…" Vergil muttered.

"How rude! I'm Medaka!" Medaka scolded him but before Luffy could reply she put the life preserver around him. "Here now you can't sink." She told him.

"Oh, a life preserver." Nami pointed out.

"Looks good on you, Hammer Luffy." Medaka teased him as he tried to break free. Medaka began skipping from one led to another as she chanted. "Hey, hey! It's Hammer Luffy!" Luffy on the other hand managed to get up.

"This is why I hate these kinds of things!" Luffy yelled, he could break free from chains but here he was unable to break free from a simple life preserver. "I can't take it off." He breathed earning a laugh from those around him.

Vergil nudged Nami, he pointed at the lower half of the life preserver. Nami , Vergil and Zoro smiled as they read 'Thank you' on the preserver. Medaka smiled kinda shyly as she scratched the side of her nose a gently. The boats set sail and slowly began leaving the small port.

"Yosh! Let's go to the Grand Line!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Zoro and Vergil eagerly agreed.

"Yes." Nami said.

"Luffy! Become a great pirate!" Medaka wished him and Luffy turned to face her.

"You bet." He said with a slight grin.

* * *

Nami woke up to see Vergil leaning against the mast, the demon didn't notice or at least didn't show that he noticed her awakening. Vergil lifted his head and looked at Luffy and Zoro, both pirates had tossed off their blankets. Vergil sighed and stood up, Nami watched as he covered the two pirates that just kept snoring.

"You do this often, don't you?" Nami suddenly asked, she remembered waking up from time to time on the first two nights on this boat, on one occasion she saw Vergil do the exact same thing as tonight.

"Kind of. If you are going to ask why, well I'm not sure." Vergil stated as she sat back down, however this time he was sitting closer to Nami.

"Say Vergil, you demons, do you have any weakness?" She asked, she wanted to ask him this for a long time, but never had a real chance.

"We do, there are couple of them that are rules for pretty much every demon." Vergil stated a bit confused at the question but nonetheless he had decided to reveal the list of general weaknesses. "First of all there are certain poisons that are capable of affecting any demon to various degreases, some demons get killed, others weakened, but either way they are affected by the small number of poisons. Then you have the mid dimension, the space between the Human World and the Demon World, if any creature from one of these worlds gets in this space death is pretty much certain." He stopped for a moment, hesitating to continue.

"Anything else?" Nami asked, she knew that she had no hope of using either of the two he just mentioned so she hoped he'd point out something she could use.

"There are three more, but they are not something you want to know about, trust me, if you knew about those three you wouldn't like it. It's nothing humans should be capable of doing anyway." Vergil stated and while not pleased with the answer Nami nodded.

"When did that demon hurt you?" It was Vergil's time to ask questions as Nami's eyes widened.

"What do you mean?" She asked suddenly feeling uncomfortable.

"When did he hurt you for the first time?" Vergil asked again but instead of answering Nami lied back down and turned away from Vergil.

"_Whoever he is, he's still hurting her…_" Vergil came to a conclusion and looked up to the starry sky, his eyes turned back to Nami and he stood up jumping into her boat, she had accidentally uncovered herself.

"Sorry for asking, sleep well." Vergil softly whispered as he pulled the blanket up and covered Nami before she could do so herself. She bit her lower lip as he went back to the second boat.

"Why are you asking?" Nami decided to finish the topic once and for all.

"So I can find and kill him." Vergil said honestly, he couldn't see Nami's eyes widening at his declaration, she composed herself and sat up.

"Why would you? You are always annoying me?" She said, she knew that Vergil would grin right then and there but his face remained stoic.

"I'm not annoying you for the hell of it, sure it's fun to play around with you, but what I'm trying to do is nothing carefree." Nami listened as he began explaining his reasons. "You have a short fuse and you easily resort to violence, with the crew its fine, but one day it could cost you your life. Piss off someone dangerous and willing to kill you and you'll die." Vergil explained, any argument she could come up with was stuck in her throat.

"So all the pushing and dropping into the water? All those times you made me hit the mast…" She realized.

"Back to the topic, who is he?" Vergil asked, normally he wouldn't push the topic but she seemed to want to end the conversation for good by closing all the questions.

Nami took a deep breath. "_If he fights Krim he'll die, I can't tell him, if I go for Krim's alias he might know it. I only know of one demon no one would go after._" She thought and looked Vergil directly in the eyes.

"He's known as Black Thunder." She finally said, Vergil's eyes went wide from what she believed was shock at the identity of her supposed captor.

"Black Thunder?" Vergil asked. "I find it hard to believe that."

"Six years ago he supposedly disappeared, right?" Nami asked. The white haired demon nodded.

"Yeah, he did, I heard rumors but nothing specific." Vergil replied, he looked at Nami's eyes.

"Well about five and a half years ago he attacked my home island, I've been his cartographer since then. Look he is as strong as the legends say. No one, human or demon can defeat him." Nami told him Vergil looked up and sighed.

"I see. Unfortunate turn of events, don't you think?" Vergil said, his face was expressionless but Nami hoped that he believed her.

"Thanks for wanting to help though." She said and looked him in the eyes.

"_I just don't want anyone else to die_." She thought.

"So promise me you won't fight him." She demanded as he looked at her brown eyes.

"I promise, I won't fight against Black Thunder." He promised, she felt relieved she wanted Krim to die, that went without a question, but she wouldn't risk other people's lives.

Vergil lied down, his eyes were still open, just to show her that if she wanted to talk she would have someone to talk to, but his mind was set on thinking through their last conversation.

"_She lied to me. Well it was a good lie though. Black Thunder did disappear six years ago, and the rumors about him being seen every once in awhile with no clear evidence, along with his actions prior to the disappearance would clearly make her story believable. Given the strength Black Thunder has, or rather had no one senile would attack him either. The only problem with her story is one small detail that made me see through the lie. She has no idea that the Black Thunder she just used to make a story is the one she spoke with. She has no idea that I am the Black Thunder. For now Nami, I'll play along…_" Vergil thought he glanced at Nami who was also lying, from her breathing he knew she was awake.

"_For a moment I thought he wouldn't believe me, for a moment I thought he'd go and get himself, Luffy and Zoro killed. Yet, for a moment, as selfish as it is, I wanted him to say he didn't care about the danger, I wanted him to say that he'd fight…_" She thought. "_Bell-mere-san…_" She wanted to call out but she bit back the scream…

* * *

_**And that's it. Well this is one hell of a long chapter… I think it's the longest chapter so far and I get this feeling that there will be many longer chapters from now on. Luffy might not kill in anime or manga, but indirectly he did kill Ganzack in the OVA.**_

* * *

_**Trivia:**_

* * *

_**-The conversation between Vergil and Nami at the end had hell of a lot rewrites…**_

* * *

_**Next Arc – Syrup Village Arc**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Captain Usopp**_


	16. Captain Usopp

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Hisokarocks – Thanks for the review.**_

_**Blazeinferno – Thanks for reviewing, trust me there were many rewrites of that scene, some were too emotional, some ended up making them look too close for this part of the story and so on until I got that version which I like the most.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**Joker – Thanks, taking the length of One Piece into an account it will last longer.**_

* * *

_**Arc 4 – Syrup Village Arc**_

* * *

_**Chapter 16 – Captain Usopp**_

* * *

East Blue… most likely the calmest sea in the world, most of the villages and towns were peaceful and enjoyable places to live in. This one was no different, as the sun rose up to the sky occasional smoke puffed from the chimneys, the village was waking up. In this peaceful idyll, one person spread the panic.

"Everyone! It's horrible! Pirates have appeared!" Young male whose striking feature was extremely long nose, he was a slim teenager with medium length, curly black hair. He was wearing brown overalls, white sash and an olive green plaid bandana, noteworthy was also his yellow satchel. "Pirates… Pirates… Pirates have appeared! Everyone run!" He kept yelling as loudly as he could, strangely enough no one paid attention to the shouting male. "Pirates! Everyone run!"

* * *

-Out on the sea-

* * *

The mood in the two little boats was rather nonexistent, other than Nami's frown remaining trio was simply munching on apples or in Vergil's case sleeping.

"There's no way we can get to the Grand Line in our condition." Nami stated the fact, however the two awake pirates seemed to get the idea in a different way.

"Hm?" Luffy took the leftover of the apple and looked at it. "That's right, I still prefer to eat some meat." He said and ate the leftover as well. "All we ever eat is food." Indeed there was a barrel filled with apples next to Nami.

"Some sake would be nice as well." Zoro added, the swordsman was casually leaning against the boat with his hands behind his head. As his eyes were closed he didn't see Nami throwing an apple and hitting his chin.

"What are you two saying?" She scolded them as Luffy caught the apple and bit it while Zoro scratched his chin. "I'm not talking about that! I'm saying that the Grand Line is the most dangerous place in the world! There will definitely be more powerful pirates looking for One Piece and they will definitely have powerful ships!" Nami told them and glanced at now frowning Vergil, the white haired demon was still sleeping but the frowning gave away the uneasy and soon to be ended sleep.

"Let's just get more nakama then." Luffy stated only adding fuel to Nami's arguments.

"Not only do our boats lack equipment but we lack the manpower as well. There's no way we can even make it there safely." She stated the obvious fact, even with three rather powerful fighters and exceptionally skilled navigator there was no way they could just sail into the Grand Line.

"Looks like we still need a chef, and a musician." Luffy said pointing out a need for a rather strange crew position to be filled.

"Musician?" Zoro asked before he began laughing.

"Are you stupid?" Nami wondered to her surprise Vergil abruptly sat up. Nami and Zoro looked at him calmly while Luffy munched on yet another apple.

"Something wrong?" Zoro asked as Vergil took a deep breath, there weren't many clues as to what woke him up, but the way he sat up indicated a nightmare or something similar.

"Nah, don't worry about it. Just a brief memory." Vergil brushed it off as nothing important. "So, where are we heading next?" He asked.

"If we head south there is a small inhabited island. It would be best if we found a good ship there." She replied, Vergil was a bit surprised at the mention of a ship but then looked at two small boats.

"All right! Time to eat some meat!" Luffy cheered happily.

"Don't forget sake." Zoro reminded him.

This actually pissed Nami off. "You guys!" She yelled and was about to keep yelling when Vergil butted in.

"She's right you know, food and drink aside we really do need a better ship." Vergil stated, Nami blinked and looked at Vergil. "Ship will give us a much better opportunity. More space for us and the future nakama we will gain, more space for supplies, we'll actually be capable of moving around unlike now. In boats we are pretty much forced to sit or stand." Vergil explained.

"You do have a point." Zoro agreed.

"Let's go! Wait for us meat! And ship." Luffy exclaimed.

"Ship is your second priority?" Zoro asked, his face matching the disbelief he felt.

"At least he made it his priority." Nami stated knowing that this was probably the best she could get.

* * *

-Small village-

* * *

Some time passed after his lies ended up with another chase after him and now the resident liar lied on the branch, his eyes closed as the soft breeze kept him refreshed. "I did a good deed today as well." He said sounding rather relieved. "The refreshing wind sweeps through this boring village once again." Suddenly a voice brought him back from his peaceful slumber.

"Ah! There he is!" A childish voice shouted from beneath him.

He sat up and looked down. "It's you guys." He stated with a small smile.

"Good morning, captain Usopp!" Piiman (Pepper in English dub) stated, he was a boy with dark green, pepper shaped hair wearing a light green short sleeved shirt with jolly roger on the front. He also wore a light blue sash, dark blue pants and black shoes with gray laces. Next to him was Ninjin (Carrot in English dub), Ninjin was a boy with short and spiky purple hair that covered his eyes, he had freckles on his cheeks and his chin was rather pointed, because of this he resembled a carrot. He was wearing a red hat with a frill at the top with the same Jolly Roger as Piiman. He wore a black sweater, a reddish brown sash, light orange pants and dark brown shoes.

"The Usopp pirate crew is here!" Ninjin added.

Usopp jumped down to greet two boys. "Piiman, Ninjin, just you two today? Where's Tamanegi (Onion in English dub)?" Usopp asked them.

But just as he asked the question they heard screaming. Trio turned to the road and saw someone running. "It's horrible! Horrible!" Third boy screamed, this was the last boy, the one that Usopp had mention, Tamanegi. Tamanegi was a boy with straight brown hair with a tuft sticking up at the top, this made his head look like an onion, he had tiny eyes and was wearing square glasses, a yellow shirt with blue vest jacket. Like other boys he was also wearing a sash, his was dark yellow. He also wore dark brown pants and black shoes.

"Tamanegi." Ninjin realized.

"What's he yelling about?" Piiman wondered.

"It's horrible! Horrible! Pirates are here! There's a boat heading toward the village!" Tamanegi yelled confusing the trio.

"It was a lie." Usopp told him thinking that Tamanegi believed his lie.

"It's true!" Tamanegi told him as he finally reached them.

"True?" Usopp asked nervously, a drop of sweat began forming on his head.

"It's true! This is bad!" Tamanegi confirmed. Usopp's mouth widened as he began running away.

"Oh no! It's time for my snacks!" He told them.

"Don't escape!" Three boys yelled at him.

Usopp stopped and turned to them.

"Actually I'm ill. I'll die if I don't eat my snacks." He told them obviously lying.

"You're lying." The three boys clearly saw through it.

"Captain don't you want to be a real pirate! How can a real pirate be afraid of other pirates!" Ninjin yelled at him, Usopp's eyes widened a bit at the boy's words.

"I saw the mark of Buggy the Clown." Tamanegi told them and all the courage that Usopp may have had perished.

"B… b… b… Buggy the Clown?!" He asked and slowly began turning to the side ready to run one again. "_I better…"_

"But there were only two small boats. I could make out about four people." Tamanegi said and Usopp who had fully turned around suddenly spun back and turned to them.

"All right! Let us prepare! The Usopp pirates will protect the peace of this village! Brothers follow me!" He exclaimed bravely thinking that they could scare off the four people well these four weren't going to get scared by his crew. Either way the boys were silent for a moment but then, with eyes filled with admiration they agreed.

* * *

The crew had finally reached the inhabited island Nami was talking about. They stepped onto the island and Zoro used the opportunity to do a bit of stretching out as the other three looked around.

"It's been a while since we've been on the land!" He exclaimed.

"Ah, so the village is further down the way?" Luffy asked.

"Yes, although it's a small village…" She said as she looked at her map.

Luffy ran up to her and pretty much invaded her personal space as the orange haired girl leaned to her side away from drooling captain. "There will be some food right? Meat, meat, meat, meat, meat. They should have some food in the village right?" He rejoiced at the thought of meat.

"Can you not think about eating meat all the time?" Nami asked, annoyance was clearly noticeable in her voice. Zoro yawned but suddenly he and Vergil noticed a slight movement not too far away from them.

Zoro slightly unsheathed his sword. "Careful!" He stated as Nami and Luffy blinked in confusion. "Someone's here." He explained.

Vergil clenched his fist for a moment but then relaxed and unclenched it when his captain continued being carefree.

"Where? Where? Where, where?" Luffy kept repeating as he looked around for anyone.

"Watch out!" Zoro warned him quickly as Luffy began dodging whatever hit the ground underneath his feet. Nami ran to the boats for a cover and Vergil was about to ran toward the culprits behind the assault when numerous pirate flags began popping up from the bushes.

"_Only three at once?_" Vergil and Nami thought.

Unlike his skeptic crewmates Luffy was amazed. "Wow! This is AWESOME!" Luffy exclaimed as he waved his arms around in excitement, the 17 years old was really easy to amaze.

"This isn't time to watch in awe." Nami said.

"He lightens up the mood." Vergil told her with a grin but then they heard laughing.

Above them, standing on a small hill was the resident liar, Usopp.

"I am the leader of the great pirate crew that conquered this village, Usopp! Everyone praises me and addresses me as captain Usopp!" Usopp boosted, Luffy had a large smile on his face but then his face turned blank for some reason. "If you are thinking about attacking this village you should just save your strength! Otherwise my 80 million men will crush you like a little bug!" He exaggerated.

"You suppose 80 million people could even stand on this small island?" Vergil muttered to himself in disbelief, he had heard a lot of ridiculous lies but this one took the cake…

"Incredible!" Luffy, the rather easy to fool captain completely believed Usopp. Zoro looked at the man he chose to follow, Nami sighed and Vergil just accepted it, his captain was stupid 99 percent of the time.

"It's a lie." Nami decided to be the one to point out the so obvious, but still effective on some, lie.

Usopp grabbed the sides of his head in panic. "She saw right through it!" He gasped.

"You see. He said I saw through it." Nami said, there was a devious smile on her face as Usopp wiggled his body around.

"She saw right through it! This is bad!" He cried leaving the navigator speechless.

"What? He was lying?" Luffy asked in disbelief.

"Luffy… A ton of meat can't fit on our boats. How could 80 million people even stand together on an island this small? I doubt even a million people could even stand on this island let alone live on it." Vergil pointed out as Luffy turned to him.

"A ton of meat!" Luffy sang as his eyes shone from happiness.

"You are missing the point!" Demon scolded him. Nami sighed, how Vergil could refrain himself from hitting Luffy when the younger male got like this was something she couldn't understand after all when Luffy needed an explanation he'd first go to Vergil and they all realized that explaining something to Luffy was hell of a hard thing.

"Damn you! 80 million might have been an exaggeration but I have many strong and powerful companions." Usopp announced as his companions waved around six flags, it didn't take Nami long to guess the number of those 'powerful companions'.

"All three of them?" She asked and on cue Tamanegi, Piiman and Ninjin jumped out of their cover screaming that she found out. The three boys ran away as quickly as they could.

"Hey you guys…! Don't run!" Usopp yelled at them not to run but the trio already left.

Nami walked up to her crewmates and crouched down to lift a small ball that was shot at Luffy. "I've never heard of a pirate using pachinko." She pointed out and blew the sand off the small ball.

Luffy laughed. "Hahahaha. You are quite an interesting fellow." Luffy said to Usopp.

"Why you!" Usopp was getting angry and furthermore he wanted to protect his village. "Don't laugh at me! I am a man of the great pride!" He told them as he roamed through his satchel he pulled out a slingshot and another pachinko before aiming at Luffy. "Because of my great pride, everyone calls me Usopp the proud." Usopp stated, Luffy's straw hat overshadowed his eyes. "As you have seen. My skills with pachinko overcome even pistol!" Usopp for once didn't lie, his skills when it came to sharpshooting were clearly superior to most people.

"Since you mentioned pistols… Bet your life on it." Luffy began, he looked up at now scared Usopp. "It's not a tool to scare people." He said. Vergil and Zoro got what he was doing and decided to join in.

Zoro slightly unsheathed his swords allowing the blade to shine on the sunlight. "The one that stands before you is the real pirate." He said with a sort of evil smile on his face. Usopp's confidence began crumbling and it was crashing down rather quickly.

A couple of sparks surrounded Vergil's right fist as he smirked. That did it for Usopp and the fact that his eyes met with Luffy's didn't help him at all. Pachinko fell to the ground and Usopp dropped to his knees. He had tears in his eyes. "As I thought, the real pirate's speech is much more intimidating. Incredible." He said.

Luffy's serious face melted into a smile as he shared a glance with Vergil and Zoro, the three males began laughing. "I just repeated what someone said." Luffy admitted, it was true, he repeated what Shanks said. "The pirate I deeply respect, Shanks." This completely surprised Usopp.

"Sha… Shanks you say?! The red haired Shanks?! You know that great pirate?!" Usopp asked in disbelief and awe.

"Yeah. Yasopp isn't it? Your dad's name." Luffy said, Vergil raised an eyebrow questioning the sudden question.

Usopp's eyes popped out as he fell and rolled down to the crew. Luffy smiled as the liar sat up and looked at him.

"It's true that Yasopp is my father's name, but how do you know that?" Usopp asked.

* * *

_**That's it. Shorter than before but I'll make up for it in the next chapters.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Jango The Hypnotist**_


	17. Jango The Hypnotist

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Guest – Thanks for reviewing.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review, glad you like it.**_

_**Son of Whitebeard – Well I'm afraid we won't see that much of him for now, though he might make certain amount of appearances that weren't in anime or manga.**_

_**Anime PJ – Thanks for the review. Well as it was pointed out he was having a nightmare at the moment so her shouting pulled him out of it in a way, also at that point she hasn't started outright yelling at them.**_

_**Hisokarocks – Thanks.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 17 – Jango The Hypnotist**_

* * *

Usopp led the crew to the local inn and right now they all had a rather good meal.

"Pretty good isn't it?" He said as a more of a statement rather than a question.

"I met him when I was young." Luffy told him referring to Yasopp.

"My father was on Shanks' ship?" Usopp asked, there was a nice amount of pride in his voice due to that fact.

"Yeah, you look just like your father, so when I first saw you I thought you were his son." Luffy stated without once pausing his meal.

"Really? I never thought my father would be on such an amazing ship!" Usopp exclaimed delightfully.

"I don't know what's the situation now, but he's probably still with him." Luffy said and took an apple. "Your father's marksmanship was elite." He said as a fond memory crossed his mind.

* * *

-Flashback-

* * *

Yasopp fired his gun and shot right through an apple, it shattered into tiny pieces much to the amazement of young Luffy.

"Wow! Incredible!" Luffy exclaimed, back then he was seven years old and just as easy to amaze as now, seeing as he didn't have the scar under his left eye it was safe to assume he still hasn't ate the Gomu Gomu no mi.

"What? That's nothing, I can shoot an antennae off of an ant.

Later that day Shanks' crew including Yasopp had yet another drinking party, by now Yasopp was pretty much drunk though, not that his crewmates were much better.

"I feel a sense of closeness to you." Yasopp said as he looked at Luffy, he pulled Luffy toward him in a sort of a one armed hug as he patted the boy's head with the side of his hand. "It's because I have a son called Usopp around your age!" He repeated yet again.

Luffy pushed him away. "Whatever I heard this already!" The boy complained.

"Say what?!" Yasopp, in his drunken and easily annoyed state placed his empty beer glass over Luffy's head. "I'm not done yet! Everyone listen!" He demanded. "It's true that I'm separated from my son but that can't be helped!" He exclaimed loudly, the fact that he was drunk was even more obvious since he had his feet on the bar. "I only have one goal in life and that is to be a pirate! When the pirate flag beckons you must answer its call!" He yelled causing his crewmates to cheer while Luffy still tried to free himself from the glass.

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

"Usopp, I heard stories about you time and time again my ears almost fell off. Yasopp is a great pirate." Luffy said making Usopp even happier.

"Exactly what I thought! To disregard his own life and indulge himself in the vast and endless sea… I feel so proud of my father." Usopp said.

"Then that makes our discussion much easier."Nami said turning Usopp's attention to her. "Hey, is there anyone in this village that can sail a ship or acquire a large ship?" She asked.

Usopp let out a sigh. "As you can see, this is a very small village. I'm sorry but there is no way to fulfill your request." He said, Vergil glanced at him, the younger male was looked away and leaning his cheek on his hand.

"On top of the hill…" Zoro began prompting Usopp's eyes to widen a bit. "There was a large mansion." He stated.

"Hey Usopp, do you know them? I wonder if we can ask them for a little financial support." Nami said, her hands were clapped together as she tried and succeeded to look endearing.

"You can't go there!" Usopp suddenly yelled surprising them.

"Aah I just remembered that I still have to do something!" Usopp exclaimed. "I know the owner of this inn very well so feel free to order anything you want!" He told them as he stood up. "Well I'll be on my way then!" He said and ran off.

"What happened? All of a sudden?" Nami wondered.

"He's hiding something." Vergil replied.

"How do you know?" Luffy asked.

"Just keep eating, it doesn't matter anyway." The white haired demon replied.

* * *

The mansion that Zoro mentioned was indeed huge, there were two guards on the entrance and the enormous mansion was indeed a beautiful sight to see. Yet even with all that, the owner of the mansion was a young frail girl.

Usopp was hiding from the guards once he successfully reached the mansion, he looked at them to see if they noticed his approach. Once he was sure they didn't he went a bit further away and pulled out a bit of the bush revealing a man made hole in the fence. "Sorry to intrude." He said as he got in.

Not a couple of minutes later a small rock hit Kaya's window. Girl quickly opened it and looked rather delighted to see the resident liar. "Usopp-san!" She exclaimed.

"Yo, you look as weak as usual." Usopp greeted her, he was sitting on a branch next to her window.

"I'm sorry, I wanted to treat you as a guest but… Klahadore just won't agree to it, but he's not a bad guy." She apologized, Usopp just kept smiling.

"Don't worry about it! After all I'm the brave warrior of the sea. Being in a small room would probably suffocate me to death." He assured her.

"So, what kind of tale will you tell me today?" She asked delighted to hear another one of his stories.

Usopp looked up as if thinking about which one to tell her. "Ehh, let's see. Okay! I'll tell you about the time I fought with a giant goldfish at the South Pole when I was 5 years old." Usopp began.

"Goldfish?" Kaya asked.

"Yeah, what surprised me first was how large its droppings were. I thought it was land so I docked and stepped on it." The two laughed at Usopp's story, the weak and usually sad girl looked happy for once.

* * *

Tamanegi, Piiman and Ninjin sneaked to the inn.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Piiman asked.

"Yeah, I saw the pirates take him in there. We have to rescue him." Tamanegi told them.

"But they are real pirates, we might get barbequed." Ninjin said.

"Stupid! The only things that eat humans are demons and Onibaba!" Piiman scolded him.

"But that white haired one looked like a demon!" Ninjin said either way kids resolved to rescue their captain.

"Listen, be alert and ready. This will be Usopp pirate crew's greatest battle!" Piiman stated, the green haired boy seemed to be a sort of a leader between the three kids. Three kids had small wooden swords in their hands.

They barged in. "Usopp pirate crew is here!" They chorused together with wooden swords raised high above their heads.

"What's going on?" Nami leaned to her side so that she could see the boys.

"The captain's not here!" Ninjin realized.

"Don't tell me…" Tamanegi muttered.

Piiman was the first to run up to them. "Hey pirates, what have you done to our captain Usopp?!" He demanded to know as other two ran up behind him.

"What have you done?!" They repeated.

"That was a good meat!" Luffy exclaimed tapping his overgrown stomach.

"Meat?!" Boys shrieked thinking that the pirates ate their captain. Nami chuckled a bit.

"Your captain was…" A sinister grin appeared on Zoro's face. "Eaten." Zoro, after he realized what they were thinking, decided to play a joke on them.

"Aaaah!" Boys screamed and looked at Nami. "Onibaba!" They yelled.

"Why are you looking at me?!" Nami yelled at them, her teeth resembled that of a shark with the way she was raging.

"They aren't that wrong." Vergil chimed in turning Nami's anger at himself.

"What was that?! Vergil you bastard!" She yelled as she punched him.

Zoro and Luffy laughed as three boys lied down on the floor gasping for air.

"It's all because you guys are stupid!" Nami scolded, which trio she scolded was yet to be determined.

"It was a joke." Ninjin said once the pirate crew explained it to them. They were all heading toward the mansion.

"But he's a demon. We thought demons eat humans." Piiman dared to say.

"I am not going to eat humans." Vergil firmly said. "Ever again." He said completely serious, his expression blank, three boys along with Nami screamed.

"You are joking right?" Zoro asked.

"Yes, I am joking." Vergil confirmed, boys breathed out a sigh of relief but Nami walked up to him and punched him on the head.

"You bastard what was that for?!" She yelled.

"A laugh." He supplied only to earn himself another punch.

"Stupid demons…" She mumbled.

"Violent humans…" He muttered at the same time.

"Shut it!" They both yelled at each other once again at the same time.

"_They are synchronizing nicely…_" Zoro thought as he sweat dropped the navigator and the first mate agreed and got along just fine for the most part, but when the argued they seemed much more synchronized than they should be…

"It's HUGE!" Luffy exclaimed as he looked at the mansion in front of them.

"If you can't find the captain around this time he's probably here." Tamanegi explained.

"Eh? What does he come here for?" Luffy asked.

"To lie." Ninijin simply answered.

"That's not something he should do!" Nami scolded.

"Like you are the one to talk." Vergil muttered, Nami's eyes widened.

"I haven't lied!" She defended herself even though she knew it wasn't true.

"Yeah, you didn't." Vergil said and looked away.

Three boys ignored the exchange. "There's nothing wrong with it, it's different, right?" Piiman defended his captain.

"That's right." Tamanegi agreed.

"What do you mean by that?" Zoro asked them.

"Lady Kaya lives in this mansion and she's very weak. A year ago her parents died and she's been depressed ever since. Despite all the money she has nothing could make her happy. That's why the captain makes up outrageous lies to make her laugh." Piiman explained.

"Captain's lying is the first class." Ninjin added.

"What? So he's a good guy?" Luffy asked.

"Yeah." All three boys replied.

"I like the way he keeps meddling in other people's business." Ninjin said.

"I like the way he overreacts to everything." Piiman added.

"I like the way he lies." Tamanegi finished.

"So has that lady cheered up?" Nami asked them.

"Who cares, in the world we live in she's nothing but a spoiled child." Vergil said harshly.

Nami glared at him. "Explain that. What has she done to you to make you act so harsh?" She demanded, she wasn't going to punch him because unlike the previous times he had angered her his time he wasn't joking or acting stupid, he was simply being harsh and honest, the choice of his words was what angered her.

"What is there to explain? Her parents died a year ago and she is depressed. To me she is nothing but a spoiled child who never lost a single thing in her life prior to those parents of hers. Think about it, how many children much younger than her are orphans?" He asked, his words made her anger stop ruling over her as she waited for him to continue. "In this world we live in those orphans can't allow themselves the luxury of being depressed like her. They need to fend for themselves, they need to keep moving or die. Now tell me with countless kids like that does she, who has money, place to stay and live in, chance for high education, as much food of any kind and all kinds of things that orphans much younger than her can't even dream of has the right to be depressed. Most importantly she is not alone in this world." Vergil stated, his words hit hard and directly at the center, Nami turned to look away thinking about her own childhood. Even Luffy and Zoro remained in silent understanding of what Vergil just said.

"But…" Piiman wanted to defend Kaya yet found no real words to do so as Vergil turned around.

"Save it. No matter what words you come up with to defend her you won't find them for me. I'm going to take a walk, try getting that ship if you want, I'm not going in there." Vergil stated and began strolling away.

"W-Wait!" Nami called after him but words got stuck in her throat. The look in his eyes, she couldn't ignore the fact that to her it looked like he wasn't just talking the talk, it seemed as if he knew exactly what he had talked about.

"Let's go ask her for a ship!" Luffy decided, Vergil's words weren't forgotten to him, yet he decided to just go forward.

"The one who cheered her up was Usopp." Zoro pointed out.

"Getting in is impossible. There are two large bodyguards guarding the entrance." Piiman informed them.

"Where's Luffy?" Nami asked, she got over the feeling she felt in her guts and noticed that Luffy wasn't next to her. They glanced toward the fence and saw Luffy on it.

"Let's take a look inside." Luffy decided as his hands stretched down and he almost reached the ground.

"Wait?! You're not going to?!" Zoro realized what the captain was doing.

"**Gomu Gomu no**…" Luffy began making them panic as they ran up to him and tried to stop him. "**Sorry To Intrude**!" Luffy exclaimed, he made all six of them go over the fence, fly high up into the sky and land close to Kaya's window.

"What?" Kaya wondered out loud as she looked at the pirates along with shocked Usopp.

"Successful entry." Luffy mumbled.

"No it wasn't!" Nami yelled at him.

"Ar… Are you all right?" Kaya asked.

"Ah it's okay! They heard how great I am so they came to join the Usopp pirates!" Usopp lied as Luffy stood up.

"That's not it, we have a favor to ask from you." Luffy told Kaya.

"Favor? From me?" Kaya asked.

"Yeah, we want a large ship." Captain stated but before Kaya could reply Klahadore appeared.

"You there! What are you doing here?" He asked them as he walked up to them.

"Klahadore…" Kaya muttered.

"You are trespassing and causing trouble here." Klahadore stated as he once again lifted his glasses.

"Who is this guy?" Luffy wondered.

* * *

A strange looking man was walking down the road, backwards…

* * *

Vergil sat on the grass field near the road, he simply looked at the sky.

_'Verge…'_ A soft voice of a beautiful blond female softly lulled him into the slumber. The woman was in her late twenties or early thirties and had emerald green eyes. The first human he had ever killed, the first person he had ever killed…

"Stupid humans…" Vergil muttered as he stood up, it seemed like he stood up at the right moment since he saw a strange, backwards walking, man dressed in a blue trench coat, a white shirt and green-brown gloves. Along with that the man was wearing light brown pants with black belt, black shoes and big white socks, not to mention that he had a blue hat, red lenses heart shaped glasses and a strange thing on his chin.

"Who are you?" The man asked.

"Mind your own business." Vergil replied as he jumped over the fence and began walking down the path in the opposite direction.

"You shouldn't ignore people." Man told him, Vergil tuned to glare at him.

"Trust me, you won't even scratch me and you'll be dead. Give it up while I still haven't taken you seriously." He stated, the menacing chill that made the strange man shiver slightly was clearly present in his voice. Two separated without further contact.

* * *

"Excuse me Klahadore, these people are…" Kaya tried to explain but the butler didn't even give her the opportunity to do so.

"You don't need to tell me now. I will listen to your explanation later." Klahadore said as they all looked at him. "Now. You people, I'd like all of you to leave this area. Or do you have something to say?" Klahadore asked them.

"Oh you see, we'd like a ship…" Luffy began but he was cut off by Klahadore.

"Definitively not!" He exclaimed as he once again lifted his glasses up. Luffy saddened a bit at that. "Usopp-kun!" Klahadore called knowing that Usopp was there, although the liar hid behind the tree holding onto it high above the ground. "I heard quite a lot about you. You are famous in the village." Klahadore stated.

"Really?" Usopp said with a forced smile as he held onto the branch he previously sat on.

"So, you have faced many kinds of dangers before. That's quite a feat at such a young age." Klahadore stated seemingly complimenting the young man.

"You may call me captain Usopp, it will help spread my name." Usopp bragged.

"Captain eh…?" Klahadore chuckled a bit. "I even heard stories about your father." At these words easy going attitude disappeared.

"What?" Usopp asked, somewhat surprised at this. Kaya looked at him and then turned to Klahadore.

"Klahadore cease this at once!" She ordered.

"You are just a son of a low-life pirate!" Klahadore ignored her order as Luffy lifted his gaze to look at the butler. "Although anything you do won't be much of a surprise but would you please stop pestering our lady?" He questioned ignoring the looks everyone was giving him, including the girl he was supposed to serve.

"You called my father… low-life?" Usopp asked, Klahadore could say anything and it wouldn't hurt him, but this… This was an exception.

"You come from a totally different world than our lady. Is it money you want? How much is it?" Klahadore offered money to Usopp.

"That's enough Klahadore! Apologize to Usopp-san right away!" Kaya yelled at the butler.

"Hey, Kaya, that's dangerous." Usopp told her as he realized that Kaya was leaning to much over the window.

"Why should I apologize to this barbarian, lady? I am only stating the truth. I am sympathize with you though. You must be filled with hatred. Hatred for your idiotic father who abandoned you and your mother to look for treasure as a pirate!" Klahadore stated.

"Klahadore!" Kaya yelled once again.

"You bastard, you better stop insulting my father!" Usopp exclaimed as he jumped down, Kaya called out to him as the grappling hook hooked onto the branch and eased his landing a lot. Hook went back to his satchel as he glared angrily at the butler.

"What are you so agitated over? It's times like this that you should do what you do the best, lie." Klahadore mocked. "Just say you have nothing to do with your father, or that he's not your birth-father…" Klahadore kept going but at that moment Usopp reached the breaking point.

"Shut up!" He yelled as he went and punched Klahadore. Kaya gasped and others looked at Usopp.

"See that. Turning to violence right away. No wonder they say 'like father, like son'." Klahadore said as he half sat up.

"Shut up!" Usopp yelled making him back away a bit. "I'm proud my father is a pirate. Being a brave warrior of the sea, I'm very proud of him! Although it's true I'm a plain old liar but a pirate blood runs through my veins! That's not kind of honor that can be imitated! For I the son of pirate!" Usopp announced.

"Captain…" Ninjin muttered.

"Pirates are the warriors of the sea, huh? You are pretty naïve to have that ideology." Klahadore said as he stood up.

"What?" Usopp demanded.

"You just proved that you have barbaric blood in you. You lie and resort to violence whenever something upsets you. You are only after our lady's fortune and that's why you are trying to get close to her!" Klahadore announced, before Usopp could say anything though…

"He at the very least has guts unlike you. I must say this is the first time I've seen butler with authority such as yours." They suddenly heard a new voice, turning to their right they saw none other but Vergil leaning against the fence.

"Another intruder?" Klahadore said bitterly.

"Say Mr. Know-It-All, since when does a butler fall deaf to his mistress' orders?" Demon mocked as he walked up to the group.

"Vergil! You came!" Luffy greeted him happily.

"I'm supposed to follow your orders, if you want to meet someone, I as your first mate need to stay by your side, sorry Luffy. I won't wonder off again without permission." Vergil stated and looked up to Kaya. "So you are the spoiled brat I heard about. Not much different from what I've expected. You have zero authority over your butlers. Here this male is, trying to cheer you up and make you laugh yet he has to tolerate this kind of treatment on your own property? Pitiful don't you think?" Vergil challenged, Kaya's eyes widened at his words.

"Cut it out! Stop being harsh to her!" Usopp defended her.

Vergil glanced at him and sighed. "I am not born to take pity on people. I am a demon if you are expecting me to sugar coat things then forget it." Vergil replied.

"Klahadore is not a bad guy… He's just over protective…" Kaya tried to defend her butler but Vergil simply snorted.

"This one is over protective." Vergil said and pointed at Usopp, then he pointed at Klahadore. "That one is a bastard who first of all takes your words and throws them out of the window, pays no attention to your health. I take it you are weak as hell so this amount of stress is most likely bad for you yet he is the one initiating it. Do I need to point out more facts?" Vergil countered.

"That's enough! Get off this property right away!" Klahadore snapped mostly at Usopp.

"I get the picture. I was going to leave even if you didn't tell me to. I'll never come here again." Usopp said and left.

"Usopp-san!" Kaya called out to him but he just kept leaving.

"Stupid caretaker! Our captain is not that kind of person!" Ninjin defended his captain.

"That's right you idiot!" Piiman yelled.

"Stupid!" Tamanegi added.

"Stupid!" Even Luffy insulted only to get bonked by Zoro.

"Why are you butting in all of a sudden?" Zoro asked.

Klahadore glared at three boys and they ran up behind Nami while Luffy tried to get free from Zoro's grasp so he could go up to Klahadore.

"All of you should leave at once!" Klahadore said as the group kept making commotion.

As the group left Vergil and Luffy glared at Klahadore.

* * *

A bit later in her room Kaya had yet another coughing fit... She heard two knocks on her doors and a bit later Klahadore came in with her meal.

"Your meal, lady." He said.

"I don't want it. I don't feel like eating." Kaya refused the meal while her face remained buried in her pillow.

"You will break chef's heart by saying that. Considering your weak health chef is working very hard on this." He stated.

Kaya looked at him from the corner of her eye. "Why did you say such harsh things? I know it's my fault for seeing Usopp-san without your acknowledgement. But you didn't have to say such harsh things." She said and looked to the side. Klahadore sighed and walked up to her bed.

"May I sit down?" He asked.

"Go ahead." She allowed him and the butler sat down.

"It has… been three years now… Since I cane to this house… What happened that day, I will never forget." He began and Kaya looked at him.

* * *

-Flashback-

* * *

Three years younger Kaya was watering the plants when she noticed a figure approaching the mansion. It was Klahadore and he dropped down unconscious on the ground in front of the two guards.

"At that time I made a careless mistake and got kicked out of the ship I worked on. Without money or food I was on the verge of death."

"Hey you! Get out of here! One of the guards yelled at him.

"This isn't the place for the likes of you!" The second one added. Kaya wanted to interfere but her father was already on it. The man outstretched his palm, a sign of him prompting his men to help.

"Master… But…" One of the guards wanted to complain yet Kaya's father just nodded.

"I understand! We'll get him treated right away!" The second one stated the gate opened.

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

"To me… Your late father saved my life… And you are his most precious daughter… For me to speak with you on this equal terms, I'm afraid I have gone overboard. However that man Usopp is not a good person!" Klahadore was now on the verge of tears. "If something was to happen to you lady! How could I face your late father who saved me! What happened earlier… Are you still angry at me?" He asked.

"No, it's nothing like that. I'm very thankful to have you here." She assured him. "But don't misunderstand, Usopp-san is a very good person." She said hoping that it would change Klahadore's opinion.

The butler stood up. "Whether or not he is a good person is a different matter." Klahadore stayed faithful to his opinion.

"Klahadore! You are so narrow minded!" Kaya yelled.

"I'm fine with being narrow minded." Klahadore said but still smiled at the girl.

* * *

The strange man still kept walking backwards… The hypnotist, Jango was about to make a move…

* * *

_**And that's it.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Liar Stands Up**_


	18. Liar Stands Up

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**Anime PJ – Yeah, he is a blunt individual. I understand about the opinions, I could probably say that I'm the same and for the most part words Vergil says bluntly as in Kaya's case are my personal opinions on the situation. Anyway thanks for the review.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review, glad you liked it.**_

_**Son of Whitebeard – Well seeing as they are one of the early enemies probably not, maybe once or twice in a small moments, however there is no way they could reach Grand Line with their current strength, and even if they did they probably wouldn't last for long. So no, not really after this arc.**_

_**Guest – Thanks for the review, I'm glad you like him.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 18 – Liar Stands Up**_

* * *

Nami was sitting on the fence, Zoro was sitting on the ground leaning his back onto it on her far right while Piiman and Ninjin sat on her far right.

"Hey, where did Luffy and Vergil go?" Nami asked, the captain and the first mate left all of a sudden without saying anything.

"Beats me. Maybe they went after the Captain." Zoro suggested referring to Usopp.

"Captain should be 'there'." Piiman said.

"Yeah, at the coast. Whenever he's troubled he goes there." Ninijin explained.

"Want to go check on them?" Nami asked Zoro.

"Hmm? No, I'll pass." The swordsman replied.

"Speaking of which, aren't you guys missing a member?" Nami asked yet another question.

"Ah, Tamanegi!" They both exclaimed.

"He always disappears of somewhere." Piiman told her.

"Then he'll come out of nowhere screaming!" Ninjin added.

Just as he said that Tamanegi came running toward them screaming. "It's horrible!"

"See?" Ninjin said proving his point.

"A man walking backwards! A very strange man is walking backwards!" Tamanegi screamed.

"Liar." Ninjin and Piiman said without a moment of hesitation.

"It's true!" Tamanegi defended himself and pointed at the road behind him, indeed a man was walking backwards and not any man either, it was Jango.

Jango stopped in front of the group holding onto his hat and having a rather strange posture. "Hey, who was it? Who called me weird? I am not weird."Jango stated.

"Looks like a weirdo to me." Nami pointed out.

"Don't be ridiculous! I'm just a hypnotist passing by." Jango told her, of course seeing as they lived on such a small island three boys probably never saw a hypnotist.

"A hypnotis! Wow!" Tamanegi exclaimed.

"Can you show us some tricks?" Piiman asked. Hoping that the answer would be yes.

"Show us something!" Ninjin tried to persuade Jango.

"What did you just say?!" Jango began somewhat angrily- "Why would I show my hypnotic tricks to someone whom I just met?" He asked but he sure talked the talk but didn't turn that talk into the walk…

"Listen, when I say 'One! Two! Jango!' you'll fall asleep. Ready?" He told them.

"You are going to do it?" Zoro muttered to himself as boys looked at the swaying ring.

"One! Two! Jango!" The hypnosis would have been successful and it actually was, other than the fact that Jango was also sleeping…

"He fell asleep as well?!" Zoro exclaimed.

* * *

Usopp was, just as Piiman and Ninjin thought, at the shore, he was looking at the sea from a hill just above the shore.

"Yo!" Luffy greeted him suddenly, Usopp backed away a bit as Luffy hung upside down on the branch above them by his feet. Vergil was sitting on the branch as well. "So this is where you were?" Luffy said.

"Oh, It's just you two. Can't you greet normally next time?!" Usopp complained. "What is it? What do you want?" He asked them.

"Nothing really." Luffy easily replied, he placed his hands on the ground and moved a bit closer to the edge before landing on his butt. Vergil jumped down and sat on the ground.

"That damn caretaker…" Usopp muttered. "How dare he insult my father?"

"I don't like him either. No matter what anyone says Yasopp is a great pirate." Luffy stated.

"Isn't that right? In his age of pirates my father sails the ocean without knowing what's ahead. I feel really proud. However, that bastard dared to step over that pride! I will definitely not forgive him!" Usopp declared.

"But, will you see that lady again?" Luffy asked.

Usopp's eyes widened a bit but then he recomposed himself. "I don't know. If that caretaker comes and begs me I might consider it." He said.

"That caretaker?" Luffy asked as he pointed at the shore.

"Yeah, that caretaker." Usopp began. "That caretaker! What is that caretaker doing here?!" Usopp almost yelled as he slammed Luffy's head to the ground and lowered himself as well, Vergil followed the example and leaned over the edge next to Usopp.

Klahadore, surprisingly accompanied by none other than Jango walked down the shore and conveniently stopped just underneath the trio…

"Oi Jango, didn't I tell you not to attract any attention in this village?" He asked the hypnotist. "Yet you were sleeping in the middle of the road."

"Don't be ridiculous I didn't attract any attention at all. I'm not a weirdo either." Jango stated acting rather weird for someone who claimed not to be a weirdo…

"Who is that weirdo with him?" Luffy asked.

"I've never seen him before." Usopp admitted.

"I did. Back when I separated from you guys, I came across him but I don't know who he is, something about him just doesn't strike me as harmless person though." Vergil replied.

"How do you know, he seems weird?" Usopp asked.

"Trust me, if I learnt one thing from being in the Demon World it's that looks can deceive." Vergil replied.

"So are the preparations for the operation complete?" Klahadore asked.

"Of course." Jango began, back at the mansion Kaya was blissfully unaware of the truth as she ate her meal. "We can start anytime. The operation to assassinate the lady!" Jango revealed.

Usopp and Luffy's eyes widened while Vergil narrowed his eyes.

"Did he say assassinate?!" Usopp asked in disbelief.

"He did…" Vergil confirmed.

"Don't say assassinate, it sounds wicked, Jango." Klahadore reminded him.

"Ah, that's right, an accident… It was an accident." Jango corrected himself.

"Hey, what are they talking about?" Luffy asked.

"They want to kill that Kaya and make it look like an accident." Vergil explained.

"Keep quiet! I'm trying to hear!" Usopp hissed at them,.

"We can't just kill her. Lady Kaya has to die from an accident. Don't ever forget that." Klahadore told him.

"I get it, we just wait for your signal and attack the village. Then we kill the lady and you get all the inheritance." Jango said.

"Are you stupid? Can't you use your brain for once? How can an outsider get her inheritance?" Klahadore snapped at him.

"Work hard for it." Jango suggested.

"Working hard gets you a jack squad? Listen this is the most important part. Before we kill her you'll hypnotize Kaya into writing a will." Klahadore told him as he walked up to the sitting hypnotist. "In that will she will state that she leaves everything to her caretaker, Klahadore." Klahadore stated, Usopp's eyes widen at the revelation. "It will be the first step to take her inheritance. It's… perfect…" Klahadore said menacingly as he yet again adjusted his glasses. "I spent three years to gain everyone's trust so no one would find it suspicions if she left the inheritance to me." Klahadore finished.

"You spent three years as a caretaker just for this?" Jango questioned. "It really surprised me back then, captain Kuro. Three years ago you said that you quit being a pirate. You got one of your subordinates to be a scapegoat in order for the world to think that the captain Kuro was executed." In his mind Jango could perfectly picture the execution of the pirate, the countless bullets running through the man's body… "That marked the beginning of your plan. No wonder they call you Kuro of a Hundred Plans." Jango stated.

"Don't call me by that name again. I gave it up three years ago." Klahadore, or rather Kuro, reminded him. "I just want lots of money and not getting chased by the government. That makes me a peaceful citizen." Kuro stated.

At this statement Jango couldn't help but laugh. "I never thought you can be a peaceful citizen! But for the sake of your peace you killed the rich parents." Jango assumed.

"OI, oi, her father's death has nothing to do with me. It was unexpected." Was it a self-denial or simple truth was unsure but Kuro denied the involvement in the death of Kaya's father.

"Well it's none of my business. Anyway, just hurry up and give us the signal. Our boat was anchored nearby for almost a week already. My men are getting impatient." Jango stated.

"This is bad. We just overheard something really bad." Usopp thought

"Hey what's going on? It looks like some kind of trouble." Luffy asked yet again even though Vergil told him that they planned to kill Kaya he was still confused.

"Weren't you listening to their conversation? We are finished they are real pirates!" Usopp hissed at him but the rubber captain just kept clapping his sandals together.

"So are we." Vergil pointed out.

"That captain Kuro is said to be the smartest and cruelest pirate of them all! I heard he was executed three years ago by the marines! But captain Kuro is alive! Living as the caretaker Klahadore! It's been going on for a long time. He's been carefully planning to inherit Kaya's wealth since three years ago!" Usopp told them.

"I've seen people crueler than him and smarter than him…" Vergil stated.

"The village will be assaulted! And Kaya will be in danger! This is terrible!" Usopp cried in a hushed tone as he lowered his head. At that moment Luffy and Vergil stood up. "Hey if you stand up they'll see you!" Usopp tried to warn them.

"Hey you there! Don't you dare hurt that lady!" Luffy yelled.

"Who are you?" Jango asked but then noticed Vergil and took a small barely noticeable step back.

"You idiot! They'll see us!" Usopp yelled at Luffy as he pulled onto Luffy's left arm.

"They already saw us…" Vergil pointed out.

"Hurry up and hide or they'll kill us!" Usopp tried to persuade Luffy into hiding.

"Well, well… If it isn't Usopp-kun." Kuro said, his voice slightly decorated with anger.

"Ahh! I've been spotted too!" Usopp yelled panicking at the thought of getting killed. Vergil sighed.

"Did you… hear anything?" Kuro asked threateningly.

"No, no, no! Did you say something? We were just passing by! We didn't hear anything!" Usopp tried to lie.

"That's one of the most obvious lies I have heard lately…" Vergil muttered.

"I heard everything." Luffy replied bluntly making the white haired demon smirk a bit.

Usopp slapped Luffy on the chest lightly. "Hey!"

Kuro lowered his head and chuckled a bit before nodding to Jango.

"Ah, I guess it can't be helped." Jango said as he took out his ring, the same one he used for hypnotizing Ninjin, Piiman and Tamanegi. "Look closely at this ring." He told them, Vergil sighed and shook his head, there was no way they would fall for that, but Luffy actually looked at the ring.

"What?" Luffy asked.

"It's weapon! Duck!" Usopp warned him.

"With 'One! Two! Jango' you'll fall asleep." Jango stated, Vergil sighed and looked up.

"Hide! It's coming!" Usopp said as he jumped back and covered his head.

"One! Two! Jango!" Jango exclaimed and Luffy started snoring. Vergil's eyes widened as Luffy began falling down. He wasn't the only one asleep, Jango was sleeping as well, leaning against Kuro.

"Hey wake up Jango! You still haven't fixed your old problem!" Kuro scolded the pirate who was still sleeping.

Something crashed in front of them and finally woke Jango up.

"He crashed head first. I didn't have intention to kill you, but falling from that height nothing could save you." Jango stated but as smoke cleared Luffy was snoring a couple of centimeters above the ground while Vergil held him by the rim of his shirt. The white haired demon was on one knee and a bit pissed off.

"_Shit! Those guys… They'll get killed by them_…" Usopp realized.

"Usopp!" Vergil yelled getting Usopp's attention. "Try to warn the villagers!" Vergil yelled.

"Should I finish that one off too? He's going to tell the villagers." Jango said.

"There's no need for that. No matter how much he rattles or tries to warn them no one will believe him." Kuro stated, Vergil greeted his teeth, it was the hard truth, being a liar and everything everyone would rather believe the picture perfect butler than a resident liar…

"We'll settle for tomorrow morning, Jango. We'll attack the village at the dawn. Don't pay too much attention to the villagers, Jango. Make it look like an accident when you kill lady Kaya!" Kuro added rubbing the facts directly at Usopp's face.

"Tomorrow?" Usopp repeated.

"You hear that Usopp-kun? Nothing you do will affect my plan." Kuro stated.

"Damn it!" Usopp yelled as he ran off screaming.

"Aren't you getting ahead of yourself. I'm still here." Vergil stated, Jango backed away a bit but Kuro simply smirked.

"You aren't going to attack us. It would leave your friend open for an attack." Kuro stated, Vergil narrowed his eyes.

"_He's right, Luffy's sleeping so there's no saying when he'll wake up. In a two on one battle protecting someone could cost the lone individual the victory. If I was alone I would fight head on and probably win, but in this situation…_" Vergil greeted his teeth as his mind raced to find a solution. "_I could electrify one of them and turn it into one on one, but I have no idea how skilled they are when it comes to the battle, I could lose too much time on that and too much power when we're at it. Damn it! If it wasn't for the stupid seal I'd kill them both off without a single moment of hesitation!_" Vergil cursed in his mind.

Luffy kept snoring oblivious to the situation.

"_If I go for a quick attack I might force them into retreating though…_" Vergil thought and then grinned. "_Luffy is immune to lightning but those two aren't._" He stood up and dashed toward them.

"He attacked?!" Kuro realized. "Retreat!" He hissed to Jango, he knew that he was weakened without his weapons… As Vergil slammed the lightning powered up fist into the ground and sent bolts of lightning around him two pirates jumped back.

"I have no intention of fighting for real under these circumstances so you can choose, leave or force me to fight." Vergil stated. Kuro smirked and began walking away.

* * *

Usopp kept running through the forest, he was crying. "This is bad! Everyone in the village will be killed! Everyone I love will get killed! Kaya will get killed! Everyone in this village I love!" He thought as he remembered the first time he met Kaya.

"DAMN!" Usopp yelled at top of his voice.

* * *

Vergil kept sitting next to sleeping Luffy. Jango and Kuro left but not before Kuro glanced at the pirate ship in the distance and grinned in a sinister manner.

* * *

Ninjin was walking up and down the road impatiently. "Captain's late." He said.

Nami on the other hand prompted herself up and sat back on the wooden fence.

"Luffy and Vergil are late as well." Zoro noticed.

"Maybe the shock was too great." Tamanegi suggested.

"Whenever he gets upset he goes to the coast and looks at the ocean." Piiman reminded him.

"Ahh!" Ninjin finally noticed Usopp running down the road toward them.

"Captain!" Three boys exclaimed while Nami looked a bit confused.

"What? Weren't Luffy and Vergil supposed to be with him?" Zoro asked.

"Captain!" Three boys happily greeted him but he just ran by between them forcing them to jump to the side of the road.

"Where are Luffy and Vergil? Weren't they supposed to be with you at the coast?" Nami asked. Usopp ignored her and just kept running. "You suppose he's still angry, after having his father insulted and all?" She wondered.

"Beats me." Zoro simply replied.

"No! His expression was different!" Ninjin exclaimed.

"Yes! Something must have happened!" Piiman realized.

"What could change his expression like that?" Tamanegi wondered.

"Hey, how do we get to the coast?" Zoro asked them however three boys were oblivious to the question and formed a small circle.

"You guys think that something has happened?" Ninjin asked the other two.

"Something must have happened at the coast!" Piiman stated.

"The Usopp pirate crew will take action once again!" Tamanegi exclaimed excited about the new adventure.

"I get it now, just tell me how to get there!" Zoro snapped at them as Nami jumped down from the fence she looked down the road toward the way Usopp went.

* * *

Usopp was panting and was slightly bent over as he finally reached the village.

"It's horrible…" He began. "EVERYONE! IT'S HORRIBLE! PIRATES ARE COMING!" He yelled but no one paid attention to him. "Tomorrow morning, the pirates will be attacking this place! Everyone run!" He shouted but yet again no one came out. "What is everyone doing! Everybody!" He called them screaming as loud as he could, finally a couple of villagers stepped outside of their houses, Usopp looked relieved that they were coming out but then…

He realized that villagers had their stuff with them, brooms, different sorts of everyday items that could be used for hitting someone…

"Usopp will you cut it out already?" One of them asked.

"We won't let you get away this tie." Another one added.

"No, it's not like that this time." Usopp tried to tell them. "This time I'm telling the truth!" He tried and failed.

"You are always lying to us!" One of the villagers told him.

"If you were only as trustworthy as Klahadore-san maybe we would believe you." One of the females told him without knowing that their trustworthy Klahadore was going to initiate an attack on them.

Usopp's eyes widened at this. "Damn! That's why they didn't come after me, they knew no one would believe me!" Usopp realized the hard truth, no one in the village believed him.

* * *

Unfortunately people at the mansion weren't likely to believe him either.

"This will do right?" A man asked as he opened a small box and revealed glasses inside of it. "These were specially ordered from the next town. I've just returned with them." Man stated. He was a tall, formally dressed butler. His hair was curly like a lamb's fleece and he had two lamb horns sticking out of it. His lips also resembled those of a lamb in fact even his collar had a fleece around it. His name was Merry. He closed the glass box.

"Yes, perfect." Kaya said. "I'm sorry I made you run all the way to the other town to get them." She apologized but Merry simply smiled and gave her the box. She sat down on the bed and fondly looked at the box.

"It's a present, isn't it?" He asked.

"Yes, tomorrow will be the third anniversary since Klahadore came to this house. He's been taking care of me ever since." She told him.

"I'm sure Klahadore-san will be delighted!" Merry assured her.

* * *

Usopp wasn't giving up, he would make them understand no matter what.

"Everyone please listen this time! Pirates will really attack this village tomorrow!" He tried yet again.

"If we believed you stories we would have abandoned our houses hundreds of times already!" One of the villagers snapped at him while they all approached him.

"Everyone please hurry! You have to run! This time it's solid truth!" Usopp told them as he backed away a bit but the villagers he loved so much lifted their brooms up in the air.

"This time we'll surely catch you!" One of them said.

"DAMN IT!" Usopp yelled as he ran away, the villagers chased after him…

"Hey, don't let him escape." They yelled.

* * *

The group of five finally reached the place Usopp, Luffy and Vergil were at.

"This is it." Ninjin announced.

"This is where captain comes to heal his wounded heart." Piiman told them.

"It really feels good being here too." Tamanegi said. Three boys looked around for something strange but couldn't notice anything and they couldn't find Luffy or Vergil either.

"The Straw Hat nii-chan and Demon nii-chan aren't here." Piiman told Zoro and Nami. Zoro cocked an eyebrow while Nami looked over the edge, she pushed a rock away and it fell down, unknowingly it hit certain someone.

"This place is pretty steep." She said.

"Nami, be careful." Zoro warned her.

"Hey, Nami! I should have known that rock was your doing!" They heard a familiar voice of their first mate. Vergil glared at them from bellow.

"Vergil!" Nami exclaimed surprised to see him all the way down there. Then she noticed Luffy lying down not too far away from him.

"They are both down there!" She informed Zoro and three boys.

"What are you two doing there?!" Zoro snapped at them.

"It's them!" Piiman exclaimed.

"Luffy's sleeping, get down here and I'll explain!" Vergil yelled.

They went down, although by a much more walk able route than Vergil and Luffy did.

"Why are you two here?" Nami asked.

"Long story short, we are relaxing." Vergil replied making the other five fall down to the ground, Nami stood up and punched Vergil.

"All right Luffy. Wake up." Vergil said but when the rubber captain did nothing Vergil sighed.

"Here, I'll do it." Zoro stated as he took his sword, still sheathed and poked Luffy. Luffy's arm twitched a bit before he sat up.

"Mornin'." He greeted them.

* * *

Seeing as Usopp couldn't make the villagers believe him he turned to someone that was even less likable to believe him… Kaya… He sneaked in through the hole he made.

Kaya was reading her book so the first time Usopp hit the window with a small rock she didn't quite hear it, but the second time she did notice.

"Usopp-san?" She realized and stood up. She opened the window to see tired looking Usopp standing at the branch. "I'm relieved. I thought you'd never come here again." She told him. Then she realized how tired he looked.

Usopp stepped closer to her. "Run Kaya! You'll get killed!" He told her.

"What's going on?" Right from the bat it was clear that Kaya wouldn't believe him.

"You've been deceived all along! That butler is actually a pirate!" He revealed, moments passed in the silence as Kaya looked surprised.

"Just a moment. What kind of joke is this?" She asked, Usopp leaned back but wasn't about to give up just yet.

"It's no joke!" He said. "I heard it with my own ears! Klahadore is a pirate that came here for your fortune! For the last three years he's been posing as a caretaker so that he could get your fortune!" He told her, for once saying the solid truth…

"What are you saying Usopp-san?" She asked refusing to believe him.

"I heard him talking to an old crewmate of his about killing you!" Usopp said, Kaya looked down a bit as if not being able to believe that someone she cared about would stoop so low… "He's a cold blooded killer! Hurry and escape!" Usopp yelled.

"It's true that what he said before did go a bit overboard. But a lie like this… This is not like you Usopp-san." She told him.

Usopp looked completely crashed at her words, she didn't believe him and it hurt… "It's not a lie…" He muttered. "It's true…" He said. "IT'S TRUE!" He yelled as loudly as he could…

* * *

Luffy just finished telling them what's going on…

"What? Kaya-san will be killed?!" Three boys yelled in disbelief. "The village will be attacked?! Is that true?!"

"Yup, there's no mistake about it. That's what they said." Luffy confirmed it. Boys looked scared out of their minds at the spoken words.

"Anyway, how did you end up falling asleep?" Zoro asked.

"He got hypnotized by that weird bastard…" Vergil replied, feeling somewhat ashamed of not realizing that Luffy would fall for that…

"About that! I thought I was still on the cliff all along!" Luffy replied as Vergil stood up.

"Klahadore really is a bad guy!" Ninjin realized.

"No wonder he seemed so strange!" Piiman added.

"That must be why captain ran to the village like that!" Tamanegi exclaimed.

"Aren't you guys fortunate to hear about this beforehand. Now we can escape before they attack. They got careless." Nami stated. Vergil glanced at her.

"_Was there a bit of jealousy in her voice right there?_" He wondered, while to the most people her voice seemed normal her comment about being fortunate to him indicated a bit of jealousy because of that, well he knew that some demon was still holding her bound…

"That's right! We should make a run for it!" Ninjin exclaimed.

"Yeah, we should take everything important with us!" Tamanegi added.

"Anyway we have to hurry!" They all shouted and ran off, Nami watched them leave…

"That's right we have to hurry too!" Luffy realized.

"What? Why?" Zoro asked.

"If we don't go and get supplies the shop owner will leave and we won't get any meat!" Luffy told them.

"This is not time to think about that." Zoro scolded him as he hit him on the back of his head with the sheathed sword.

* * *

-Kaya's flashback-

* * *

It was yet another day of Usopp telling his lies to Kaya, it was actually the most recent one with the goldfish…

"Hey, Usopp-san. What kind of story will you tell me today?" She asked.

Usopp looked up as if thinking about which one to tell her. "Ehh, let's see. Okay! I'll tell you about the time I fought with a giant goldfish at the South Pole when I was 5 years old." Usopp began.

"Goldfish?" Kaya asked.

"Yeah, what surprised me first was how large its droppings were. I thought it was land so I docked and stepped on it." The two laughed at Usopp's story.

"Then I suddenly felt a need to dry myself up and started a fire, but it turned out to be a bad idea." Usopp continued.

"Eh? Why?" She asked curiously.

"Because the goldfish started throwing its tail around! It really surprised me!" He exclaimed. "But I suppose it was natural since it anymore and it would turn into goldfish barbeque!" He added.

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

Kaya placed her hand down. "I… I like… I really liked the stories you made up, all of them. But why did you have to say such a thing?" She asked, the stress was making her feel weak as she began leaning down to the side.

"That's not it. I didn't say it to get revenge on Klahadore." He tried to assure her.

"Why… would you…" She asked.

"Kaya, I…" Usopp fought to find words to say but couldn't, at that moment Merry opened the doors with a gun in his hand.

"Miss Kaya, is something the matter?" He asked, Usopp's eyes widened a bit at how the situation went. He quickly made a split second decision and grabbed Kaya from behind.

"Kaya you have to go now!" He exclaimed.

Merry pointed his gun at Usopp. "Let the lady go!" He shouted.

"Anyway just trust me!" Usopp told her as he jumped down. "You have to leave the village before that caretaker returns!" He told her, he grabbed onto the branch to ease his fall as he landed on his feet with Kaya in his arms. Merry looked down and went back to the doors.

As he helped Kaya up three bodyguards reached them. Quickly Usopp pulled out his slingshot jumped to the side to make sure Kaya couldn't get hit by the potential shots from the bodyguards and fired his pachinko. Kaya looked as Usopp shot three times taking the bodyguards down.

"Please stop…" She muttered, Usopp ran up to her grabbed her hand and was trying to leave with her.

"Come on we have to go!" He told her. When he realized that she wasn't going along with him he turned to try and persuade her once again. "Once tomorrow comes you'll believe me! For now let's just go!" He exclaimed. "Please just listen to me…" He said when suddenly.

Kaya slapped him. His eyes widen as Kaya turned away from him, tears fell down her cheeks… "Despicable!" She said. Usopp took a step back but then Merry finally caught up to them.

"Leave lady Kaya alone!" He yelled and pointed his gun at Usopp once again, Usopp turned to run and Merry was about to fire.

"Don't!" Kaya shouted and moved in front of Usopp, Merry panicked and turned to gun to the side but the bullet went past Kaya and hit Usopp's arm, Kaya gasped as Usopp fell on the ground.

He tried to stand up but once he leaned onto his wounded arm he let out a cry of pain, still he stood up and ran off. Villagers chose that exact moment to ran by as Merry gained their attention.

"Please catch him! Stop him from harming our lady any further!" He told them.

"What on the earth?" One of the villagers asked.

"Why would he?" Another one asked.

"Why? Why won't anyone believe me?" Usopp wondered as he ran away.

"Usopp… san…" Kaya muttered as she fell into Merry's arms unconscious.

"Lady Kaya, please hang in there!" Merry shouted.

* * *

The ship of the pirates that were supposed to attack was already docked near the island.

"Men, it's good to see you all again. It's been three years now." Kuro stated. "Before my plan comes into action I've prepared a fitting role for all of you. Tomorrow morning you will all obliterate the village!" He told them, the pirates cheered at the thought of such destruction.

* * *

It was already sunset at the village… Usopp walked slowly holding onto his wounded forearm, he was remembering another one of his stories to Kaya.

As tears began forming in Usopp's eyes he remembered Kuro ordering Jango to attack the village…

"Hey captain!" His three followers greeted him, he quickly wiped away his tears and covered his wound.

"Oh, it's you guys!" He greeted back suddenly making a 180 turning from sad and depressed to happy.

"Captain! We heard everything!" Ninjin said as Usopp walked up to them.

"We should hurry and warn everyone in the village!" Tamanegi added.

"Warn everyone…" Usopp muttered as his eyes widened. He remembered everyone's reactions at the truth…

"They didn't believe him…" Vergil realized.

Three boys along with Luffy just kept looking at Usopp who suddenly began laughing. "It was all a lie like usually! I was pissed at that caretaker so I went around saying that he is a pirate!" Usopp lied rather well. The Straw Hats looked at him all realizing what was going on.

"Ah I get it!" Ninjin exclaimed.

"Straw Hat nii-chan and Demon nii-chan got fooled by captain!" Tamanegi rejoiced happy that there was no threat at all. Suddenly three boys began walking away.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Usopp asked them.

"I'm starting to lose respect for you, captain." Ninjin stated.

"Me too." Piiman added.

"And me. That caretaker is a bad guy but to lie to hurt someone, we never thought you'd do that captain. We are disappointed in you." Tamanegi finished.

"Let's go home." Piiman told them.

"Yeah, it's time for dinner." Ninjin added as they left.

"Good job. Let's go." Vergil said as he placed his hand on Usopp's shoulder.

* * *

The night had fallen as the Straw Hats and Usopp got to the coast. Nami was tending to Usopp's wound and the slingshot user repeatedly said 'Ouch' as she disinfected it.

"Well this should do it." She said as she observed the now bandaged wound.

"Why did you say all that?" Luffy asked.

"Because I'm a liar. No one would believe me in the first place. I was so naïve." Usopp told him.

"Even if you are naïve the truth is still the truth." Zoro stated.

"Those pirates are really going to attack, right?" Nami asked.

"Yes. I'm somewhat relieved that the villagers didn't believe you." Vergil stated.

"What did you say? Do you want them to get killed?!" Usopp snapped at him.

"Calm down Usopp. Think about it, if they believed you it would only cause panic, many people would get hurt in attempt to get away by going to the coast and potentially running into the pirates. Furthermore panic alone tends to cause casualties." Vergil explained.

"Everyone thinks it's all a lie and that tomorrow will be just another day. And it will I will stop those pirates and make it just a lie!" Usopp declared. "That's my duty as a liar!" His words made Vergil grin as he knew what Luffy would decide. "Even though they shot me. Chased after me. This is still my village. I love this village. I want to protect everyone!" Usopp said, he was crying but his resolve was made from the hardest steal.

"Never thought you were that kind of guy." Zoro said as he held his sword. "Ditching your friends so that you can face the enemy on your own." He added.

"Let me get this straight, all the pirate's treasure will be mine." Nami added.

"Leave it to Princess to make this selfless act seem so selfish." Vergil said grinning at Nami but then turned to Usopp. "I tend to like people with some guts and I tend not to like letting them die so you get the picture." Vergil said.

"All right! We'll land you a hand." Luffy finished. Usopp looked at them completely surprised at their declarations.

"You guys… Are willing to fight beside me. Why?" He asked.

"Because they have more people." Luffy said.

"You can always reconsider if you are scared." Zoro told him.

"I'm scared? It doesn't matter how many of them are there it's fine by me! Because I'm the brave warrior of the sea! Captain Usopp!" Usopp declared but his body seemed to betray him as his legs trembled, a lot… "Dam! Damn!" He yelled as he tried to stop his trembling legs. "They are Klahadore's pirate crew! This isn't a small matter! So what if I'm scared! I'm not accepting pity! Go home! Go home!" He snapped at them.

"We are not laughing!" Zoro told him.

"Look if you think that we are doing this out of something as petty as pity you are wrong. We are doing this because you are willing to fight. Being scared isn't a bad thing, it keeps you human. True strength isn't not knowing fear but knowing when something is worthy enough of standing up for even with the fear pinning you to the ground." Vergil stated.

"We are helping you because we admire your courage!" Zoro finished.

"Who would risk their lives over sympathy!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Damn… you guys…" Usopp said as he began crying, moved by their words.

* * *

_**And that's it.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Battle Against The Black Cat Pirates**_


	19. Battle Against The Black Cat Pirates

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Guest – Thanks for the review.**_

_**Okami1001 – Thanks for the review, well wise might not be the right word for Vergil, he has more of a street smarts coupled with certain amount of common sense with both being from his time in the Demon World, same goes for his beliefs. More about this will be explained in his backstory though, but it'll take a while to get there. By the way happy birthday, although it might be a bit late now.**_

_**Son of Whitebeard – Thanks for the review, yeah those flashbacks were for the most part quite pleasant.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 19 - Battle Against The Black Cat Pirates**_

* * *

"I'm scared? It doesn't matter how many of them are there it's fine by me! Because I'm the brave warrior of the sea! Captain Usopp!" Usopp declared but his body seemed to betray him as his legs trembled, a lot… "Damn! Damn!" He yelled as he tried to stop his trembling legs. "They are Klahadore's pirate crew! This isn't a small matter! So what if I'm scared! I'm not accepting pity! Go home! Go home!" He snapped at them.

"We are not laughing!" Zoro told him.

"Look if you think that we are doing this out of something as petty as pity you are wrong. We are doing this because you are willing to fight. Being scared isn't a bad thing, it keeps you human. True strength isn't not knowing fear but knowing when something is worthy enough of standing up for even with the fear pinning you to the ground." Vergil stated.

"We are helping you because we admire your courage!" Zoro finished.

"Who would risk their lives over sympathy!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Damn… you guys…" Usopp said as he began crying, moved by their words.

* * *

The group of five walked up the slope, Usopp was leading them and explaining the situation further.

"Listen, tomorrow they plan on attacking the village from this very coast. However this is the only route that leads to the village. The rest are cliffs, there's no other way to go. In other words if we hold firm from this slope… The village won't be attacked." Usopp explained and Vergil actually went down the slope.

"Where are you going?" Nami asked as she saw him going down.

"Just to check something." He replied.

"I see." Luffy said to Usopp. "That sounds simple." He stated.

"Talking's easy, but we need true strength for the battle. What are you guys capable of?" He asked them.

"Slicing." Zoro replied right away.

"Stretching!" Luffy stated as he held his fist in front of him.

"Thieving." Nami said.

"Electrifying!" Vergil exclaimed from down the slope as he went back to them.

"I'll be hiding!" Usopp decided.

"You will be fighting!" All four of them yelled at him.

"Just joking, I'll back you guys up!" He told them.

"Anyway Usopp we need a better strategy because staying firm on this one ain't going to cut it." Vergil stated.

"Huh? What are you saying?" Usopp asked him confused as to why it wouldn't work.

"I went down for a reason, to see if our boats are down there. Guess what, they aren't." Vergil said, Nami's eyes widened as she realized what was the demon's point.

"We came to the village from another slope!" She realized.

"Bingo Princess. There is one more slope like this, right?" Vergil asked. Usopp gulped and nodded.

"I almost messed up…" He muttered.

"It doesn't matter as long as the mistake can be corrected in time. We have five people on our side and two places to cover. So we'll split in two teams." Vergil decided.

"They were talking on this side of the island so they'll probably attack from this coast, right?" Usopp asked now feeling kind of unsure about his assumptions.

"That's questionable. Kuro looked at the pirate ship from this coast, but if he attacks from this side it will be too predictable since we saw him… Then again, he can go for the most predictable choice and attack from this side assuming that we are waiting for him on the other coast. We should also take the strategist into the account, we aren't sure that it's Kuro that's pulling the strings behind the direct actions of the crew." Vergil said.

"Vergil you are making my head hurt." Luffy complained, Vergil glanced at the heating head of his captain, the boy was getting a headache from actually using his brain.

"Sorry sorry, anyway let's split up. Going by assumption that they'll attack from this side we should leave Luffy and Zoro here, there is no way they can go through them. I'm taking the other coast. The two of you can choose your position." Vergil stated and motioned at Nami and Usopp.

"Our treasure is at the other coast so I'm going with you." Nami stated.

"Don't you worry Vergil, the brave warrior of the sea, Usopp will back you up!" Usopp announced bravely.

"You just believe that the battle will take place here…" Vergil muttered. "How about you two, are you fine with this?"

"Sure, we just need to stay here, right?" Luffy asked, Vergil nodded.

"What if they attack on your side?" Zoro asked, Vergil grinned and turned to Usopp.

"Do you think you can patch up something that can serve as the signal, but make it reach high above the ground and make it big enough to be seen from another coast." Vergil said, Usopp nodded.

"I can make that." He stated.

"We only need one, if they attack on our side I'll simply shot lightning up to the sky. Make sure you look at the sky for it." Vergil told them. Zoro and Luffy nodded the plan was set in motion.

* * *

Kuro returned to the mansion quite late that night.

"Klahadore-san, welcome back." Merry greeted him.

"Where is miss?" Kuro asked.

"She is already asleep. She appeared to be really exhausted." Merry told him.

Kuro loosened up his tie after Merry had told him about Usopp coming to the mansion.

"I never would have thought such a thing would happen while I was away. That young man, Usopp is a real troublemaker." Kuro stated as Merry cleaned the chandelier.

"He even claimed that you are a pirate. Such a ridiculous idea." Merry said with a small chuckle following his words.

Kuro chuckled a bit as well. "It sure is…" He said and then noticed a small present, the glasses Merry bought. "This is…?" He asked.

"Ah, that's the present from miss Kaya to you. It's been three long years since you came to this house. It's an anniversary gift." Merry explained.

"Anniversary…" Kuro muttered.

"It seems like your glasses slip quite frequently. So miss Kaya had them custom made for you. She is so attentive and considerate." Merry said and wiped a stray tear from his eye.

"Speaking of anniversaries…" Kuro began as he unpacked and opened the box. "Tomorrow will urely be a day to remember." Merry was a bit confused at this as he climbed down the ladder. "It's a crescent moon tonight, isn't it?" Kuro asked, he was looking at the moon with a vile smile plastered on his face.

"Huh?" Merry questioned.

"A night like this makes my chest throb harder and my blood boil for excitement!" He exclaimed, dropped the box and stepped on it completely shattering the glasses.

Merry gasped. "Klahadore-san! What do you think you are doing with miss Kaya's present?!" Merry demanded to know as Kuro kept shattering the glasses even further.

"I have accepted the present. But this is not just that, but everything in this mansion!" Kuro revealed.

"What are you saying?" Merry asked as Kuro turned toward him and began slowly approaching him.

"There is no need for me to continue this act. In a few hours an unexpected accident will occur." Kuro stated, Merry's eyes widened even further as five blades were revealed on Kuro's, now gloved, right hand. "These three years were too long!" Kuro exclaimed.

"Miss Kaya, RUN!" Merry yelled but his shout fell to a deaf ear as Kuro slashed the chandelier and then Merry…

Kuro went up the stairs and entered Kaya's room, the girl was peacefully sleeping, unaware of the bloody blades hovering above her neck. Kuro looked outside, a couple of moments later he left the mansion…

* * *

Vergil sat on the ground waiting while Nami and Usopp slowly began getting anxious.

"How can you be so calm? We might have to fight pirates?" Usopp asked.

"What's there to get upset about? I've been in worse situations." He stated.

"Worse?" Nami asked, the white haired demon looked up to the sky.

"Yeah, a simple pirate crew ain't scaring me. If they attack from this side I'll take care of them, you two just take down the ones that might manage to get pass me." Vergil stated. "Well, would you look at that…" He muttered and stood up. "They chose this coast." With those words the trio saw the large ship of the Black Cat pirates approaching the shore.

Nami and Usopp gulped a bit but Vergil stepped down in front of them.

"I'm here." He simply stated, while Usopp didn't get completely assured he felt safer, after all Vergil was a demon. Nami on the other hand felt relief gripping at the uneasy feeling in her heart, she relaxed and smiled.

"I know." She said, she had a confident smile, seeing as Nami smiled confidently Usopp's courage resurfaced and he smiled as well.

"I have absolute faith in my skill with pachinko." He stated proudly as he gripped the slingshot.

"That's more like it." Vergil said with a grin.

"We are here!" They heard pirates yell as the ship reached the shore, Vergil raised his open palm and a couple of sparks surrounded it.

"**Spark Firework**…" He muttered as a bolt of lightning shot high toward the sky and dispersed into a firework, pirates stopped cheering and saw the trio at the top of the slop…

* * *

Zoro noticed Vergil's lightning.

"Let's go! They are over there!" Zoro exclaimed.

"All right!" Luffy agreed as they ran toward the lightning firework that was still in the sky.

* * *

Black Cat Pirates stepped out on the shore.

"It's those two." Jango realized.

"I am Captain Usopp! I have been waiting for you for quite some time! I am fully prepared to fight!" Usopp exclaimed as Jango gritted his teeth.

"Cut the small talk, it's useless." Vergil said as he cracked his knuckles. "Come on now, we're waiting." He challenged them.

"Don't provoke them!" Nami shrieked at him.

"When I say 'One! Two! Jango!' you'll move aside." Jango stated, Vergil and Nami sighed as Nami bonked Usopp on the top of his head thus making the sniper look down. "One! Two! Jango!" Jango exclaimed but only he moved to the side.

"Pathetic…" Vergil muttered.

"Nami what was that for!" Usopp yelled at her.

"I just saved your life!" She yelled back.

"Well since they aren't coming I'm going to attack instead. Vergil said cutting the argument before it could get heated, he jumped up. "**Demon Slide**…" His body shot forward leaving a glimpse of black energy behind him, he reached the area directly above the Black Cat pirates and landed on his feet.

"Amazing…" Usopp muttered.

"**Discharge**!" Lightning shot around Vergil electrifying most of the pirates around him. They began falling down to their knees.

"All right! Go Vergil!" Nami cheered.

"We can actually win this!" Usopp exclaimed as he fired his pachinko at the pirates that were still standing.

Vergil jumped back to Nami and Usopp and landed on one knee. He took a couple of deep breaths clearly looking tired.

"That was too quick!" Usopp yelled as he looked at now tired demon.

"You bastard, you'll pay for that!" One of the pirates that managed to stand up hissed.

"We are toasted!" Nami shrieked.

"_Damn, I hoped to finish it all in one go but I couldn't use it to the maximum potential, furthermore it took away more than three quarters of my power. I'll be pretty much drained out of power if I go for a stronger technique…_" Vergil realized.

"Take a better look, only one half of them is standing up and even those that are still conscious are struggling to move, the lightning may have not been strong enough to take them down but it surely slowed them down a lot." Vergil explained while not satisfied with the results the current situation was acceptable to him.

* * *

Luffy and Zoro kept running, and running…

Zoro looked up to see how far away from the lightning signal they were right now, but when he looked forward, he couldn't see it.

"This is strange…" He muttered and then noticed the signal on his far right…

"How did the signal go left?!" He yelled and began running toward it.

"They said it's north and this way is colder!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Idiot everyone knows north is up!" Zoro argued…

* * *

"This is ridiculous…" Vergil muttered as he and the pirates looked at Nami and Usopp.

"Look! I'm so scared my legs are rattling!" Usopp yelled.

"So what? I'm so scared I'm going to cry!" Nami yelled back.

"Liar! If you are going to lie at least make it more believable!" Usopp snapped.

"Like you are the one to talk!" Nami shouted at him.

"Seriously… Cut it out, Usopp, Princess…" Vergil muttered.

"Shut up you! If you didn't attack so recklessly we wouldn't have to worry now!" Nami yelled at him.

"Guilty as charged… But damn it all stop arguing who is the more pathetic one between the two of you" Vergil snapped at them.

"We don't have time to fool around with them, men attack them!" Jango ordered, his followers ran forward. Nami and Usopp were about to panic when Usopp remembered he had something useful in his bag.

"That's right, I've got some caltrops!" He realized and pulled out a whole lot of them.

"You've got some good stuff in there!" Nami complimented him. "Gimme, gimme!" She urged him to give her the caltrops.

"Eat this!" She exclaimed.

"Caltrops!" Usopp added as they threw the caltrops.

"Can't decide whether it's smart or dishonorable…" Vergil muttered as he looked at pirates stepping onto the caltrops…

"All right, it's working!" Nami cheered.

"Now! **Sure Kill! Shooting Star**!" Usopp shot his pachinko, he shot one of the pirates directly in the forehead.

"Bastard!" One of the pirates hissed at him.

"Great job." Nami said as she patted him on the shoulder. "Keep at it! I'll just take a short break!" Nami told him and turned around. Vergil suppressed a chuckle…

"You haven't fought anyone yet!" Usopp yelled at her, but then Nami screamed.

"What's wrong?" Usopp asked and turned around.

"There are caltrops behind us as well…" Nami said in utter despair.

"Idiot how did they get there!" Usopp yelled at her, but then a pirate came from behind him with a stone hammer.

Nami's eyes widened as the hammer closed in on Usopp's head but suddenly it got stopped by Vergil.

"Two things… First! Usopp never turn your back on the enemies for something that has no value, it leaves you completely open for no reason. Second… Did you idiots really think that I'd let you hit him from behind! Don't underestimate demons you bastards!" Vergil yelled the last part as he gripped the hammer so hard it shattered. He slammed his fist into man's jaw and sent him flying back to his comrades thus forcing a couple of pirates that were in the way of the unfortunate one down the slope. Still he was tired and kind of open himself.

Two pirates charged at him with swords, he managed to take down one of them but the second one came from behind, still Vergil smirked.

Nami hit the pirate with her staff knocking him out.

"You bitch!" One of the pirates yelled at her as he went toward her with a sword but he was easily taken out by a combination of Usopp's pachinko and Vergil's punch.

"The village will have another peaceful day! This slope! I cannot let anyone of you get pass this slope!" Usopp announced.

"Are you sure you can still fight?" Nami asked, the fact that Vergil was just now catching his breath made her a bit worried, there was no way they could win this with just her and Usopp.

"Don't worry." He told her.

"You imbeciles! Are you forgetting about Kuro's plan?! If anything goes wrong we are all dead! Hurry up and go to the village!" Jango yelled at them.

"Let's hurry!" One of the pirates yelled.

Vergil prepared to fight but before the pirates could reach them they were all sent back by none other than Luffy and Zoro.

"Damn it! Why did you change your location all of a sudden?!" Zoro snapped at them.

"The hell was that supposed to mean we were here all this time!" Vergil snapped back.

"Why are you so tired Vergil?" Luffy asked curiously.

"Sorry, I got careless and used up most of my power." Vergil admitted.

* * *

Kuro was sitting in front of the mansion.

"They are late…Those bastards… They should know what will happen if something was to disrupt my plan." He said as he stood up. "Still they take their sweet time. If they forget the consequences… I will kill them all!" Kuro announced, soon enough he was on the road going toward the coast…

He didn't go unspotted, Tamanegi saw him…

"That's certainly Klahadore from the mansion. Why is he heading toward the coast so early in the morning?" He wondered.

* * *

_**That's it.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – VS Nyaban Brothers**_


	20. VS Nyaban Brothers

_**Answers on reviews.**_

* * *

_**Anime PJ – Thanks for the review, yeah the crew was always one huge family, a bit of a strange one, but family none the less.**_

_**Guest – Thank you.**_

_**Blazeinferno – Thanks for the review, the crew is overall capable of great teamwork feats, through the story there will be many teamwork action.**_

_**Guest – Thanks for the review.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 20 – VS Nyaban Brothers**_

* * *

With Luffy and Zoro finally at the scene things finally became clear, Black Cat Pirates weren't going to get anywhere near the village.

"They are finally here." Nami said relieved that the captain and swordsman were now with them.

"You guys are that strong?" Usopp asked as he looked at the fallen pirates, he didn't know what to think, Vergil had taken the pirates down easily the first time and while the white haired demon ended up getting tired he was rather strong in Usopp's eyes and now the other two males of the crew showed that they weren't joking either.

"You guys are too slow!" Nami yelled at them.

"It's all your fault for changing the location!" Zoro yelled back.

"For the second time I'm telling you that we didn't change the location!" Vergil argued.

"Vergil! Why didn't you tell me which way was north?!" Luffy yelled at the first mate.

"I thought you knew at the very least that much! You had that signal didn't you why didn't you just follow it instead of getting lost!" Vergil snapped.

"The sky's been bright for quite some time now." Jango said as he looked at the sky. "Captain Kuro is a very impatient man." He said and felt a shiver run down his spine. "Everyone! Are you going to tell me that you'll allow some kids to defeat you?" Jango challenged his subordinates. The pirates slowly went back to their knees. "Listen, we don't have time to fool around." Jango stated as he pulled out his hypnotizing ring. "They are strong so we'll have to be stronger. Now stare at this ring. With 'One! Two! Jango!' You'll become stronger." Jango began. "Your injuries will heal and you'll become very very very very strong."

"Great…" Vergil muttered.

"What is he up to?" Luffy asked.

"Hypnosis. Making them believe that they are strong, that's stupid." Nami said.

"Not really. When in battle a simple mind set of believing that you are strong might not work but it may boost confidence, make you feel more powerful and while the body might not react it will certainly make them motivated and a motivated opponent is much more dangerous than the non motivated one. You'd be surprised if you knew what certain emotions, like anger, despair and such can do to a person. It makes you forget the injuries, you turn to your instincts completely…" Vergil stated. Nami glanced at him.

"If someone gets hurt won't it make them weaker, not stronger?" Nami asked.

"Yes, but if someone you care about gets hurt the adrenaline pumps and you charge in without thinking about consequences, at moments like these demons are usually given the final push toward certain form. Although some gain it through hard work, but I can tell you that I have seen battles turning completely to the favor of the losing side by one demon fully awakening." Vergil stated.

"Feelings alone don't make you the strongest." Nami countered.

"Perhaps not." Vergil said.

"You'll become stronger… Much stronger…" Jango continued, Luffy watched the ring along with Jango's crew. "One… Two… Jango!" The pirates roared as hypnosis took effect.

"No way!" Nami exclaimed in disbelief completely forgetting her previous conversation.

One of the pirates let out an animalistic sounds as he punched the cliff and shattered a large chunk of it. His comrades kept chorusing.

"Th… The entire cliff was destroyed?! What power!" Even Zoro looked at the scene in disbelief.

"They are really hypnotized." Nami realized.

"That's just the one of them and there are so many…" Usopp said. Luffy remained silent.

"Go! Break the necks of anyone that tries to stop you!" Jango told them. Pirates yelled as they charged at the group. They had wild looks on their faces.

"You two get out of the way! We'll take it from here!" Zoro said.

"It won't be needed…" Vergil muttered in utter disbelief.

"Huh?" Zoro asked but then they heard growl from their captain. "Luffy?" Zoro called out to the younger boy.

Luffy yelled as he lifted his arms up, he was also hypnotized…

"You are also hypnotized?!" Zoro yelled at him.

Luffy charged at the charging pirates still yelling…

"What a simpleton!" Nami commented.

"I should have expected that…" Vergil said.

"**Gomu Gomu no**…" Luffy yelled as he began throwing punches, the speed of his punches made it seem like he had multiple hands. "**Gatling Gun**!" The punches collided with pirates knocking them back down the slope.

"At least he took them down." Vergil commented.

"Captain Kuro made a big miscalculation! They are not just ordinary brats!" Jango realized.

As scared pirates got back onto their feet Luffy yelled yet again and began running toward them. They began running away from Luffy.

"Where is he going?" Zoro wondered as Luffy ran past once again fallen pirates and then right by Jango.

The straw hat wearing pirate grabbed onto the sternpost and began tearing it down.

"What is he doing?" One of the pirates asked.

"Go! Luffy!" Nami cheered for him to keep going.

"He's tearing the ship apart!" Another one of the pirates exclaimed!

Finally, the sternpost gave away and Luffy held it in the air before turning to the pirates.

"No! He wants to whack us with it!" The third pirate realized as they began running away in fear.

"He is kinda sadistic when he's like this." Vergil said with a grin.

"Hurry up and think of something captain!" Pirate begged Jango who began looking around for something to do.

"Crap! This isn't the time to just watch!" He realized and pulled out his hypnosis ring. "When I say 'One! Two! Jango!' you'll fall asleep!" Jango announced. "One! Two! Jango!" The desperation clearly kicked in as Jango actually thought of a good idea, well anyway Luffy fell asleep and the sternpost whacked a couple of pirates anyway, along with sleeping Luffy underneath it though…

* * *

Kaya was still alive and sleeping but her sleeping was about to end as the nightmare began haunting her.

* * *

She woke up to see Usopp holding a sword in front of her face.

"You! You dare to make fun of me?! Just because pirate's blood flows through me… You look down on me!" Usopp told her angrily.

"Please stop! Usopp-san!" Kaya begged him, but Usopp downed the sword upon her.

* * *

Kaya abruptly woke up and sat up gasping for air. She coughed a couple of times and sat up. Slowly she left her room. She went to Kuro's room and knocked on the doors…

"Klahadore! Klahadore are you in there?" She asked before coughing once again, when no one responded she opened the doors. "Klahadore?" She called but what she saw made her blood run cold, bloody Merry lying on the floor. "Merry!" She yelled as she ran up to the butler and tried to wake him up. "Merry! What's wrong? What happened? Open your eyes, Merry!" She yelled, finally the man opened his eyes and coughed up some blood. "Don't die on me!"

"Miss Kaya…" He breathed out as he turned his head to look at her. "Thank goodness you are all right…" He said, with some clearly visible strain he prompted himself up to his knees only to turn and fall onto his back.

"Merry! Who did this to you?" Kaya asked.

Tears began forming in Merry's eyes. "Klahadore… He did this to me…" He told her as tears fell down…

Kaya covered her mouth with her hand.

"His true identity is a pirate…" Merry revealed.

"What are you talking about?" Kaya asked still not believing the truth.

"He became interested in the family's fortune… That's why he got close to you…" Merry broke the truth down to her.

"No… That's ridicu…" She didn't want to believe it. She shouted but…

"It's the truth!" Merry cut her off forcing himself to shout.

The realization dawned upon her… "Then… What Usopp-san said yesterday was…" She realized.

"Come to think of it… He was the only one that knew the truth. He risked his life trying to save us! But none of us would believe him, not a single word he said!" Merry said and tears began forming in Kaya's eyes.

"We only thought about protecting the bad guy and made that young man. The brave man that wanted to protect the village, who risked his life to warn us… We chased him out of the village!" Merry yelled, tears fell down and Merry coughed up more blood.

"Anyone! Is anyone here! Anyone!" She tried to call for anyone to come.

"Miss Kaya it's useless…" He managed to sat up and lean against the wall. "Everyone's on a vacation since yesterday…" Merry told her.

"That can't be…" Kaya muttered. "Then I!"

"Now is not the time to panic! Nothing's happened yet! It's vital that you think of a solution for all this! If Klahadore's motives are only to own this house then just give it to him, it's not worth your life to protect it!" Merry told her.

"Yes." She agreed as she wiped away the tears.

"The problem now is that you are the only one that can stop Klahadore. Can you do this? Even though it's not your responsibility." Merry asked her.

"I understand. I… I will not run away from this. I understand the consequences." She said surprising Merry. "I will talk to Klahadore!" She decided, the resolve clearly visible in her eyes.

* * *

Luffy kept snoring under the sternpost.

"Looks like they are finished." Nami commented.

"Looks like it." Zoro agreed, he still had his sword unsheathed just in case.

"Shouldn't we be concerned about Luffy being under that thing?" Usopp asked them.

"He's rubber, he'll be fine." Vergil said feeling like leaving the captain under the sternpost might be a punishment good enough for falling into enemy's trap like that. "_Seriously… What if that bastard told him to kill himself…?_" Vergil thought.

Jango got back onto his feet. "That brat really screwed us over. Now the plan is completely messed up… If captain Kuro sees this we'll all be killed!" Jango said, fear was clearly present in his voice as he gritted his teeth.

"Hey, hey, Buchi!" They suddenly heard a voice from the ship. "Look at what happened!" The same voice said.

"What happened here?" The supposed Buchi asked.

Jango turned to the ship seeming somewhat more relaxed. "We still have our trump card!" He said. "Come out! Nyaban Brothers!" As he said those words two figures jumped down and landed on the sternpost with cat like agility.

The first one was Sham, a very skinny man with hunched back making him looked smaller than he actually is. His green, cat like eyes, ever present grin and cat ears sticking from the top of his head made him look a lot like a cat. He was wearing a navy blue shirt with light grey buttons and magenta bow tie, along with that he was wearing light blue shorts, brown shoes and white socks sticking out of them. Not to mention the dark brown gloves with claws on his hands.

The second one was Buchi, an overweight man wearing an outfit that made him similar to black and white cat, although a cow could probably fit the description easier… He had pale skin, sharp teeth, tiny eyes, he was wearing a hat that covered one of his eyes with cat ears on it. He wore stripped black and white pants with a yellow sash, dark brown shoes. He also had a blanket looking cape on his back which was stripped light and dark purple with a white fluffy brim, pale blue gloves with claws on his hands and a shoulder pad on his left arm.

"You called, Captain Jango?" Sham asked with a sinister grin on his face.

"You called…?" Well Buchi sounded and sure seemed kind of stupid as he repeated the question.

"Sham and…" Sham began.

"Buchi!" Buchi introduced himself.

"Together we are Nyaban Brothers!" They exclaimed together.

"Why do I get this nagging feeling that they won't be as easy to defeat as they look…" Vergil muttered as Sham and Buchi jumped down to Jango.

"Sham! Buchi! We have to get across this slope, but as you can see someone is standing in our way. Take care of them." Jango told them motioning toward the group of four but mostly toward Zoro and Vergil.

Well with Zoo glaring at them looking rather scary who would have blamed Sham for his initial reaction… "Th-That's impossible for us!" He yelled out as he backed away in fear.

"They look very strong!" Buchi added.

"Furthermore our job is only to look after the ship!" Sham further argued with the idea of facing Zoro and Vergil.

"Yes, yes. We are not supposed to battle!" Buchi agreed.

"What's with them? Aren't they supposed to be the trump cards?" Usopp asked.

"Sham, just do it." Jango ordered.

"W-What? Me?!" Sham was rather terrified at the idea.

"Just get going!" Jango snapped at them as the smaller man stepped back. He was on the verge of tears.

"Fine… I'm going!" He agreed tearfully.

"He's completely different! What are they up to?" Nami asked.

Shan began running toward Zoro completely open and screaming as loud as he could.

"How can he possibly fight like that?" Nami asked, the serious look on Vergil's face changed her mind though. "Vergil? Am I missing something?" She questioned.

"Zoro." Vergil got the swordsman's attention when he realized that Sham was going after Zoro. "Don't get swallowed up by arrogance." He stated and turned away walking toward Nami and Usopp.

Zoro was left slightly confused at those words as Sham closed in on him. "Hey you! Prepare because I'm going to tear you down with these very claws!" He yelled.

"What am I supposed to do with this guy?" Zoro asked.

"Enemy is enemy, right?" Vergil questioned him.

"Well yeah, but…" Zoro tried to argue.

"Is the one talking the arrogant side of you or the side that pities your opponent, whichever it is it needs to disappear." Vergil cut him off.

Zoro greeted his teeth and turned to Sham. "You! If you don't stop I'll kill you!" He warned him, suddenly Sham's attitude completely changed as he got close enough.

"That is if you can kill me." Sham stated as he clashed his claws with Zoro's sword.

"What?" Zoro gasped, he had fallen right into the trap. "This bastard…" Zoro realized.

"You… Have taken me too lightly, haven't you?" Sham mocked. "You blocked me as well and I was acting so well too." Sham said, jumped back and revealed that he now had Zoro's two swords strapped onto his back. "I may be tiny but don't take the Sham of the Nyaban Brothers lightly!" Sham warned him.

Zoro's eyes widened as he realized that his swords were missing. "Lose something? I wouldn't know anything about it." Sham mocked.

"Thee it is." Jango said.

"**Cat Snatch**." Buchi confirmed.

"Return those katana to me!" Zoro demanded angrily.

"Return them? Don't you already have one?" Sham asked. "These will only get in the way." Sham said and threw the katana down the slope. Zoro growled as Sham licked his hand. "Now I feel much lighter!" Sham stated.

"How dare you throw my precious belongings?!" Zoro shouted as he charged at Sham pretty much blindly, still he sliced his almost in half, Sham screamed. He ran forward to get his swords. He was caught off guard when Sham jumped up from behind him, caught his hands and pulled them back thus forcing Zoro to start falling to the ground.

"What were you trying to cut?" Sham mocked. "I am a cat after all!" They landed on the ground. "Come Buchi! It's your turn!" He called out to his partner.

"Gotcha Sham!" Buchi yelled as he ran forward and jumped. "Watch this!" Buchi yelled as he tried to drop a kick right onto Zoro's head.

"You've failed…" Vergil stated as he intercepted Buchi's attack and kicked him away. He spun around and kicked surprised Sham away from Zoro. "…Zoro…" He finished. Zoro's eyes widened as the first mate casually walked toward his swords.

"That bastard! How dare he do that to us?!" Sham yelled irritated at Vergil stopping their attack. They charged at the demon but suddenly Dark Edge appeared in his hands and he sliced toward them. Sham managed to dodge but Buchi got a descent cut on his abdomen.

Finally, Vergil reached the two swords and took them. "Give me your third sword." Vergil ordered as he looked at Zoro.

"What?" Zoro asked, Nami and Usopp could only gulp at stone look on Vergil's face. He still didn't recover, but something about him seemed different, he was directing his motivation toward something the two didn't get. And the cold look in his eyes, the confidence he carried himself with, it was almost scary how it overcame the demon's tiredness.

"I said give it to me. Do I need to repeat myself again?" Vergil asked angering Zoro.

"The hell is this about Vergil? Give me my swords!" Zoro snapped.

"Give me that sword and I'll give you back the one in the white sheath. That's all that you are getting until you learn your lesson." Vergil stated.

"Cut it out!" Zoro snapped again.

"Don't tell me you are such a spoiled child. Accept it as it is." Vergil stated, when Zoro tried to make another argument he was cut short by Vergil taking his third sword.

"Now what? You think you can fight them without your swords?" The demon asked.

"You bastard… Give them back…" Zoro asked, murderous glare clearly directed at Vergil.

"Here, you can take one." Vergil said and as he stated before gave Zoro the sword in the white sheath.

"All of them…" Zoro hissed.

"You are getting them back when you finally understand it. As you are now you'll never fulfill your dream. It's a harsh lesson but you need to learn it. What's lost can never be taken back. Don't you dare forget this feeling Zoro, the feeling of losing the ability to use the power you grew so used to." Vergil stated. "I told you not to get swallowed by arrogance." Zoro's eyes widened as Buchi and Sham attacked.

"**Cat Claws Attack**!" They yelled and tried to slash at Vergil.

"You are in my way!" Demon yelled as black energy surrounded his sword, he slashed toward the brothers, the energy left the sword in a slash type of wave cutting them.

"H-How?" Zoro asked unable to believe what he had just saw.

"What was that power right now?" Usopp asked in disbelief.

"A demon… That was the power of a demon…" Nami muttered, for the first time she saw a true killer in Vergil.

"Don't take me lightly kitty cats, I'm the hunter here." Vergil stated as he looked at the bleeding wounds of the two pirates.

"This… This is not the same demon that saved ChouChou…" Nami said and jumped down from the cliff and into the slope, she ran up to Vergil.

"What are you doing?" Vergil asked.

"This isn't what you should do! You are exhausted, we need Zoro at his full strength, please give him his swords." Nami told him, for the first time Zoro hoped that Nami would win an argument against Vergil…

"Look Nami. This is not a joke. He…" Vergil pointed at Zoro. "Is strong, I'll give him that any day, anytime. However, he has no control over his emotions, he got pissed off, got caught and maybe he could have gotten himself killed just now. I am not going to give up on this until he learns the lesson." Vergil stated.

"I got it already! I fell into his trap! I get it now just give me my swords back!" Zoro snapped.

"Stop it! It'll cause a rift in the crew!" Nami yelled at Vergil.

The white haired demon glanced at Zoro, it was clear that the swordsman was raging.

'_Don't falter… If you halt for a single moment the lesson you are trying to teach loses its significance. That's why I couldn't give in to you and your stubborn attitude, Vergil…'_ He heard Grom's voice.

"Then so be it." Vergil stated surprising Nami, she hoped he would agree with her but he took a bold step and remained firmly holding onto his decision.

"Vergil!" Zoro yelled, anger wasn't so present in his voice but one could easily understand that the swordsman wasn't taking the situation easily. "You'll give me back those swords. I swear, I'll show you that I understood whatever lesson you are talking about!" Zoro declared, he felt angry, no one looked down upon him ever since that person and here Vergil was, mocking him with some lesson…

Jango suddenly screamed, they looked at whatever made the man scream and saw none other than Kuro.

"Ah well, there is a good reason for this…" Jango tried to find an excuse.

Kuro adjusted his glasses. "The sky has been bright for quite some time. Why haven't you acted according to plan?" Kuro demanded to know.

"Ca… Captain Kuro!" One of the pirates breathed out.

"We are going to get killed!" Another one shouted.

Zoro and Vergil looked at the pirate captain.

"This is bad…" Usopp muttered.

Nami hid behind Vergil, Luffy kept sleeping.

"What the hell is going on?!" Kuro yelled.

"Your demise!" Vergil yelled as he pointed his broadsword toward Kuro.

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_**And that's it.**_

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_**Next Chapter – Five Minutes Limit**_


	21. Five Minutes Limit

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Anime PJ – Thanks for the review, yeah, that moment will be important in the next arc.**_

_**Trafalar Law – I suppose it did come soon, but not as soon as I wanted it to come out.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review.**_

_**The Baz – Well I can't spoil, still it will take a while for the seal to be broken.**_

_**Son of Whitebeard – Thanks for the review.**_

_**Guest – Well here is the chapter.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 21 – Five Minutes Limit**_

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"What the hell is going on?!" Kuro yelled.

"Your demise!" Vergil yelled as he pointed his broadsword toward Kuro.

"My demise you say? Just because you defeated them you have some guts to say that you can defeat me!" Kuro was pretty much enraged at Vergil's statement. Still he regained his composure knowing that anger would only prove to be a liability. "I never would have thought that you guys would be tripped up by these brats. The Black Cat pirate crew isn't what it used to be. Isn't that right, Jango?!" He shouted the last part sending shivers down Jango's spine.

"But…" Jango wanted to make an excuse and then remembered a potentially good thing he could use. "Didn't you say… That these pesky kids wouldn't be a problem?" He asked and then gave a small uncomfortable laugh.

"Yes, I did." Kuro confirmed as Usopp looked at him. "So what? I knew they would come to try and stop us. But I didn't think that all you fools would be so useless!" He stated angrily.

"We are… use… useless…" Jango hissed under his breath as he lowered his head a bit and gritted his teeth.

"Who's useless?" Sham demanded making Jango at him and Sham, surprised at the words his subordinate said.

"How dare you say that, captain Kuro?!" Buchi shouted, duo was sharpening their claws.

"It's true that you were strong once. But that's a three years old tale!" Sham stated, he felt like he and Buchi could take out the former pirate. "When you were fooling around in this village we weren't just sitting around doing nothing!"

"That's right! We pillaged countless villages and defeated many pirate crews!" Buchi added.

"What are you implying?" Kuro asked.

"After these three years, do you…" Sham began.

"Have enough skill left to be able to win against us?" Buchi finished, even though injured they ran right past Vergil, Nami, Zoro and Usopp and lunged toward Kuro.

"Stop! Buchi! Sham!" Jango yelled.

It was too late, Kuro took hold of his bad as the two pirates closed in on him.

"You are not our captain any longer!" Sham yelled.

"Sorry but we are going to attack you now!" Buchi added.

Kuro lifted his bag up and began moving his feet in a sort of a strange way.

Vergil's eyes widened at this. "_He's fast_…" The white haired demon realized as Buchi and Sham cut the bag into small pieces but Kuro was nowhere to be seen. Their eyes widened as Kuro appeared a couple of meters behind Sham and Buchi. The sheathes began falling down revealing ten blades, one on each of Kuro's fingers.

"When did he get behind them?" Zoro asked in disbelief. "And that weapon…"

"Just now, I hate to admit it, but right now he's faster than me, even though I can follow him with my eyes it's not enough." Vergil admitted.

"You can see him?!" Nami asked even more shocked that someone could actually see Kuro's movements.

"If you want to live in the Demon World and fight you need to be capable of not only seeing but moving at speeds that exceed even his." Vergil stated motioning toward Kuro. "Especially with such variety of potential threats." He added, Nami nodded, after all Krim had tricky abilities as well.

"Who… Who do you want to kill?" Kuro asked, Nyaban brothers gritted their teeth and attacked again.

"Turn…" Sham began.

"Around!" Buchi finished.

"Idiots…" Vergil muttered as Kuro once again did his trick and disappeared.

"He's gone!" Buchi realized, Kuro wasn't appearing and everything was silent.

Nami moved a bit closer to Vergil. "It's going to be all right, I won't let him get to you." Vergil assured her and she nodded but didn't move away.

"It appeared, **Stealth Foot**." Jango realized.

"**Stealth Foot**?" Nami repeated.

"Probably his technique." Vergil guessed as he watched Kuro moving behind the two brothers a couple of times before finally deciding to attack. Kuro's blades were now in front of Sham and Buchi and the duo didn't like that, who would anyway.

"You guys were right." Kuro stated, Buchi and Sham were whimpering and crying out of fear. "I'm not as fast as I used to be." He admitted.

"_Zoro was almost killed by them, yet he easily_…" Nami thought as her eyes widened.

"_I underestimated him… If we want to get out of this mess we'll need some backup_." Vergil thought and glanced toward sleeping Luffy.

"_That man's _**Stealth Foot**_ is a silent movement technique. Even if you had 50 assassins, he can kill them without anyone noticing anything. It's impossible for us to escape his plans! After three years seeing that old habit of his, makes my hair stand on ends. To avoid the 'Cat Claws' from scratching his own face he always readjusts his glasses like so. That proves he never forgot how to fight!" _Jango realized, the fear was slowly dripping into his very being.

Pirates watched, shocked at how easily Nyaban brothers were defeated. "I've become more humble… after staying on this island for three years. I'll give you five minutes." Kuro stated and moved his blades away from the necks of two brothers. "If you don't finish them off in five minutes…" They gasped for air. "Then all of you here." He began taking a couple of steps back and crossed his arms so that the blades could point toward the sky by the sides of his head. "I'll kill all of you here." He threatened.

Jango gave away an uncomfortable chuckle. "Five minutes? Ah, we'll manage somehow with those five minutes!" He said trying his best to sound confident but he failed, miserably… "Ah it's those two!" Jango exclaimed pointing at Zoro and Vergil. "It's those two. If we defeat them we can get past this slope!" He stated loudly.

"It's just those guys!" Sham exclaimed.

"Let's get the white haired one first!" Buchi decided.

"I'm counting on you! Nyaban brothers!" Jango encouraged them.

Sham attacked first but Vergil simply spun around ready to hit him with **Lightning Punch**, well the plan didn't go that well as Nami saw the chance…

Nami stepped right in front of Vergil's punch. Zoro and Usopp's eyes widened but neither one of them was as shocked as Vergil who discharged the electricity and changed the direction of his punch abruptly thus making himself lose the footing he had.

While it stopped Vergil from counter attacking it didn't stop Nyaban brothers as Sham cut Nami's left shoulder and Buchi created five cuts across Vergil's chest. Nami grit her teeth and grabbed Zoro 's swords.

"That's… what you were after?" Vergil muttered as Nami threw the swords toward Zoro.

"Nami… you…" Zoro muttered.

"Where's my 'thank you?" She asked and fell down to her knees. Nyaban Brothers were about to attack her and Vergil again but Vergil regained his composure, grabbed onto Nami and jumped back evading the claws.

"The… Hell was that for?!" Vergil snapped at her as he held her close to him.

"You weren't giving Zoro back his swords! I don't care about whatever lesson you want to teach him this isn't time for that!" She snapped back.

"Stupid humans!" Vergil growled as he stood up and picked up the fallen Devil Arm.

"Thank you." Zoro thanked her as he caught the swords and unsheathed them, he was once again having his three swords and was ready to get some payback.

"Useless, useless! Even if you have three of them…" Sham mocked.

"The result is still the same!" Buchi yelled.

"**Tiger**…" Zoro took another stance, the swords in his hands were now in a perfectly vertical position right behind his left shoulder. "You guys don't get it! **Hunt**!" The swordsman cut the Nyaban brothers seemingly defeating them.

"Four minutes to go." Kuro stated, completely unaffected by the fact that Nyaban brothers were defeated.

"Using three swords and three sword techniques are totally different things." Zoro stated, two pirates fell on the ground right in front of shocked and amazed Jango.

"Incredible… With a single strike." Jango muttered. Buchi raised up to his feet but fell down next to Jango. "He defeated Nyaban brothers with a single strike?" He looked at Zoro who was standing up from his crouching stance.

"Don't worry." Zoro began as he pointed his sword at Kuro. "In less than five minutes there won't be anyone left for you to kill!" Zoro told him confidently.

However, Kuro simply grinned as he adjusted his glasses. His face became stoic again before he stated. "Three minutes left."

Zoro felt a bit uneasy at the coldness of the pirate captain. "_That would probably get even to Vergil, what's with this guy?_" He wondered as he glanced back toward the white haired demon who was simply holding his Devil Arm.

At that moment Buchi grabbed Jango's ankle bringing the men's attention to himself.

"That bastard… I'll kill him… Please captain, hypnotize me… Please… Captain!" Buchi begged through tears and coughs as blood trailed down his chin.

"He's still alive, looks like you are soft." Kuro commented.

Zoro glanced toward Buchi who was kneeling in front of Jango. "He's probably saved by all that fat." Zoro said as he turned around to face Buchi again. Zoro and Nami's eyes widened as Buchi's body became more muscular, the now monstrous pirate stood up roaring at the sky, his eyes became white as his teeth became larger, right now he looked more like an animal.

"Get them, Buchi!" Jango encouraged the berserk man.

"He's going to be a pain in the ass now that he's hypnotized. He could easily crush the ground even before." Zoro said to himself.

"Now's my chance!" Nami realized as Buchi went toward Zoro albeit rather slowly.

"I have to go and wake him up!" Nami muttered to herself as she began running toward Luffy.

"Idiot…" Vergil cursed as he went after her, but Buchi slashed his arm toward the white haired demon.

"This is getting out of control and it's starting to piss me off!" Vergil breathed out as he pushed against the claws with his sword.

"What is she going to do now?" Jango wondered as he threw his ring toward Nami.

"Everyone is fighting while he is still…" She scolded out of frustration unaware of the ring going right toward her. "Wake up!" She yelled as she stomped onto Luffy's face.

"Nami! Watch out!" Zoro shouted.

"Nami!" Vergil yelled as he saw the ring fly toward her, Nami's eyes widened, the tone of their voices made her realize that she was in trouble. She turned around to see the very reason for his and Zoro's yelling… The hypnosis ring…

"Two minutes left… " Kuro said.

"I'll split you in two." Jango said. Vergil pushed Buchi away and ran toward Nami.

"_I won't make it!_" He realized.

"Duck!" Zoro shouted to her.

"What the…?" Luffy asked surprised at the sudden and unusual awakening as he grabbed Nami's ankle.

"_The ring… Wasn't it just a tool for hypnosis_?" Nami thought, her eyes completely focused on the ring that went toward her threatening to cut her in half. At that moment, she lunged downwards…

"Nami! How dare you step on my face!" Luffy yelled at her as he stood up and got hit…

"Ah, he's still alive?" Jango asked in disbelief.

Zoro stabbed his two swords in the ground and leaned his arm against them. "Was it just a bad timing or a good timing?" Zoro wondered,

Vergil ran forward and managed to catch Nami just before she fell onto the ground.

"Come on, stay awake." He told her, she looked at his eyes and saw that he was actually worried.

"I'm fine…" She muttered and relaxed a bit in his arms.

Luffy stopped his fall with the ring tight between his teeth, the metal began cracking before it shattered.

"Lu… Luffy?" Nami asked as Luffy gritted his teeth and growled. "Luffy!" Nami exclaimed happily as the captain in question touched the end of his lips.

"It hurts…" He said with tears in his eyes. "IT HURTS!" He yelled.

"This guy…" Vergil muttered in disbelief. "_He can take a battle but a small cut like that makes him scream…_" He thought.

"That guy woke up!" One of the pirates yelled.

"This is bad, with this…" Another one said but trailed off.

"We can't win now!" The third one finished the sentence that the second one was afraid to complete.

"Nami!" Luffy yelled at her. "That hurt you bastard!"

Nami sat up a bit. "That wasn't me! That was…" She tried to say but then fell back into Vergil's arms. She gripped her injured shoulder and groaned in pain.

"Nami! Your shoulder is hurt!" Luffy realized.

"It doesn't matter! I'm fine. I did what I could. We can't lose this battle no matter what." She said. Vergil just looked at her with a small grin on his face. Luffy was also smiling and then Nami crushed their illusions. "For the sake of my treasure!" She exclaimed as she held her fist half raised.

"I should have figured…" Vergil said and chuckled a bit while Luffy raised one eyebrow and lowered his lips looking like he was thinking.

"Yeah, we should have." Luffy agreed with his first mate.

"Go for it! For the sake of my treasure!" She encouraged him completely ignoring the safe feeling she was getting from being in the certain demon's arms.

"Just a moment Luffy." Vergil said stopping the captain from moving away. Luffy looked at Vergil kinda confused as lightning demon lowered Nami on the ground softly and stood up.

"I've got one more thing to do before you can take over." He stated.

Suddenly lightning emerged around Vergil.

"Hey, weirdo hypnotist…" He said, his voice was void of all the emotions as he stood up. Nami could only watch as lightning intensified around him. "You do understand that you could have killed her with that?" He asked and spared a glance toward Jango. The hypnotist gulped, he didn't know why but the demon looked far scarier than Kuro…

"_This is bad…_" He realized as lightning gathered around Vergil's mouth.

"_Compress it, let it flow through the lungs… Then when enough is gathered… Let it all out…_" He thought as he repeated the lesson he got when he first used the attack… His chest swelled up a bit as he held his breath in.

"Disappear…" Vergil muttered. "**Lightning Breath**!" He shouted, beam shot from his mouth reaching a twenty cm radius at the end.

"So cool! A beam!" Luffy and Usopp exclaimed as the beam shot forward and hit Jango dead on, it didn't impale the man's chest but it hit the area just where the heart was It tore through the clothes and went through Jango without spilling a single drop of blood, although there were severe burns on the area the breath hit. Bleeding wasn't the idea anyway, the lightning was now in Jango's body, it completely stopped man's heart and brain in an instance. Jango the Hypnotist, man worth 9 million beri was dead.

Vergil grinned a bit as pirates around him called out desperately for their captain. "Luffy, take Kuro down, I'll take Nami to that ship, it'll be a safer place for her." Vergil stated and picked Nami up bridal style and **Air Hiked** to the board of the Black Cat pirates' ship.

"Sure!" Luffy agreed and turned to the pirates.

"One minute left." Now Kuro may have sounded cold and emotionless but he sure wasn't left unfazed by the sudden death, the death itself wasn't affecting him but the fact that it came so suddenly and in a way he has never seen before.

"This is impossible! Buchi can't take them down in one minute and captain Jango is dead" One of the pirates panicked and with a good reason.

"We can't beat all of them!" Another one screamed.

Luffy walked toward them casually and they were polite, or scared enough to move out of his way with a couple of screams…

Buchi stood up and prepared to lung at Zoro.

"He doesn't give up…" Zoro muttered as he took his Demon Slash stance, as Buchi lunged toward him he attacked. "**Demon… Slash**!" Buchi screamed as blood gushed out of his wounds and the large man fell down on the ground defeated once and for all.

"It's about time to kill everyone." Kuro stated announcing by lowering down his blades that the five minute clock finished counting down.

"What? The evil butler is here too?" Luffy asked as he just noticed Kuro.

Usopp+s eyes widened as he realized that someone was running toward Kuro and Kuro believing that someone was trying to sneak up on his slashed toward the person.

"Don't even think of… Sneaking up on me!" Kuro exclaimed.

"Kaya!" Usopp yelled as Kaya gasped.

Kuro would have cut Kaya if Usopp didn't jump in and pushed her away from the danger and onto the ground.

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_**That's it for this chapter. Jango is officially the first one of the characters that reappeared later on in the canon that died, there will be more of these characters.**_

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_**Next Chapter – Luffy VS Kuro**_


	22. Luffy VS Kuro

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Guest – Thanks for the review.**_

_**Aliciadiez3 – Personally Luffy X Nami is a pairing I also ship so I might do a story with them, not too long though. Anyway thanks for the review and kind words, I'm glad you are starting to love Vergil X Nami as well. It will take a while until the relationship gets official but they'll have moments especially in Arlong Park Arc and yeah, there will be a lot of Nami as well.**_

_**Anime PJ – Thanks for the review, Jango's death is probably the first major difference from the canon. Mind telling me who you think will get killed? You might be right.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review.**_

_**Hisokarocks – Thanks for the review.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 22 – Luffy VS Kuro**_

* * *

Usopp's eyes widened as he realized that someone was running toward Kuro and Kuro believing that someone was trying to sneak up on his slashed toward the person.

"Don't even think of… Sneaking up on me!" Kuro exclaimed.

"Kaya!" Usopp yelled as Kaya gasped.

Kuro would have cut Kaya if Usopp didn't jump in and pushed her away from the danger and onto the ground.

Kuro's eyes widened as he realized that he almost ruined his own plan but then he regained his composure.

"Usopp-san, are you all right?" Kaya asked as she looked at Usopp, the young man was slightly tired but in much better condition than he could have been in.

"Kaya, what are you doing here?" He asked as she knelt down next to him, he slowly got onto his knees.

"I'm sorry, Usopp-san. I know you may not forgive me for what I've done. I just can't believe it… Kl… Klahadore is a pirate…!" She apologized looking away from the man she refused to believe just yesterday.

"That doesn't matter now!" Usopp snapped at her bringing her attention to him. "Why did you come here? I told you to run away! He wants to kill you!" Usopp told her knowing that Kaya was just in danger here.

Her eyes watered up. "But, aren't you fighting?!" She yelled, Usopp's eyes widened. "I did such a horrible thing to you and yet you are still fighting… That's why…" She cried.

"Miss Kaya." Kuro got her attention. "Why… are you here?" He asked, Kaya gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes.

"Please stop…" She uttered, Kuro watched her as she looked toward him. "Please stop this, Klahadore!" She yelled.

Kuro's eyes softened a bit almost as if some part of entire act was actually honest…

"Merry told me everything…" Kaya began, Luffy, Zoro and the pirates all looked at her.

"Who would have thought she had some guts." Vergil commented as Nami glanced at him.

"You don't like people who don't have guts, do you?" She asked making him grin.

"What was that Princess? Are you worried that I won't like you?" He teased a bit and she lightly smacked the back of his head.

"Idiot…" She muttered as they watched the scene in front of them from the board of the pirate ship.

"Sorry, I know you have guts." He wasn't looking at her, thus he couldn't see when her eyes widened.

"Klahadore I beg you! If you want my fortune I'll give it to you, all of it! So please leave this place!" She begged.

Vergil narrowed his eyes. "Why would he accept it when he can take it anyway?" The white haired demon stated.

"Thank you for the offer, although… There is one more thing I desire." Kaya's eyes widened at the revelation of there being another thing that Klahadore wanted. "What I desire is… tranquility of my soul." Kuro stated with a smile on his face, although one couldn't describe that smile as nice smile…

"Tranquility…" Kaya repeated slowly.

"Yes, all I want is tranquility. I've spent three years to gain the trust of all the villagers, which made me feel unbelievably comfortable. Therefore I'd like to keep this sense of tranquility with me forever." Kaya took a couple of steps back and reached underneath her coat. "Therefore… Therefore I must obtain that tranquility and your fortune!" He embraced himself and then pointed toward the pirates. "That means the pirates will attack the village! Then! You will leave a will and die! Those two terms are absolutely necessary." Kuro stated as he looked at Kaya dangerously.

"N… No… He's… Not Klahadore…" She slowly pulled out a gun, her hand trembled…

"Run! No matter what you say to him he won't stop! Run Kaya!" Usopp yelled at her. His eyes widened as he saw the gun.

"He's not Klahadore…" She tried to assure herself as she pointed the gun toward Kuro. "He's not Klahadore!"

"Kaya…" Usopp mumbled.

"Leave… this village!" Kaya ordered.

"Oh, you are actually pointing a gun at me?" Kuro asked honestly feelinga bit surprised at the bold move Kaya made.

"Leave now!" She repeated the order.

"_She won't shoot, no she can't shoot. She may have gotten some guts but no normal human is capable of just pulling the trigger and ending the life of someone they've trusted for so long._" Vergil knew from the start that she wasn't going to shoot and it seemed like Kuro knew that as well.

"It seems to be like this. You've grown a lot in these past three years. Miss Kaya." Kuro began and those words, just those words were enough to make Kaya's already shaky resolve crack. "Do you still remember? Many things have happened in these past three years." Kuro reminded her as he took off one of his gloves. "Since the time you've always lied in your bed mourning over the loss of your parents whom passed away. A long time passed since then. A long time…" He readjusted his glasses. "I still remember, the sorrowful and joyful days we've spent together."

"K… Klahadore…" She cried.

A picture of happy Kaya and Kuro who carried too many bags filled Kuro's mind. "When we went shopping…" Then a picture of Kaya lying in bed and Kuro nursing her. "I nursed you when you had fevers." Then the two of them laughing together. "You'd be happy to listen to anything I'd say." Kaya began crying. "I gave my everything to you. I have always… yes… always…" He gripped the gun. "Endured it…" Kaya's eyes widened at his last two words. "Yes, everything was so that… I can kill you one day… Today!" Kuro stated, his tone growing more dangerous with every word he uttered.

He took the gun from the crying girl…

"I, formerly known as Captain Kuro… Had to keep a smile for a little girl who always sniffled!" he dropped the gun down. "No matter how much I hated it I tried my hardest to make you happy!"

Usopp growled. "You bastard…" He hissed at Kuro.

"Can you imagine my humiliation in those days? Can you imagine me, the former captain Kuro doing such things?!" He asked furiously. Luffy looked pissed off at this…

"Kuro!" Suddenly Usopp grabbed the gun, stood up and fired it at Kuro who dodged it and moved behind Usopp. He slipped on his glove.

"Come to think of it you still…" Kuro began as he surrounded Usopp's head with his blades, five blades formed the invisible pentagram around Usopp. "You still owe me a punch to the face…" Kuro stated.

"Usopp-san…" Kaya gasped.

"You hit me pretty hard back then." Kuro complained as he took off the fluster on his face.

Suddenly a fist went straight toward Kuro whose eyes widened. The former captain fell down to the ground.

"Since you hate it so much, I'll give you hundred more for free." Luffy said with a grin.

Pirates, Usopp and Kaya were shocked, a lot.

"What the hell did he do?!" One of the pirates panicked.

"His arm just stretched out!" Another one yelled.

"But how could he do that?!" The third one asked.

"He really smacked captain Kuro!" The first one yelled.

Kuro glared at Luffy, his glasses were broken now, although they could still be used. Luffy slowly, finger by finger half clenched his right hand.

Vergil grinned at Luffy's punch.

"We can leave the rest to him. I'll go and get the treasure!" Nami announced, Vergil glanced at her and sighed.

"I'm going with you." He stated surprising her a bit.

"I can take care of myself." She said.

"You are injured and there could be a guard or something on this stupid ship, I ain't taking risks." The white haired demon told her and opened the first door that he reached.

Nami smiled a bit as she followed him in.

Down on the ground a couple of people that shouldn't be there joined in…

"Usopp pirate crew! Reporting!" Tamanegi, Piiman and Ninjin yelled as they slammed a shovel, bat and a frying pan onto Kuro's head.

"You guys!" Usopp gasped in terror.

"Stop that!" Kaya yelled at them honestly afraid of what could happen to the three boys.

"Give up!" Piiman yelled at Kuro.

"Kill him! Kill him!" Ninjin said even though he wouldn't actually have guts to do so, although in anger and in moments like this his words were reasonable.

"You dare break the peace of this village!" Tamanegi yelled. The three kept slamming Kuro's face much to the horror of the Black Cat pirates.

"Quit it!" Usopp yelled at them.

"What the hell are those brats doing!" One of the pirates yelled.

"What do they think they are doing?!" Zoro hissed, Luffy just kept looking.

"Stop it! You guys cut it out!" Usopp tried to make them stop.

Finally the three boys stopped hitting Kuro, the panted as they stood over Kuro.

"Yosh! I think he's suffered enough!" Tamanegi decided.

"Captain!" Ninjin exclaimed as he, Piiman and Tamanegi ran up to Usopp. "As I thought, Captain is fighting them!"

"Why didn't you tell us the truth? Are we insiders?" Piiman asked sounding a bit angry because Usopp hid the true. Although he chose a wrong word…

"No! It's outsiders!" Tamanegi corrected him.

"Whatever! Anyway you guys have to get out of here now! Run!" Usopp yelled at them. Well it was too late for that now…

Kuro opened his eyes and furiously glared at three boys.

"No!" Ninjin refused.

"We'll fight with you!" Piiman declared.

"If we ran that would bring shame to the pride of the Usopp Pirate crew!" Tamanegi exclaimed.

Their eyes widened in horror as Kuro stood up. The pirate captain tried to adjust his glasses but the glass shattered. Boys screamed as Kuro turned his full attention to them.

"You morons! Get out of here!" Usopp shouted at the screaming trio.

Kuro began walking and went right past three boys. They stopped screaming due to the confusion as to why Kuro spared them for now. Kuro stood in front of Usopp and then to Kaya's horror kicked the younger male.

Usopp gasped for air as he skidded across the ground.

"Not bad!" Kuro commented as he turned to glare at Luffy. "That was a good punch you landed on me! You! You ate the Devil Fruit didn't you?!" Kuro asked.

"Yeah, the Gomu Gomu no mi. I'm a rubber man." Luffy replied.

"What? Those are bad news!" One of the pirates exclaimed.

"Those things really do exist?" Another asked referring to Devil Fruits.

"No wonder he's so strange!" Another one yelled.

"First I'll take care of you, kid! Then Miss Kaya will write the will and then I'll kill her!" Kuro declared, Jango's death may have prevented him from just hypnotizing Kaya but he would find a way to make her write the will. "And you three ants, are an eyesore. I'll take care of you later." Kuro stated motioning at Piiman, Ninjin and Tamanegi.

"Damn, damn, damn. If we don't do something he'll kill Kaya!" Usopp realized. "Usopp pirate crew!" He yelled as loudly as he could.

"Yes!" Three boys yelled as a response.

"Listen to me!" He began.

"We won't run!" Ninjin exclaimed before Usopp could even say something more.

"He's gone too far!" Piiman added.

"We'll get our revenge!" Tamanegi decided.

"Protect Kaya!" He told them, the boys looked at him. "Listen carefully. I will now, give you the most important mission so far. Get Kaya away from here! Don't say you can't! Because… Protecting what we cherish the most as the men is the reason why we formed this pirate crew!" Boys were holding back the tears at the moving words of their captain.

Kaya wasn't deaf to the words either as her eyes wavered, the emotion threatened to overcome her as well. "Usopp-san…" She uttered his name.

"This is… Captain order." He said as he slowly tried to stand up.

"Aye! Captain!" Boys yelled.

"Kaya-san hurry!" Ninjin told her.

"Let's go!" Piiman said.

"This way!" Tamanegi added.

"What an elegant speech… It's the same as telling them to run away." Zoro realized.

"Going into the forest is like entering my backyard!" Ninjin told Kaya as he, Piiman and Tamanegi led her away, she looked at Usopp who finally managed to get back to his feet.

They left the battle field and while some would have expected Kuro to o after them he just gave them a single glance.

"It's over for you. I am perfectly aware of Kaya's health, she won't make it too far before I finish you off." Kuro stated.

"You bastard! You've been living under the same roof for three years! Don't you have any compassion for her?!" Usopp demanded angrily.

"None!" Kuro stated without hesitation. "Kaya is only a part of my plan. After her death I might then thank her." Kuro said.

"Why you…" Usopp growled.

"There's no helping that guy." Zoro said.

"I didn't plan on helping him in the first place." Luffy replied. "USOPP!" He yelled, Usopp turned to look at the rubber man. "You and Zoro go after them and make sure they are safe! Leave everything here to me!" Luffy ordered.

Zoro grinned a bit. "Captain's orders." He stated as he began walking up the slope toward Kuro rather casually.

Usopp gulped a bit but bravely went together with Zoro.

"Who gave you the right to pass?" Kuro asked as they approached him.

"I am captain Usopp! I am a brave warrior of the sea! I won't let you lay a finger on a single villager!" Usopp declared.

"I asked who gave you the permission to pass?" Kuro asked yet again.

"That would be me!" Luffy declared as he attempted to punch Kuro, however the former captain leaned to the side and evaded the fist. "Go! Zoro! Usopp! One more punch!" Luffy's body shot forward after the stretched fist as he tried to hit Kuro. Kuro dodged the attack and Luffy halted to a stop with a couple of small bounces up and down.

Kuro appeared behind Luffy and tried to slash him, but Luffy lunged forward used his hands to balance his body and put his foot together. "**Gomu Gomu no… Spear**!" Luffy's legs stretched as he attacked Kuro, his feet put together really resembled spear in a way, either way Kuro disappeared again. "Damn, he disappeared again…" Luffy complained. "But well, they got past." To Luffy that was perfectly enough. He landed back onto his feet and Kuro appeared not to far away from him.

"Before we fight I'd like to ask one thing." Kuro began. "As an outsider why are you getting yourself involved?" He asked.

Luffy grinned. "Because there is a man on this island I don't want to see dead." Luffy easily replied.

Kuro allowed himself a smirk. "That's simple, but is it all right? That will be the reason of your death." He stated confident that he would be capable of killing Luffy.

"It's fine. But I won't die!" Luffy declared confidently.

"Let me show you death!" Kuro exclaimed as he prepared to attack.

Luffy stretched his hands and grabbed onto Kuro's arms, he attempted to kick Kuro but the former captain moved his arms and made Luffy hit the ground. Luffy spun around and while still in the air attacked once again. "**Gomu Gomu no Whip**!" His leg swung in an arc right toward Kuro who jumped up to evade it. "And, **Pistol**!" Luffy's fist shot forward as soon as his leg returned back to normal. At that moment Kuro briefly landed on the ground, jumped up once again and landed on Luffy's arm.

"I'm getting bored." He stated mockingly as he folded his arms.

"You bastard!" Luffy yelled.

Kuro ran forward while still on Luffy's arm and kicked the rubber man's face. Luffy landed face first on the ground but easily got up again.

"Damn, my mouth got cut." He whined.

"That straw hat guy is definitely strong." One of the pirates realized.

"Th… That's captain Kuro." Another one said, they exchanged glances and then began cheering for Kuro to kill Luffy and overall began chanting Kuro's name.

"Don't call me by that name ever again!" Kuro yelled at them, thus successfully scaring them. "You don't get it yet? For this is… My plan to completely get rid of the name 'Captain Kuro'!" Luffy looked at him a bit confused. "I've had enough, of the days when I had to plan everything out for you guys who only knew how to make ruckus! Enough of those government dogs that kept chasing me to get the reward! I can't take it anymore!" Kuro yelled. And there it was the reason for all of this.

* * *

-Flashback, three years ago-

* * *

On the Marine ship Kuro was standing, well sitting alone, and for a reason, most of the marines were already dead.

His fellow pirates gulped as they looked at the slaughtered bodies of the marines.

"The Marines are…" One of them began.

"All dead." The second one finished.

Kuro adjusted his glasses in his signature way and smirked causing the pirates to back away. "Now… The plan shall begin." He said as he made one of the marines roll over onto his back and cough up blood. This marine was none other than Morgan. "Hey now, get a grip. I particularly spared your life." Kuro told him.

"Shut up! I will never beg! Just kill me!" Morgan told him, it seemed like something was wrong with his jaw.

Kuro smirked. "You've got guts." He stated before stepping onto Morgan's jaw. "To be able to spew out that much with a crushed jaw isn't bad at all." He chuckled. "I will now present to you, a nobody, a parting gift. You should be honored. To get the head of the devious Kuro!" Kuro revealed.

Not a couple of minutes later the man Jango bid farewell to was tied to the post.

"You are Captain Kuro. You are Captain Kuro. You are the one who did this. One… Two… Jango…" Jango hypnotized the pirate.

"My name is Captain Kuro. I killed all these people." Pirate stated.

Jango turned to Morgan. "And you are the man that captured the Captain Kuro. Return to your base and execute this man. One… Two… Jango!" With this Morgan was also hypnotized but then. "I am the man that captured Captain Kuro!" jango yelled, he was hypnotized by his own work…

"There goes the First Mate again…" One of the pirates commented.

"This is good." Kuro thought. "As long as my imposter dies Captain Kuro will no longer exist in this world."

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

"And so after today's plan succeeds, I will have achieved my goal. I will have money and a tranquil life. You get it kid? The plan which has taken three years will not fail. My plan never fails!" Kuro announced as he ran toward Luffy.

Luffy stretched his hands behind him and grabbed a huge rock before lifting it and placing it in front of himself as a makeshift shield. Kuro's blades got stuck inside of it.

"It seems like you can do more than just stretching yourself. " Kuro commented.

Sides of the rock shattered under Luffy's grip.

"Of course, I'm well trained. To be a pirate!" He stated as he pulled the rock to the side and shattered the blades surprising Kuro. "You can't take it anymore you say? If you are afraid of the fame of the see then you are not qualified to be a pirate!" He slammed the rock onto Kuro. "If you want to compare the ambitions, mine is much greater!" Luffy announced.

* * *

Nami was trying to unlock the chest that the Black Cat pirates held their treasure in while Vergil leaned against the wall.

"You think they'll be all right?" Nami suddenly asked.

"I know they will." Well if Nami was trying to start a conversation he sure wasn't giving her much to work with…

"Is this the first time you are in our world?" She asked suddenly feeling curious.

"No." He stated.

"Why are you so defensive?" Nami asked, she was getting frustrated. She huffed as she looked away from the lock and toward him.

"Why you ask?" He retorted as he moved away from the wall, walked up to her and crouched down. "Let's see, you pretty much jumped in front of an attack that was meant to kill. Is that enough of a reason to be pissed off at you?" He questioned now that there was no need to be fully on guard. Now he could confront her about it.

"We needed Zoro at his best!" Nami argued.

"That is not an excuse for jumping in front of an attack." He stated.

"So you are angry because I made you stop your attack? I should have known it!" She hissed.

"Who ever said anything about my attack! You jumped in front of me and endangered yourself, you got hurt and rather badly because you didn't think about the other side's attack! Me stopping my attack was expected, I'm not that much of a heartless scum that would hurt someone I came to be fond of! But the enemy won't do the same thing… You could have died damn it… If only he had a deadlier weapon or if he attacked somewhere else… you'd be dead…" Vergil told her, the rant that began as a half shout slowly turned into something a bit louder than a whisper.

"I can take care of myself." Nami said albeit in a much softer voice still processing everything he said.

"Yeah, I can see that." Vergil said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Wait a second… Fond of?" She asked as she finally realized the implication behind his words.

"Well yeah, in a way. We've sailed around for a couple of weeks now, it's only normal to get at least a bit fond of someone. And well I got fond of you, a bit more than just a bit." He admitted.

As for Nami, she held her breath, then began chuckling before finally bursting into a full blown laughter, the fact that Vergil avoided the eye contact while he admitted that didn't help suppress her laugh and neither did his flustered face and annoyed look he was giving her now. "You are an idiot." She muttered and allowed herself a rather fond smile only for him.

Vergil grinned a bit.

* * *

Kaya was running with the three boys surrounding her.

"Is anyone following us?" Piiman asked.

"I don't see anyone." Tamanegi repied.

"Don't worry Kaya-san, no one can catch us in this forest!" Ninjin assured her.

"We'll protect you no matter what, we swore on the pride of the Usopp Pirate crew to do so." Piiman confirmed.

Kaya smiled. "Thank you." She thanked them suddenly they all hearda well known voice.

"Hey! Everyone!" Usopp yelled as he and Zoro ran thought the forest.

"It's Captain!" Three boys cheered as they and Kaya halted to a stop. They turned behind to see Usopp and Zoro coming to them.

"We finally caught up." Usopp gasped for air as he stopped in front of them.

"Usopp-san…" Kaya muttered.

"Luffy sent us to help you out just in case." Zoro said.

"But is it all right? To leave Luffy alone with Kuro?" Usopp asked, now starting to get concerned over Luffy's safety.

"He'll be fine and Vergil is there as well." Zoro simply assured him.

Usopp gulped, if Vergil could take care of the pirates and kill Jango as easy as he did and he was just a first mate he was a bit afraid to find out just how strong Luffy was. So with that in mind he decided to believe in Luffy defeating Kuro.

* * *

"That bastard…" One of the pirates muttered, they were all shocked at the fact that Luffy just broke five of Kuro's claws.

"He broke captain's cat claws…" Another one said.

Luffy grinned. "Hehe. Only five left eh? Those weird swords of yours!" He said as he let the stone fall down on the ground.

Kuro grunted as he slowly began getting up.

"It's all right, he can still fight." Third pirate said.

"That's right, he still has his other hand." The first one confirmed.

"Beat him, Captain Kuro!" The second one yelled.

"Hey, isn't that name a taboo?" The third one asked.

"I'm certain that he's called Klaha-something around here." The fourth one joined in.

"Then we'll just call him Kura-san." The fifth one decided.

"Kura-san kill him!" Pirates began cheering.

"You fools shut up!" Kuro yelled shutting the pirates up. He stood up to reveal that he had a trail of blood dripping from his head down the side of his head, his hear was a bit messier as well. "I will exterminate all of you later…" Kuro said.

"What are you talking about Captain Kuro?" One of the pirates asked.

"Why would you want to kill us?" The second one questioned.

"We can still attack the village, it's still not too late!" Third one exclaimed.

"You no longer have to worry about the plan. As long as your bodies are here I can prove my innocence. I haven't planned on letting you live in the first place." At his words pirates backed away a bit in fear. "It would be troublesome, I wouldn't want anyone to find me alive and kickin'." Kuro stated.

"No way…" The third pirate muttered.

"So you've planned on killing us all along?" The first pirate asked.

"That's right." Kuro chuckled a bit. "Even back when I was still Captain Kuro three years ago. Everything. Everything was planned."

"Are you guys dumb? What a dumb pirate crew." Luffy commented.

"'Dumb' you say? A pirate crew is just a bunch of dogs that aren't capable of living in a civilized society." Kuro commented. "What would they be able to do without someone telling them a plan. I had to plan everything out for them. The shipmates are just pawns at their captain's disposal. Whether they live or die is up to me. No matter how great my obstacle is my plan must succeed, they are supposed to die to fulfill my plans." When Luffy simply looked at him sending a non verbal message Kuro became completely enraged. "That's the fate of the pirates! Don't you dare lecture me boy!" Kuro yelled.

"Even if a Captain like you has tens of thousands of men. You can never win against Usopp." Luffy stated surprising the pirates.

"What'd you say? I can't compare to that make-believe captain?" Kuro asked.

"That's right." Luffy simply replied.

Kuro laughed. "That's funny. Don't think too highly of yourself just because you took care of one of my hands. Where can he surpass me?" Kuro asked as he began using his Stealth Foot. "Tell me!" He demanded.

The straw hat wearing pirate grinned. "Composure." Luffy replied.

"What?!" Kuro asked as he appeared behind Luffy.

"You don't know the real meaning of being a pirate!" Luffy exclaimed as he side swept Kuro and sent him slamming into the hill.

* * *

_**That's it for this chapter.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Going Merry**_


	23. Going Merry

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Anime PJ – Thanks for the review. Well I'm happy to tell you that you are absolutely right, Arlong is going to die, but I won't reveal how. I don't see revealing Arlong's death as much of a spoiler, it's pretty much expected.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review, I'm glad you like it.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**Guest – Thanks for the review.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 23 – Going Merry**_

* * *

"Even if a Captain like you has tens of thousands of men. You can never win against Usopp." Luffy stated surprising the pirates.

"What'd you say? I can't compare to that make-believe captain?" Kuro asked.

"That's right." Luffy simply replied.

Kuro laughed. "That's funny. Don't think too highly of yourself just because you took care of one of my hands. Where can he surpass me?" Kuro asked as he began using his Stealth Foot. "Tell me!" He demanded.

The straw hat wearing pirate grinned. "Composure." Luffy replied.

"What?!" Kuro asked as he appeared behind Luffy.

"You don't know the real meaning of being a pirate!" Luffy exclaimed as he side swept Kuro and sent him slamming into the hill.

Pirates' mouth dropped at the feat Luffy had just pulled.

"That bastard…" One of them gasped as Luffy landed on his feet.

"He actually kept up with the **Stealth Foot**!" Another one yelled.

Smoke started clearing to reveal Kuro sitting on the ground, his head hung down but he was still perfectly conscious. "You dare insult me. You want to know what a real pirate is like? Then let me show you right now…" He slicked his hair back. "How terrifying… How terrifying a pirate is when he's been to hell and back countless times!" Kuro exclaimed as he stood up. He began swaying left and right.

"Hey, that pose… It can't be…" The third pirate realized.

"He's going to use that?" The second one asked as he help onto the sides of his head in panic. Luffy glanced toward them.

"He's only got one opponent." The first one pointed out.

"But there's no doubt about it! It's **Shakushi**! He's going to use **Shakushi!**" The fourth pirate said one thing that was on everyone's mind.

"We shouldn't just stand here! We are within the range as well!" Another one of the pirates yelled.

"Didn't he say that he's going to kill us all?!" Yet another one reminded them.

"Please don't Captain Kuro! Don't do it!" They begged but Kuro would never listen to them…

"We'll do anything you want just don't do it!" One of them added.

Luffy looked confused at their pleas. "What's with them?" He wondered."Isn't he just swaying bak and forth?"

Pirates continued begging but Kuro continued swaying, when he lifted his head Luffy was a bit surprised, the former captain's eyes disappeared, only thing that remained was the sclera.

"**Shakushi!**" Kuro disappeared… Purplish smoke was left behind the on the place he had just moved from.

Luffy concentrated, awaiting the attack.

Vergil carried the decently sized bad filled with treasure while Nami walked by his side.

"Cheap, I thought they'd have more treasure then that." She complained. "Either way the battle should be over by now." She believed but Vergil realized that it was far from over.

"Kuro is still standing and he is just about to attack." Vergil told her when he saw her confusion at the unmoving pirates.

"Where is he?" Nami asked, she remembered that Vergil could see Kuro, how he could do that was unknown to her, she supposed that it was some demon or training thing.

"He's going toward that pirate." He said and pointed at the slim, average looking pirate that was standing near the middle of the area, the one that was wearing dark gray shirt.

Just as he said that pirate was cut down.

"H…. He's here!" One of the pirates yelled in fear.

"H… How did he get killed?" Luffy asked in disbelief.

"No way…" Nami muttered, she didn't know whether to feel scared by the fact that Kuro just killed one of his own or that Vergil knew exactly who was going to die, she chose to mix the fears and be a bit afraid of both facts, although Kuro scared her a bit more.

Another pirate fell as a victim of Kuro's attack. "Another!" Pirate yelled as Kuro continued his assault.

The next thing that got new markings was the rock next to Luffy.

"It's a rock now!" Luffy exclaimed.

Kuro kept slicing the pirates one by one, killing right away or injuring them severely.

"Please stop this Captain Kuro!" One of them begged.

"It's no use. He's using **Stealth Foot**! He's moving so fast he doesn't even see where or what he's attacking! In the past he killed countless of our own man with that move!" Pirate reminded them, but just a moment after he said that he was sliced…

Nami looked completely shocked. "_What's going on? Why is he killing everyone?_" She wondered.

Vergil sighed thus getting her attention. "You can try blaming it on his speed, but he's doing this because he wants to…" He stated calmly.

After slashing his crew for so long Kuro finally went at Luffy as well, he made cuts on Luffy's chest and a small scratch above Luffy's right eye.

Luffy acted as if nothing happened, he kept looking for Kuro. "_Reveal yourself, caretaker_…"

Kuro slashed Luffy's right forearm.

"How can you be so calm about all these people dying, even if they are pirates…" She muttered the last part.

"Two reasons, they are enemies and I've seen worse things than simple slaughter of more or less thirty pirates." He replied. "But on the other hand, both Luffy and I agree on one thing, he has no right to do this to his nakama." Vergil stated and as if on cue Luffy finally voiced out his opinion.

Even with multiple cuts on him the pain seemed like nothing to Luffy. His eyes showcased anger as he bellowed. "What do you take your nakama for?!"

Vergil grinned at this.

"Luffy…" Nami muttered, she was honestly surprised by the sudden outburst.

Kuro moved around and finally attacked Luffy from behind, the rubber man moved to the side and for the most part evaded the blades but they did cut his vest. Either way they revealed Kuro's direction and for the first time since Kuro attacked it was the time for a counter attack. Luffy shot his hand forward and grabbed onto Kuro's suit jacket. He pulled and slammed Kuro onto the ground.

"Found ya." Luffy said with a grin on his face.

"You bastard. You should have just let me kill them, now my precious men are half dead, they are slowly bleeding to death. It would be more humane to just kill them now." Kuro said. Luffy kept looking at him. "What? You've got something to say?"

"Yeah. I will never, become…" Luffy looked at Shanks' straw hat. "…A man like you."

Kuro stood up and pointed his blades at Luffy's head.

"You won't? No, you can't become a man like me. Not with that talent." As Kuro looked at Luffy his grin slowly faded. "Furthermore, you will die here." He began stepping back. "I'll take special care of you! I won't hold anything back when I cut you up. You'll feel the agony as I cut you into little pieces and then die." Kuro announced as he began swaying left and right once again.

"Don't think so!" Luffy ran forward trying to get to Kuro in time to stop but he wasn't quick enough…

"**Shakushi**!" Kuro disappeared…

Once again Kuro began slashing around, the pirates screamed in pain. Kuro slashed Luffy's left shoulder making the rubber man grunt a bit.

"_No matter what you do Kuro, you ain't defeating Luffy_." Vergil thought, his confidence in Luffy was rather exponential seeing as he only saw a small number of Luffy's fights.

Luffy shot his arms forward and while Kuro dodged the first one he failed to dodge the second one, Luffy grabbed onto him and stopped him, as the smoke cleared pirates, Nami and Vergil could see that Luffy wrapped his legs around Kuro's waist and arms around Kuro's arms.

"Let's see you get away now." Luffy said with a grin.

"You bastard…" Kuro hissed.

"With this your three years of detailed planning come to an end!" Luffy announced.

"What did you say!" Kuro growled as he tried to get himself free.

"He's got a hold on Captain Kuro!" The first pirate pointed out the obvious.

"If he defeats him maybe we won't get killed!" Another one said.

"Get him, rubber man!" Pirates cheered.

"Let go!" Kuro demanded.

"Shut up…" Vergil growled at the pirates from above making them all shriek.

Luffy bonked Kuro's head with his own head before shooting his head back.

"You guys don't cheer on me!" He yelled at the already scared pirates.

"**Gomu Gomu no**…"

"My plan will never…" Images of his three years long plan flashed in front of Kuro's eyes as Luffy's head closed in. "fail!" He yelled.

"**Bell**!" Luffy's head slammed into Kuro's, a loud gong like sound could be easily heard as Kuro spat out blood, it was finally over as Kuro fell on the ground face first and Luffy landed on one knee next to him. The former captain was defeated.

Pirates watched with their mouths wide open as Luffy stood up.

"It's over…" One of them dared to utter.

"Not even Marines could do anything about him…" Another one reminded them. "But he really beat him!"

"Who on earth are you?!" They demanded to know.

"Monkey D. Luffy. Against a pirate who'd discard his name and run away from the sea… There's no way I'd lose to that kinda guy. A true pirate would never give up his name 'til the day he dies." Luffy stated.

"Luffy? As I thought, I've never heard that name before." The pirate said.

"Remember my name for the rest of your lives." Luffy said and then ginned at them. "For I am the man that will become the next Pirate King." Luffy grabbed onto Kuro's collar and threw him toward the pirates. "Take him with you! Don't come back here ever again!" He yelled at them as pirates ran toward their ship.

"I guess we should get off of this ship." Vergil told Nami with a small grin before he scooped her up with his other arm.

Nami yelped as he jumped down and easily landed on the shore. Then he let her go.

"You could have warned me…" She glared at him, he only kept grinning. She looked away and began running toward Luffy while Vergil simply walked toward the captain. Nami stopped in front of Luffy and realized that he was falling, she caught him. "Thanks for the hard work."

Pirates left in a hurry afraid that Luffy or Vergil could go after them.

Luffy was lying on the ground with Nami standing next to him. "I guess even you'd get exhausted after a fight like that." She said and crouched down. "Hey, back there, why were you so angry?" She asked.

"I don't like them. They are plain wrong." Luffy began, Nami gritted her teeth and looked up, this didn't go unnoticed by Vergil who was leaning against the cliff. "Companions aren't meant to be regarded like that."

"What are you talking about? That's the way it is." Nami said as she picked up Luffy's straw hat. "Pirates aren't as noble as they are in your dreams. Captain Kuro is a standard example." She told him. Both pirates glanced at her and then Luffy declared a rather serious desire.

"I want meat."

Nami slammed the straw hat onto his face. "Why I oughta…" She growled at the rubber man that shook his arms around. Vergil chuckled a bit.

"Now, now Princess, he deserves some meat." He said.

"He needs to know when to say something like that!" She shouted at grinning demon.

"Who cares, he's right, I'd like some food as well." Vergil causally replied.

"You are both hopeless…" She said as she gave up and stood up.

"Come on, let's find Zoro and Usopp, then we can go get some food." Vergil urged them.

* * *

Zoro was leaning against one of the trees, pretty much aware that the battle has ended by now.

"Can you keep everything that's happened here a secret?" Usopp requested.

"Eh, a secret?! Why?!" Ninjin asked.

"That's right! Captain has fought with his life on the line to protect the village!" Piiman exclaimed.

"Captain, everyone will look at you differently! You'll be the village's hero!" Tamanegi told him.

"That's right!" They all kept rambling about it.

"Usopp-san, you should clear all the misunderstandings with the villagers." Kaya said, hoping that she could change his mind.

"What misunderstandings? They'd just think I'm lying like usual." Usopp reminded her. "There's no point in telling them things of the past, it would just cause panic." Kaya's eyes widened at his words. "Heh, besides this is one time special situation. There shouldn't be any more pirates that would attack a village as secluded as this one. So let's just pretend nothing happened. It was just a hoax to fool everyone." Everyone looked at him, they finally understood his reasoning. "I won't force you…" He continued but he was cut off.

"No, I'll do it! If it's for the best of the village!" Ninjin was the first one to agree with him.

"Me too!" Piiman agreed.

"Me three! I won't say a word!" Tamanegi added and with his agreement the three boys have all agreed not to tell anyone about what happened.

"We won't mention this ever again!" They chorused together.

"Kaya…" Usopp called, he wanted her to agree as well. "Will you be tempted?"

Kaya smiled and lightly shook her head. "No." She replied.

"Zoro! Usopp! We are going to eat!" They all heard Luffy shouting.

"Luffy if you keep shouting you won't get any meat. I'll personally make sure you only get vegetable…" Vergil groaned. Zoro couldn't help but smirk at this.

"About time you decided to stop him…" Nami muttered to the white haired demon as they walked through the forest and finally came upon the three boys, Kaya, Usopp and Zoro.

* * *

Well usually the lies were supposed to echo throughout the village just about now… The strange thing to the villagers was, they weren't.

A woman was standing by the window "It's already morning, I wonder if something's wrong with Usopp-kun." She wondered.

Her husband was sitting at the table reading the newspapers. "He was acting weird. Seems like he's depressed."

* * *

-At another house-

* * *

"Mama!" A small girl yelled as her mother washed the dishes. "Isn't the lying big brother coming today?" She asked.

* * *

-Another house-

* * *

"You little liar, why isn't he here yet today?" A man with a broom ready for action was standing at the doors, frustrated at the fact that Usopp wasn't coming to lie. "Maybe I was a bit too harsh on him yesterday."

"I'm sure he'll be back to his old self by tomorrow." His wife assured him. "I'm sure of it."

* * *

"Thank you, without you I wouldn't be able to protect the village." Usopp said to the crew.

"What are you talking about? If you didn't risk your own life I wouldn't have done a single thing." Zoro told him.

"Same here." Luffy agreed.

"Same goes for me." Vergil added.

Nami was hugging her treasure bag. "All that doesn't matter now. I've got my treasure." She said sweetly.

"Seriously Princess…" Vergil muttered but then grinned. "Well as long as you are happy about it."

Usopp laughed a bit. Then he looked up. "Thanks to this incident I've finally decided on something." Usopp declared. Luffy glanced at him but he could already guess what was Usopp's decision.

"Let's go, we should leave them for a bit." Vergil said and then turned to Kaya. "By the way, I'll admit it, you've changed my mind a bit, you've got some guts." He stated and slowly began walking away.

"Food!" Luffy cheered.

Kaya smiled a bit. "Thank you all for helping us." She thanked them and as she realized that Usopp and the three boys needed to be left alone for a bit she left as well.

Since they were left alone boys finally chose to speak up.

"What did you decide, Captain?" Ninjin asked.

"Come with me." He urged them and so the group of four reached the place where it all began for their crew, a cliff with Usopp's pirate flag tied to a pole next to numerous lodges.

"You guys did an excellent job, standing up to Kuro like that. As your captain I'm very proud of you." Usopp told them before telling anything about his decision.

"It wasn't that impressive." Ninjin said.

"Comparing to what Captain did." Piiman added.

"It's kind of embarrassing really." Tamanegi finished.

"No, you were really great. Even though you were scared you came." Usopp said, he was showing his more mature side for who knows what time in one day. "Ever since five years ago when this Usopp Pirate crew took its form when you were only four, this proved to be out greatest and most successful battle ever." He walked up to them.

"Aye!" Three boys yelled.

"Although a bit unexpected I'll be sailing seas alone from now on." He revealed, boys gasped. "I've always wanted to be a real pirate." He said with a big smile on his face, although it was clear that he was holding back the tears due to the soon to come departure. "I've always wondered, if it's really alright if I spend my life here. But then I met them and I made up my mind." He said referring to the Straw Hats. "As a man I must embrace that vast sea. That's why I can't stay in this village." He ran up the lodges and held his hands up. "There is only one reason! The pirate flag is beckoning me!"

"Captain, you're lying, right?" Ninjin asked, honestly hoping that this would be just another one of Usopp's lies. "It's just another lie isn't it?"

"You love this village don't you Captain?!" Piiman asked.

"What will happen to the Usopp Pirate crew?!" Tamanegi questioned.

"I have something I'd like you guys to do. I don't want to tell anyone in the village, so please say 'Hi' to them." He told them, his resolve to leave was pretty much made of steal.

"No way!" Ninjin yelled.

"I don't wanna!" Piiman declined.

"Please don't leave, Captain!" Tamanegi begged.

Usopp turned to look at them, he had tears in his eyes. "You remember this place don't you? This is where we first met."

He started off as a resident liar but soon became their captain. The one they followed as they fought a Cerberus, actually a dog, and many other adventures they had.

"I don't want to hear you talking about past!" Piiman yelled.

"That's right." Ninjin exclaimed.

"Why are you saying all this Captain. You are not acting like yourself." Tamanegi added.

"That's… Captain is an idiot. Idiot!" Ninjin yelled, all three boys were on the verge of tears.

Usopp turned to face them. "What are your ambitions?!" He asked.

"To own a bar!" Ninjin replied right away.

"To become a master carpenter!" Piiman exclaimed.

"To become a writer!" Tamanegi announced.

"Do not let the fire of those ambitions burn out! You must vow… to follow your own path… with determination!" Usopp exclaimed as three boys cried. "Usopp Pirate crew… Disbanded!" With those words the crew was no more. As a proof of that the pirate flag tore off the pole and disappeared with the wind.

* * *

Luffy was choking on some fish bones. Finally he managed to get it out and simply began chewing on it.

"We've had a nice grub." Zoro commented, he and Luffy were sitting on one side while Nami and Vergil sat on the other side of the table.

"You guys, I'll have to teach you, this is how the remaining of the fish you just ate should look like." She scolded them as she held her remains of the fish. Luffy had barely a couple of bones left and was chewing on them, Zoro had nothing left.

"Give it up Princess." Vergil said.

Doors of the tavern opened and Kaya went in. "Here you are." She said.

"Yo, miss." Luffy greeted.

"Are you sure you are well enough to go around?" Nami asked.

"Yes, my illness over the past year was due to my depression because of my parent's death. Usopp-san tried so hard to cheer me up. I can't let it all go to waste." Kaya stated causing group to smile. "I have prepared a little present for everyone, I hope you'll accept it openheartedly." Kaya said kindly.

* * *

Usopp was at his house, sitting on his bed next to a large bag… A rather large bag…

"It's done!" He breathed out as he lied down on the bed. "Gonna bid farewell to this house soon." He thought. But then he sat up and looked toward Kaya's mansion. He strengthened his resolve and was about to pass through the doors but the oversized bad was stuck at the doors… "What?" Usopp struggled to make it move so he could leave but it wouldn't budge, that is until house itself gave in and the doors got broken, well it wasn't the only thing that happened, Usopp began rolling down the road with his bag…

* * *

The Straw Hats found themselves in front of a long awaited ship.

The ship was a caravel, with a jib and a central steer rudder. The ship's armaments consisted of four cannons, one in the bow pointing forward, one in the stern and two pointing at either side. The ship's figurehead was a sheep.

"A caravel!" Nami exclaimed, they all looked happy.

"Is this really for us?" Luffy asked in disbelief.

"Yes, please accept it." Kaya replied.

"Although it's somewhat of an old fashion, I was the one who designed it. The ship's frame and it's triple mast sails are all part of a stern-centered control system. I call it 'Going Merry'! First let me brief you in on how to sail it. First how to turn it on and adjust the power…" Merry began the explanation.

"Ah no, no! You only need to tell me how to operate the ship!" Nami butted in.

"It's a nice ship. The figure head looks so cool!" Luffy exclaimed.

"I suppose." Vergil said, being a demon he wasn't all that used to such peaceful designs of figureheads.

"I've had everything needed to set sail on the ship." Kaya told them.

"Really? Thank you! That's really thankful of you." Luffy thanked her.

"That's 'thoughtful' not 'thankful' you idiot." Zoro corrected him.

At that moment they heard Usopp rolling down to them.

"Usopp-san!" Kaya gasped.

"What's he up to?" Luffy wondered.

"Maybe he's breaking the world's record for longest rolling with the backpack…" Vergil suggested.

"Whatever he's doing we should stop him, he's heading toward the ship." Zoro stated.

Luffy and Zoro lifted their legs up and Usopp hit their feet with his face.

"T-Thanks." He thanked them.

"No problem." Luffy said.

"You are really setting off, aren't you, Usopp-san?" Kaya asked once Usopp got himself free from the large backpack.

"Yeah, I should go before I change my mind." He said, then turned toward her. "Don't stop me."

"I won't stop you. I had a feeling that you would." She replied.

"Heh, that's kind of disappointing. Next time I return to this village I'll tell you stories far more outrageous than the once I told you before." He promised.

"I'll look forward to it." Kaya said.

"You guys take care! I'll see you again someday!" Usopp said to Luffy and others.

"Why?" Luffy asked.

"Why… You are really slow aren't you? I'll be a pirate like you so we might meet on the sea one day." Usopp explained.

"What're you talking about, hurry up and get on." Zoro said as he pointed at the deck.

"Eh?"

"We are already nakama." Luffy told him.

Usopp took a couple of moments before he finally replied. "Captain… I am the captain!" He shouted as he jumped up.

"Don't be stupid, I am the captain!" Luffy yelled!

Everyone began laughing.

"So, do you two lovebirds need more time to separate or we can go now." Vergil teased.

Kaya looked away embarrassed.

"The hell are you talking about Vergil?! We are not lovebirds! Like you are the one to talk in the first place!" Usopp snapped.

"Oh? How come?" Vergil questioned curiously.

"You and your 'Princess'!" Usopp yelled.

"Me and her?" Vergil asked as he pointed at Nami. He smirked ready to throw away his life. "At least we are subtle." He said, Nami's eyes widened as she went up to him and began strangling him, her face was slightly red though.

Everyone laughed once again at the antics of the first mate and the navigator.

The new ship, Going Merry had finally set sail for the very first time.

* * *

Three boys looked at the Going Merry leaving.

"He really left, Captain." Nijin said.

"Yeah, but I'm relieved that he's with those powerful guys." Piiman said.

"That's right, I've never seen anyone as strong as them." Tamanegi said.

"I guess it can't be helped. He always said that he wanted to be a pirate." Ninjin said.

"If we told the villagers they would be sad." Piiman pointed out.

"It was so sudden. The village was so colorful and lively with Captain around." Tamanegi told them.

"I've got a good idea." Piiman came up with an idea.

"What?" Two boys asked him.

* * *

Merry was standing close to Kaya who was sitting in front of a tree looking at the ship.

"He's got a good heart, hasn't he?" Merry said.

"Merry." Kaya got his attention.

"What is it?" He asked.

"It's really hard to lie." She said.

"Are you talking about Klahadore?" Merry asked her.

"No." Kaya stated.

"So you are implying that you really wanted to stop Usopp-kun from leaving." Merry realized.

"Miss Kaya. I've heard many stories from the villagers about his childhood. Soon after his father left to become a pirate, his mother passed away due to an illness." Merry revealed making Kaya looked at him with wide eyes.

* * *

-Flashback-

* * *

"Pirates are coming! Pirates are coming!" Just like in these days Usopp was telling lies even now. He ran into his house where his mother, Banchina lied sick. She was surrounded by a doctor and a nurse. "Dad's pirate ship is here!" He lied.

"Hey Usopp, you mustn't shout." Doctor told him as Usopp ran up to his mother's bed.

"Dad's come to take us away." Usopp said to Banchina.

"You shouldn't talk nonsense, Usopp." Banchina scolded him softly, she had a tired smile on her face.

"It's not… When mom gets better he'll take us out to the sea!" Usopp firmly stated his belief.

"Your father isn't coming back." She told him. "But you know, I'm still proud that I married your father." Banchina told him.

"There's this legendary cure that can cure all the diseases!" He was crying.

"Don't be stupid. You dream too much." She told him softly.

"So what if I'm stupid, I like to dream. 'Coz I am a pirate's son!" Usopp told her.

"Do become a brave man like your father." Banchina said.

"Pirates are coming!" Even after his mother passed away he kept yelling out that the pirates are coming…

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

"I'm not sure if he was just lonely, but he kept yelling even after his mother had long passed away." Merry said. "He always hoped his father's ship would come to the coast. And he'd take him out to the sea. The villagers believe that his hopes are hidden within his lies." Tears began forming in Kaya's eyes. "He who had lost both of his parents couldn't just sit calmly when you got into the same predicament. From now on you must become stronger, to repay what he has done for you." Merry finished the story as Kaya wiped away the tears aand smiled brightly.

"Yes." She agreed.

* * *

-Going Merry-

* * *

"To our new ship and our new nakama!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Cheers!" They all cheered together as they toasted.

* * *

"Here we go." Tamanegi said.

"Are we really gonna do this?" Ninjin asked.

"Let's do it. We must carry on our Captain's spirit." Piiman told them.

"One, two, three… Pirates are coming!" They yelled as they began running through the village.

"You know what Merry, I want to become a doctor." Kaya revealed.

"Oh, that's a wonderful goal." Merry replied.

* * *

At another island a small boy was running across the grass field toward the road, he had golden eyes.

* * *

_**Syrup Village Arc – Finished**_

* * *

_**That's it.**_

* * *

_**Trivia:**_

* * *

_**-Kaya originally stayed on the battle field.**_

_**-Gaimon was supposed to appear in this arc, but for a certain reasons that was pushed into the next arc.**_

* * *

_**Next Arc – Rashca Village Arc**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Strange Child**_


	24. Strange Child

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Guest – Thanks for the review.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review, I'm glad you liked it.**_

_**cedezbenz – Thank you for reviewing. I'm happy to hear that.**_

_**Anime PJ – Thanks for the review. Hopefully I'll manage to make it interesting. Soon enough Arlong will die, soon enough, in about 30 something chapters.**_

* * *

_**Arc 5 – Rashca Village Arc**_

* * *

_**Chapter 24 – Strange Child**_

* * *

Usopp was standing behind the figurehead of the Going Merry, he had a sword sized stick hanging by his waist and a determined and serious look in his eyes.

"Foolish pirates…" He began before spinning around and drawing his stick. "You still dare attack this Going Merry knowing that it's led by the great Captain Usopp?!" He jumped down onto the deck and began swinging his stick around. "Violent battle ensues."

His little parade was cut short when he saw that everyone else was pretty much doing nothing… Zoro was sleeping, Luffy was doing who knows what at the corner, Nami looked at her map and Vergil kept the lookout but he had a bit of an annoyed look on his face.

"Hey can't you guys pay attention to other people." Usopp asked.

"It's done!" Luffy yelled behind him thus making Usopp shriek and jump to the side.

"What's done?" Vergil asked.

"Look, it's out pirate flag!" Luffy replied as he showed them something on the black flag. It was downright badly drawn thing that may have resembled a skull if you looked at it a bit more carefully, the skull also had something that may have resembled Luffy's straw hat…

"That…" Vergil muttered as he got down on the deck…

"After Usopp joined us we now have five people. So we need our own mark!" Luffy said with a large grin.

Zoro's mouth were slightly open. "That's… our mark?" He asked.

"What do you think? Nice isn't it?" The captain asked enthusiastically.

"The idea is nice, it's execution though…" Vergil stated. "It's horrible." He bluntly stated making Luffy pout a bit.

"A pirate flag is supposed to be the symbol of terror and death." Zoro said.

"I certainly do feel terror, the terror of your talent." Nami said as she got a thoughtful expression.

Usopp waved his finger disapprovingly. "You should have discussed this with me first. How could you forget this genius painter?" He asked.

"Genius painter?" Luffy asked as they looked at Usopp.

"I've had 50 years of experience at painting on the walls." Usopp obviously lied. "When it comes to painting no one does it better than me." Well this part was yet to be proven as a truth or as a lie though.

"Incredible, 50 years!" Luffy marveled at the lie.

"Wait so you are an old man." Zoro pointed out.

"Maybe he already had five or six grandchildren." Nami teased.

"That's even more incredible!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Don't lie if you aren't ready to take consequences, gramps." Vergil told him with a small smirk on his face.

"Hey…" Usopp mumbled.

A bit later Usopp had finished a pirate flag, although it wasn't exactly the one that should be used…

"Now take a look at this masterpiece!" He said as he showed off his own flag…

"That's not out pirate mark!" Luffy and Zoro scolded him as they punched the sides of Usopp's head.

Well it was time to fix things and Usopp finally painted Luffy's idea making the jolly roger of the Straw Hat pirates, which was a skull with crossbones that wore Luffy's straw hat.

"Well that's how it should be." Usopp said as he finished.

"That's really good." Nami said, she was hunching a bit as she looked at the flag.

"I like it." Luffy approved.

"So this is going to be our mark from now on." Zoro said.

"Then it's all set, Usopp paint it on the sails as well, I'll go back to the crow's nest." Vergil said and climbed back to his previous position.

"All right! With this the pirate ship Going Merry is complete!" Luffy yelled once the sails were painted.

-A bit later-

Vergil was still on the lookout duty.

"Hey! There's an island ahead of us!" He yelled as he spotted the small island.

"Ooh! An island!" Luffy cheered.

"There should be a small village on it." Nami said as she looked at her map.

"So? What are your orders Luffy?" Vergil asked.

"To the island!" The rubber captain exclaimed as he help his hands high up in the air.

"What's with all that commotion?" Usopp asked as he and Zoro stepped out of the galley.

"Vergil spotted an island." Nami replied as they approached the island.

Vergil got the binoculars and surveyed the island. "Everything seems normal from here." He said, for some reason the large scar on his upper body was aching.

-At the island-

On one of the more secluded grass fields a ten years old boy ran around trying to catch the butterfly. He had short black hair that was neatly combed, he was wearing sky blue T-shirt and brown shorts as well as white sneakers. He would pass as any ordinary boy if it weren't for his golden eyes, he was a demon, just like Vergil…

-About fifteen minutes later-

Going Merry reached the island.

"We are here!" Luffy yelled as the crew of five pirates stepped onto the solid ground, well sand but anyway.

"Should someone stay to guard the ship?" Nami asked.

"I don't think so." Zoro said as he looked around.

"We picked a secluded place as a place to dock, I doubt anyone will bother coming here." Vergil pointed out, all around them they could see trees and well more trees.

"Which way is village?" Usopp asked, he was kinda creped out by the dark forest.

"East from here. It's a small village mostly consisting of farmers." Nami supplied with the information. Suddenly they heard something moving in the bushes.

"I think I've caught a severe case of I-can't-go-through-that-forest sickness." Usopp whimpered.

"Let's go and find some restaurant!" Luffy cheered.

Nami punched the rubber captain. "Concentrate on something other than food!" She scolded him.

"By the way, where's Zoro?" Vergil asked. The swordsman was nowhere to be found.

"Luffy! This island is too dangerous!" Usopp screamed.

"No, idiot just got lost…" Nami said, annoyance was clear in her voice.

-With Zoro-

The green haired swordsman was indeed lost, he found himself in a grass field, on his own.

"How could they get lost?" He wondered but then noticed the boy lying on the ground. "Hey kid, can you show me the way to the village?" He asked thus getting the attention of the child in front of him.

Boy sat up and looked at Zoro, his golden eyes surprised Zoro a bit.

"Not really. Villagers don't like it when I get close to the village. I could take you to my house, mom makes awesome food." Boy suggested.

"Sur, I suppose. You are a demon aren't you?" Zoro asked.

"I'm not." Kid said.

"Maybe he doesn't know…" Zoro thought, now he couldn't think of many reasons as to why this kid didn't know that he was a demon but he decided to just leave it be and follow the kid.

"The name's Dinahi by the way. What's your name?" Boy, now named Dinahi asked.

"Roronoa Zoro." Zoro simply stated.

-With the rest of the crew-

"Shouldn't we go and search for Zoro?" Usopp asked.

"He'll appear sooner or later." Vergil told him.

"Usopp! Look!" Luffy got Usopp's attention as he swayed from one vine to another one while letting out the extremely manly sounds most commonly known as a Tarzan yell.

With Luffy by his side Usopp's fear was for the most part forgotten and he was along with luffy swaying from one vine to another.

"Idiots…" Vergil and Nami said as one and then glanced at each other.

"Like you are the one to talk." Nami grinned at him.

"Now you are just hurting my feelings Princess." He said and shot a bolt of lightning. Nami yelped but then saw a paralyzed snake that was previously closing in on her.

"Thanks." She said but stepped a couple of feet closer to the white haired demon.

"Don't mention it." He glanced at two boys. "They'll be fine, until they run out of vines…" Curiosity got the better of him and he looked at the snake, his eyes widened just a bit.

"What's wrong?" Nami asked, seeing as Vergil's eyes widened she figured something had happened.

"It's nothing, I just think that I've seen that kind of snake somewhere." He said but brushed it off. "It's probably just my imagination. Let's go or we'll separate from those two."

Suddenly they heard a thud and then a familiar laugh. "Shishishi."

"I guess Usopp found a road." Vergil joked and Nami grinned as they ran toward the direction from which the noise came.

"You were dead on." She said as they reached the road just in time to see Usopp standing up and Luffy laughing next to him.

"Hey, it's not that funny!" Usopp glared at the rubber captain.

"There's the village." Nami pointed down the road where they could see a small village.

-With Zoro-

Zoro followed Dinahi though the forest.

"Are you a swordsman?" Dinahi asked, Zoro noticed it long ago that the kid often glanced at his swords.

"What about it?" Zoro asked.

"My dad was a swordsman, mom said he died in a war ten years ago." Dinahi said.

"You should feel proud, he died like a swordsman should, in a battle." Zoro stated.

"I know." Dinahi said and looked up to the sky with a bright smile on his face.

-With the rest of the straw hats-

The crew, minus Zoro, got into a small restaurant.

"Hey, old man! We want food!" Luffy demanded loudly and more than anything childishly.

"Sure, su-…" Bartender's words were lost as he noticed that Vergil was a demon.

"A… A demon!" He screamed alerting everyone in the restaurant.

"That witch Diana finally snapped and got a demon to kill us all!" One of the villagers panicked.

"What's wrong with them? I understand being scared of demons, but this is…" Usopp muttered.

Nami had a similar feeling as villagers picked up anything they could get, honestly with the way they were raging someone would think that they were demons. She glanced at Vergil and Luffy.

"Hey! My nakama isn't going to hurt you!" Luffy yelled.

"He's got humans under his control! Don't make an eye contact!" Villager yelled.

Vergil sighed and stepped forward. "Humans! I am aware of the fact that you have no reason to believe me, however we are here only for a meal and then we'll leave." Vergil stated, with the authority he was showing right now both Usopp and Nami wondered exactly why he decided to follow Luffy.

"Why should we trust you?! You want us to feed you and then kill us?!" Villager yelled at him.

"You are all scared of me right now. I can understand that, however let me tell you this since you are clearly not listening to me I'll offer you a deal. As long as you don't attack or provoke me everyone will be fine, you'll also tell me where this Diana lives. However if you do end up being foolish enough to attack me or my nakama I won't stand by and let you do as you please." Vergil stated, the villagers backed away in fear.

Usopp gulped slightly. "Scary…" He mumbled.

"Tell me about it. I certainly wouldn't want to see him when he's angry…" Nami pointed out.

Luffy was frowning, they weren't accepting his nakama and while he wanted to eat his appetite was somewhat smaller now. Either way the group sat at the table and ordered their meals from the completely scared waiter.

-With Zoro-

Finally Zoro and Dinahi reached a small house, secluded from the village and surrounded by numerous trees. The house itself was average sized and was more than enough for the duo that occupied her.

He looked toward the road and surprisingly saw his nakama.

"About time you showed up." He greeted them.

"You are the one that got lost." Vergil pointed out as Nami bonked Zoro on the head.

"What was that for you witch?!" Zoro hissed at her.

"We already went to a village and got ourselves a meal, well a unpleasant one, but meal none the less." Nami scolded him. "And what were you doing…" She was about to continue when Dinahi butted in.

"You are a demon!" He exclaimed happily as he looked at Vergil.

"Yeah." Vergil said as he looked at the golden eyes, he wasn't the only one, the remaining crew members also looked at the boy.

"WOW! A small demon!" Luffy exclaimed.

"I'm not a demon." Dinahi corrected him, he surprised everyone around him minus Zoro.

"Dinahi what's going on?" A woman stepped out of the house, she was black haired woman in her early thirties. She wore a red dress. Unlike Dinahi who seemed like a demon this woman was clearly a human.

"A human?" Nami was the first one to recover from the shock

"You are Diana?" Vergil asked.

"Yes, how can I help you?" She asked.

"Nothing really, I just got curious, the village doesn't seem to like you." Vergil stated rather bluntly.

"You adopted a demon?" Usopp asked clearly impressed at the bold move the woman in front of them had made.

"Of course not. I am his mother." Diana said.

Luffy was indifferent to the revelation. Usopp was a bit surprised. Zoro realized why Dinahi didn't say that he was a demon but he was a bit surprised as well.

"_A human gave birth to a demon…?_" Nami thought, she didn't know the details but the sheer concept of a demon having a human parent was downright shocking to her.

"_Then he is…_" No one was as surprised as Vergil whose face clearly showcased his surprise. "_A Cambion…?_" He glanced at Dinahi who just kept smiling.

"But he's a demon! How can you give birth to a demon?!" Nami asked, to her surprise it wasn't Diana that answered, but Vergil.

"There is one species of a demon that can have children with a human. The kid isn't a demon, but a half demon. His father, where is he?" Vergil asked.

"You don't beat around the bushes do you. He died in a war ten years ago, he fought on the side of his beloved king and died at the hands of the enemy." She said.

"Say, big brother demon, can you stay a bit?" Dinahi asked.

"Dinahi…" Diana scolded her son but then softened up when she saw the look in her son's eyes. "Please stay at least for a little bit. Dinahi never had a male figure in his life, seeing as you are a demon and all that. Could you please?" Diana asked

Vergil glanced at Luffy, the rubber captain just grinned. "Sure. I like them." Luffy said.

"I can't say no now." Vergil gave in and followed the rubber captain who entered the house, the rest of the crew followed as well. They entered the house and got into the living room, it was average sized room with two sofa, two chairs and a table at the center of the room.

"I'll prepare food, please relax." Diana said as she went into the kitchen, Vergil and Nami sat on one sofa while Luffy, Zoro and Usopp sat on the second one. Dinahi kept looking at Vergil and then made a bold move of nudging at Vergil's left hand which was hanging next to the outside arm.

The white haired demon remained passive about it as Dinahi nudged his arm again and made it sway back and forth.

Diana came back into the living room. She was carrying a wide variety of food, from meat to sweets, from boiled to fried dishes.

"Please, enjoy." She said and chuckled when she saw Luffy and Usopp drooling.

"Let's eat!" Luffy exclaimed. Knowing that with Luffy around the food wouldn't last for too long Zoro and Usopp began eating as well and Nami took a small plate and placed a portion of fruit salad on it. Vergil glanced at Dinahi who was still smiling at him.

Nami watched curiously as Vergil lifted his arm up and patted boy's head. "Is there anything you'd want to do?" He asked making Dinahi's smile widen.

"Play with me!" Boy requested. Vergil was taken aback by a sudden request but grinned and stood up.

"What kind of game?" He asked. He could feel Diana's warn look on his back as he allowed Dinahi to lead him out of the house.

"I'll go out as well. This is amazing by the way." Nami said as she followed Vergil and Dinahi outside, she was curious as to how well would Vergil go with the children and she wasn't disappointed when she saw the white haired demon lightly kicking the ball back to Dinahi.

Dinahi laughed as Luffy and Usopp got out and joined in as well, Zoro was leaning against the wall watching the game unfold along with Nami and Diana who watched through her window.

For the first time Dinahi had male company.

For hours the group of four played different types of games, from football, to hide and seek and so on.

-That night-

The crew slept in makeshift beds completely unaware of the danger that lurked in the shadows. A muffled scream, the curtain wavered and the half demon disappeared…

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_**That's it. I tried my best to get a good pacing but since this is the first original arc I wrote, not including the first one which was more like an introduction rather than an arc, I'm not sure if I did a good or bad job with it so be honest if you choose to review or PM me. Anyway this arc should be four or five chapters long so it's sort of a practice.**_

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_**Next Chapter – Cambion Test**_


	25. Cambion Test

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Guest – Thanks for the review.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks, glad you like it.**_

_**Anime PJ – Thanks for the review, I kinda wanted to show that Vergil has a bit of a soft spot for children, cute wasn't exactly what I was going for but if it looks like that then I'm perfectly fine with that.**_

_**Guest – Thanks for the review.**_

* * *

_**By the way thank you all who had reviewed this story, it reached 100 reviews and I'm really happy about it.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 25 – Cambion Test**_

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-Deep in the forest-

"Let me go! Let go!" Dinahi yelled as two demon held him in front of a table.

"Drop him onto it and bind him. We wouldn't want the kid to trash around while we go along with the procedure." A demon dressed in a white mantel similar to that of a doctor said.

"Yes! As you command Kastol-san." One of the demons agreed, the demons in question were Kastol's bodyguards, a swordsman Taz who used a normal katana and hand to hand fighter Sato.

They lied the struggling Dinahi to a table and chained him down.

"Now to prepare…" Kastol muttered. Dinahi closed his eyes as he fought back the tears.

-Back at Diana's house-

"Dinahi! Dinahi where are you?!" Vergil's eyes snapped open as he heard Diana's screams. He stood up and went to the small bedroom that Dinahi occupied.

"What's going on?" Vergil asked but then realized that Dinahi wasn't in his bed, or in the house.

"Dinahi! He's gone…!" Diana was starting to panic.

"Why are you shouting this early in the morning?" Usopp sleepily complained.

"Dinahi's gone! Wake up the others!" Vergil exclaimed and then turned to Diana.

"Did anything strange happen lately?" Vergil asked, Diana shook her head.

"I don't remember anything strange happening. Please help me find my son." She pleaded as the rest of the crew joined them.

"Luffy, I'm not leaving this island until I find the kid." Vergil said as he eyes locked with Luffy's. Rubber captain gave him a determined nod.

"Let's go and find Dinahi!" Luffy yelled.

"Thank you, thank you so much." Diana thanked them.

"You should stay here, if he returns." Nami said and glanced toward Vergil. "I agree that we should find him but where to start? If he's in danger we don't have time to sit around." Nami stated.

"She's right? Separating won't do us much good because the enemy might be strong!" Usopp added.

"Did Dinahi ever show affinity toward some sort of demonic power?" Vergil asked, Diana's eyes widened.

"Once, he managed to control water once by an accident." Diana told him.

"That's enough for me." Vergil said and concentrated.

Zoro and Luffy were already out waiting for the rest of the crew as Vergil closed his eyes.

"Water element, I should be capable of vaguely finding his location. There shouldn't be any more demons around." Vergil thought but then his eyes widened. "Other than me and DInahi there are three demons on this island two of them are simple combat demons without specific element and the third one is a Wind element…" Vergil realized but then the realization hit him.

"Let's go!" Vergil snapped as he ran out of the house.

"Vergil! What's going on? Did you find him?!" Zoro asked, during the weeks he spent with the white haired demon Zoro had never seen him rushing like this.

"They are going to perform a test on him!" Vergil hissed as they kept running.

"Test? Is that bad?" Luffy asked.

"If we don't make it in time it'll kill him. No Cambion has ever survived that test!" Vergil snapped, he gritted his teeth in frustration.

"Why would they run tests on a child?!" Nami snapped suddenly feeling even more anger toward the demons.

"It's all Mundus' doing. I have no idea what's behind those Cambion tests, but he has been performing them on child half demons for a bit less than a century." Vergil stated.

"And no one stopped him? Furthermore how could he live for so long?!" Usopp questioned.

"The hell if I know how he survived for so long. Of course no one stopped him. He is the Demon World's king…" Vergil exclaimed, anger seemed to boil inside of him as he spoke.

"Is that why you want to kill him?" Zoro asked, he didn't miss the look on Luffy's face, the captain was aware of Vergil's anger more than anyone, to Luffy there was no need for that question. He knew that there was something deeper, more personal in Vergil's resolve to kill Mundus.

"No, my reasons are personal." Vergil stated, they sped through the forest.

-With Kastol-

"Kastol-san, the demon and a couple of humans are heading this way. They were at the Cambion's house yesterday." Sato informed Kastol.

"What did you say?! You took the test subject while someone other than his mother was with him?!" Kastol furiously snapped at him.

"But, you said you needed him right away or we won't make it in time." Sato tried to defend himself.

"Don't talk back to me, go with Taz and stop them!" Kastol yelled.

"Yes Kastol-san!" Sato replied as he quickly left.

"Stupid bodyguards… Can't they do a single thing right? You better not infuriate me even further my little test subject." Kastol said as he approached Dinahi. "I'll just take a bit of your blood so I can see which test should I perform first, you are a child after all, if I go for more advanced ones I could kill you right away and that would be misfortunate." Kastol said as Dinahi fought hard to free himself.

"Somebody help me!" Dinahi screamed.

-With the crew-

Nami and Usopp were getting tired of the fast pace that Vergil has set up for the crew.

"Just a bit longer. Hang in there kid…" Vergil muttered as they reached a grass field and there they saw them, Taz and Sato…

"Stop right there. You can't go further." Taz stated, his hand was resting on his katana.

"Like hell if you are stopping me." Vergil hissed but before he could attack Luffy placed his hand onto his shoulder.

"Vergil! You, Usopp and Nami go on ahead, we'll take care of them!" Luffy declared.

"Got it." Vergil said as he went forward, Nami and Usopp looked at each other before running after him.

Taz drew his sword and was about to attack them when Zoro interfered and stopped the sword with his own katana.

"Since you are a swordsman I'll be the one to take you down." Zoro stated.

"Taz! We can't let them go through!" Sato yelled but only managed to duck under **Gomu Gomu no Pistol**.

"Vergil wants to save Dinahi, don't interfere." Luffy said with a wide grin on his face.

-Zoro VS Taz-

Zoro drew all of his swords and prepared for battle.

"Let's see who's more of a demon, you or me." Zoro said, there was a dangerous glint in his eyes as he was about to clash with a demon for the first time.

"We have to hurry up or Kastol-san will be mad." Taz said as he jumped back and pointed his sword at Zoro. "No matter how much you work you puny humans are in no position to even challenge us."

"We'll see that once I take you down." Zoro stated.

Zoro was the first one to go offensive as he attempted to cut Taz, he slashed toward opponents neck but Taz ducked under the sword and replied with a vertical cut from bellow. Zoro blocked it and pushed the sword away but before he could attack Taz skidded to his left.

"He's strong, but he's not that fast." Taz thought.

"**Demon Flash**…" He muttered as he disappeared and appeared behind surprised Zoro. He attempted to cut Zoro from behind but the green haired swordsman blocked the blade and with a one more push he broke through Taz's stance thus allowing himself to cut Taz for the first time. His attack wasn't that successful as Taz escaped with three minor cuts on his chest, it wasn't enough to take a demon down.

"Attacking from behind and injury to the back are shameful acts for a swordsman." Zoro stated as he tied his bandana onto his head, he was getting serious.

-Luffy VS Sato-

"**Gomu Gomu no… Pistol**!" Luffy had a much better beginning than Zoro as he landed a solid punch right onto opponents face, being a close range fighter didn't help Sato at all and he would soon find out that even if he closed in on Luffy he wouldn't be able to hurt hm. One could probably say that the battle was over before it started.

Sato got back onto his feet and narrowed his eyes. He rushed toward Luffy seemingly without any plan. Luffy sent another punch flying toward Sato who suddenly smirked and grabbed the rubber man's fist. He stopped abruptly and pulled Luffy toward himself.

Luffy grinned as he allowed Sato to pull him as he prepared. "**Gomu Gomu no… Sickle**!" Unlike with Buggy the attack landed dead on surprised demon's face.

"Damn human bastard." Sato cursed as he sat up. "Well it doesn't matter. Even if you defeat us you won't be able to take down Kastol-san." Sato revealed confidently.

"We'll see about that!" Luffy exclaimed.

-With Vergil-

Vergil finally saw Dinahi, chained to the table and helpless as Kastol prepared a needle…

"Too late." Kastol said without even looking at them.

Nami covered her mouth as she saw the state Dinahi was is, the boy's body trembled slightly, there were two clearly visible marks made by a needle being stung into his body, his breathing was shallow, almost nonexistent, he was on the verge of death.

Usopp was furious for once, he forgot that the enemy is a demon and prepared to fire his slingshot, he would have fired if Vergil didn't place his hand onto his forearm.

"I'm going to kill him, do not interfere." Vergil, well Vergil was seeing red, anger fueled him as lightning circled around his body.

"Oh, a lightning. Too bad I can control wind, your lightning is pretty much useless against me." Kastol stated.

-Zoro VS Taz-

"It looks like there are weaker people among demons as well. That kid is waiting for us, we can't waste any more time." Zoro stated and got into his signature stance.

"**Demon**…" Zoro lunged forward and attacked Taz. The bodyguard demon had a sinister grin on his face as he accepted the attack. "**Slice**!" Taz's sword broke as three large cuts formed on his body, blood gushed out and he dropped down.

"It's over though…" Taz said as he coughed up blood. "Kastol-san already began his test." Taz stated, Zoro's eyes widened.

-Luffy VS Sato-

"Vergil won't fail! **Gomu Gomu no… Bazooka**!" Luffy hit Sato with one of his most powerful attacks and knocked the demon down. Sato tried to stand up but failed miserably.

"It's over human, it's over." He said.

-With Vergil-

"Usopp, Nami, go to Dinahi and free him." He said as he dashed forward right to Kastol.

"What good would freeing him do, he's done for!" Kastol yelled and smirked as wind surrounded him and blocked Vergil's **Lightning Punch**.

Nami worked on the locks but so far, she had no success, Usopp looked worried as Dinahi's breathing slowed down ever more.

Vergil growled and pushed forward much to Kastol's surprise. "You are a stubborn one aren't you. **Wind Turbine**!" A strong whirlwind hit Vergil and forced him back and onto the ground.

"**Wind Breath**." Kastol attacked, Vergil jumped to the side and seemingly evaded it.

"**Lightning Breath**." The stream of lightning shot forward but Kastol moved his head around thus changing the direction of his own Breath attack, two Breaths collided with Vergil's quickly getting pushed back, knowing that there weren't many things he could do now Vergil crossed his arms and took the hit. Wind sliced his forearms but other than that it didn't do much.

"We'll have to try this differently. I'm running out of time, if I even have it." Vergil thought as he glared at the smirking Kastol. "**Devil Arms: Dark Edge**…" Kastol's eyes widened.

"A Devil Arm? So you aren't just some random demon." Kastol said, his words surprised Nami and Usopp a bit, the two humans didn't really see anything so special about Devil Arms. All demons could use them, right?

"**Wind Lock**." Kastol muttered as wind surrounded and locked Vergil in one place.

"This? I can easily remember a much stronger wind." Vergil said as he sliced through the technique.

Vergil used the same move Taz did, the **Demon Flash** to get in front of Kastol who quickly tried to push him back by using the wind. However unlike lightning that could be manipulated by wind Vergil's sword proved to make a much stronger resistance as Vergil slashed Kastol's shoulder.

"You are finished." Vergil muttered as black energy began surrounding him. "It's wrong to assume that I'm just a **Lightning Element** user and now you'll pay for that mistake. **Darkness Slam**!" Darkness coated fist slammed into Kastol's face sending the demon flying.

"He did it!" Usopp cheered as Nami finally unlocked the chains, at that moment though she realized a certain thing...

Vergil turned his attention away from unconscious Kastol and ran up to Dinahi, his eyes widened.

"Damn it…" he muttered.

"Vergil! Nami! Usopp!" They heard Luffy yelling and Nami and Usopp turned to see Luffy and Zoro miraculously finding them.

"We were too late…" Nami stated and looked down, Dinahi's heart beat had stopped.

Vergil walked up to the nearby tree and slammed his fist into it, lightning shot around and diminished the tree into nothing.

"Lightning…" He uttered and returned back to Dinahi with one intention.

"_Please let this work_…" He thought as he placed his hand over Dinahi's heart.

"What are you doing?" Luffy asked.

"He's going to try to get Dinahi's heart to beat again by charging electricity through it." Nami explained and then glanced at Vergil. "Be careful, if you charge too much you'll kill him yourself." She reminded the white haired demon.

"Scary!" Usopp shrieked, he didn't like the idea of someone electrocuting him.

"Here goes nothing…" Vergil muttered and began charging. He gave Dinahi one shock, then another one. Third one wasn't the charm either, he tried again and again for a full minute but it was no good.

"Hey, Dinahi! Come on, wake up!" Luffy tried to shock the kid awake, to do something, they said they would save him, didn't they?

"Luffy, it's no use…" Zoro said, he tried to keep his composure but on the inside he was angry.

"How could I let them take him… I was right there, in the same house with him and I didn't do anything…" Vergil muttered.

"None of us reacted. He was taken right in front of us." Zoro said, this was one of the reasons why he was angry.

"Work! DAMN IT!" Vergil thundered at the skies as lightning shook Dinahi one last time, this time Vergil didn't stop after a moment, he kept going, intending to either make the heart beat or fry it. He stopped when he felt a beat. He looked down to see the small boy breathing.

Usopp wiped away his tears as he and Nami hugged due to happiness.

"He's alive!" Luffy cheered, Zoro smiled in satisfaction and Vergil let out a sigh of relief.

"You did it Dinahi, you did it…" He muttered.

The celebration was cut short when a blast of light engulfed them and pushed them all back.

"All that electricity could easily be felt, I thought you were smarter than that, Vergil." A voice said.

The man appeared in front of unconscious Dinahi. He was dressed in royal clothing and had black hair and golden eyes, his face was one that Vergil couldn't forget that easily…

"Mundus…" Vergil hissed.

"That's, the Demon King?" Nami asked, honestly he didn't look all that dangerous, but then she looked at his eyes and it all changed, she could see herself and the crew getting torn into pieces by this demon and she wasn't the only one, all of them saw it once Mundus looked at them.

"It's not very nice of you, to stop the testing of CTS – DFHM – 7294." Mundus said as he looked at Vergil whose eyes widened.

"_7294? He made more than 3500 tests in less than twenty years?!_" Vergil's mind raced to figure out just how could Mundus find so many Cambion.

"Surprised? That's the difference between you and me. I make plans and execute them perfectly, you charge in without thinking. Where did that get you, you lost everything." Mundus taunted, Vergil growled but then smirked.

"Keep taunting Mundus, I'll be the one to give the final taunt." Vergil said making Mundus laugh.

"As a reward for always giving me such entertainment I'll live the brat alive, but I'll take his Cambion DNA." Mundus said.

Vergil growled as he dashed forward.

"Don't rush! Vergil!" Luffy tried to stop him even though he knew that Dinahi could be in danger,

"Stupid brat, know your place." Mundus said as he slammed his fist into Vergil's guts and made the demon double over onto the ground. He kicked Vergil and made him lie down in his back.

"Damn it…" Vergil cursed. His nakama were downright shocked, no matter how weakened Vergil was from the battle he shouldn't have lost so easily.

Mundus placed his hand onto Dinahi's chest, the boy screamed as something came out of him and flew into Mundus' body.

"Now to kill you since you are obviously such a pain when you don't know when to give up." Mundus said as he noticed Vergil trying to sit up. A light formed blade appeared in Mundus's hand. "You remember this blade don't you? This one made that scar so you should remember it." Mundus reminded him, the one that gave Vergil his large scar was finally revealed and it cemented the personal reasoning behind Vergil's goal to kill the demon that was in front of them.

"Drop dead…" Vergil hissed as Mundus stepped on him.

"You are the one that will 'drop dead'." The Demon King said.

"**Tiger Hunt**!" "**Gomu Gomu no Gatling Gun**!" Zoro and Luffy attacked but Mundus blocked their attacks with a shield of light before pushing them away.

"**Sure Kill! Shooting Star**!" The pachinko disappeared into nothing as it closed in on Mundus whose blade continued approaching Vergil's neck.

"Don't do it!" Nami screamed.

"Vergil!" Luffy yelled

The blade stopped just about half an inch away from Vergil's neck.

Everyone's eyes, yes even Mundus', went wide in pure shock as impenetrable layer of darkness protected Vergil.

"You… Reikoku…" Mundus said when he felt a cloaked person standing on the tree.

"Who is he? Another enemy?" Usopp panicked, honestly with Mundus around they didn't need any other demon showing up.

"No way… It's you, after all these years…" Vergil muttered, there was a nice amount of relief, surprise and somewhat happiness dripping in his voice.

Mundus laughed. "I get it I get it, you want the kid left alone. Watch out Reikoku, you won't be able to protect him all the time. Though I'm surprised, you left him to fend for himself for ten years. Why show up now?"Mundus asked.

Reikoku remained silent and kept looking at Vergil's eyes, the ghostly blue shade in Reikoku's eyes held something that surprised Vergil, pride…

Mundus disappeared just as suddenly as he appeared and Reikoku appeared next to Vergil.

"I'll wait for you, at that place…" He stated, loud enough only for Vergil to hear. Reikoku placed his finger above Vergil's heart. "I can't take it all away but just a bit, it'll help you out." He said as Vergil felt a small portion of his power return to him. The rest of the crew ran up to Vergil.

Reikoku disappeared leaving the crew confused and relieved that Vergil was alive.

"I'm fine, I'm fine." Vergil assure them when he saw the concerned looks in Nami, Luffy and Usopp's eyes, Zoro was to cool to show that he may have been worried for a moment.

"Idiot!" Nami bonked him on the head.

"Sorry, Princess." Vergil mumbled into the ground that he just hit with his face.

"You should be." She glared at him and walked away.

"Let's get out of here. I don't want to encounter any more demons…" Usopp muttered as he urged Luffy and Zoro to move.

"I think I get it now, what you tried to teach me back at Usopp's village." Zoro said as Luffy helped Vergil to get up.

"That's good to hear." Vergil said and glanced at Luffy.

"We've got a long way to go to be able to protect the crew, don't we." Vergil said.

"I won't let anyone die." Luffy declared.

"I know." Vergil stated confidently, he believed in Luffy's declaration, more importantly he decided, Luffy won't be alone when it comes to protecting the crew, he was the first mate, it was his duty to help Luffy.

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_**That's it. Well it's decided, next chapter marks the end of this part and then the chapter after that on will cover Gaimon's island which will make this arc 4 chapters long. Demons are capable of sensing other demons to a certain extent, it's not Haki though, even though. Kenbunshoku Haki is used, for the most part to sense the presence of others, to sense their aura and predict the movement, although it could probably be used as a way to sense the power of others since Rayleigh did that. The ability that Vergil used can be used to recognize and find a certain wavelength of demonic power. When a demon uses his power he leaves a certain wavelength signature only to him. Once a demon uses the energy for the first time it sticks with him and that's why Vergil needed Dinahi to use his power, even on an accident. The ability is limited as the presence can be hidden so if Kenbunshoku Haki would be graded as 10 for sensory powers the ability Vergil used, Demon Sense would be graded as 6.  
**_

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_**Next Chapter – Leaving The Rashca**_


	26. Leaving The Rashca

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Anime PJ – Thanks for the review, nope he doesn't get any better. As for Vergil yeah, he has hell of a long way to go.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**KP360 – A mixture of both, Vergil and Devil May Cry games all in all influenced my characters and certain facts a lot, especially my Vergil. Thanks for the review, I'm glad you like the story.**_

_**Hisokarocks – Thanks for the review.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review.**_

_**crash Barecode – Thanks for the review.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 26 – Leaving The Rashca**_

* * *

"Will he still be fine, you reanimated him and all that but will there be any complications for him?" Nami asked.

"Other than no longer being a half demon he'll be fine." Vergil told her.

The crew finally reached Diana's house with Dinahi resting on Zoro's backs.

Diana ran out of the house and with teary eyes took her still unconscious son from Zoro.

"Thank you, thank you so much." She said, she looked grateful and she had a reason, her son seemed safe.

"Let's just get to the point, he's no longer a Cambion, from now on he'll be a human, nothing more and nothing less." Vergil said making Diana's eyes widen. "I think you get the picture, there is no need to thank us, the only thing that saved Dinahi is mercy…" With those words Vergil fully intended to stop further contact and leave.

"But you reemitted him." Luffy pointed out.

"It's reanimated!" Nami and Usopp yelled at the rubber captain.

"Yeah that thing!" Luffy agreed.

"For all that its worth I did, still it doesn't change the fact that if Mundus wasn't willing to let him live he'd be dead." Vergil said.

"Kid is alive, stop thinking about it." Zoro said.

"Please, come inside. I can make you something to eat after I make sure DInahi's fine." Diana said and while reluctant about it Vergil had no choice but to comply as Luffy yelled out 'Food!"

-About an hour later-

As the swordsman and captain enjoyed sake and food remaining four simply sat in the living room. Dinahi was in his room.

"His father, he's alive isn't he?" Vergil asked out of blue.

Diana's eyes saddened. "Most likely. Eleven years ago I met him, Clarence was his name and I fell in love. One thing led to another and I was left pregnant with his child, Dinahi. I was fooled, he never cared about me or our relationship. He left me and Dinahi to fend for ourselves… " Diana explained as shortly as she could, she didn't want to remember the painful memories.

"As expected from demons." Nami bitterly said.

"Nami…" Usopp wanted to scold her but he was cut off.

"She's right." Vergil said making Nami, Usopp and Diana look at him a bit surprised. Zoro was simply drinking his sake and Luffy ate the tasty meat. Seeing the surprise in their eyes over his agreement with Nami, Vergil sighed. "I've been living in that world ever since I was born, furthermore I am a demon. I know exactly how demons feel about humans, well how most demons feel about humans. You aren't the first nor will you be the last person to end up with a half breed child without partner to help you raise the child. In a long history of the Cambion existence there were many way to go through with it. Even though most of the humans don't even want to think about having a child with a demon…" Vergil trailed off when he saw now awake Dinahi at the doors, he was no longer Cambion he was now a simple human…

Diana quickly stood up and hugged her son. "I was so scared…" She whimpered as she held onto her son.

"Mom, is it true? Dad's alive?" Dinahi asked. Diana's eyes watered up.

"Most likely." Vergil bluntly stated, Nami and Usopp shot him disapproving looks.

"Can't you show some compassion?! He is a child!" Nami yelled as she smacked Vergil's head, her punch though had no effect whatsoever.

"The most painful hard truth is better than the sweetest lie. You are no longer half demon, now you are pure blooded human. Your mother and you should leave this island and find a new life." Vergil said and stood up before walking up to Dinahi.

"Why did dad leave us? Was it because of me?" Dinahi asked.

"Children, they always find the fault to be their own when they can't understand the fact that it's the adult's fault." Vergil sighed and patted Dinahi's head. "Look, Dinahi, I have no idea who your father is, why he left you or anything else about him, but I can tell you this, after what your mother told me I can easily state that he never cared. Forget about it, it may be hard to just forget it but that's all you casan do, you cannot let something like that hold you down." He stated, he may have sounded harsh and he may have not wanted to cause this but Dinahi had started crying.

Out of blue Dinahi lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Vergil's waist.

To say that Vergil was surprised would be one hell of an understatement as he stood there completely frozen at the sudden showcasing of emotions…

"Uh, Dinahi…?" Vergil breathed out slowly. "I'm not that much of a fan when it comes to cuddly stuff…" He stated and softly moved the crying boy away before kneeling down in front of him.

"Sorry." Dinahi apologized, he sniffed and wiped away tears, he tried his best to stop them.

"_What do you do when a child in front of you cries?!_" Vergil was getting a bit nervous as he fought back the urge to get out of the situation.

"Come on Dinahi, we should pack." Diana said as she pulled the boy to herself.

"So even you can't handle children when they are vulnerable." Nami pointed out as Dinahi and Diana left the living room.

"What were you expecting. I'm a demon after all." Vergil said.

"We should go. Those two need some time to get things sorted out." Zoro said as he stood up.

Luffy looked at Vergil, there was something unreadable on captain's face…

-About half an hour later-

Vergil was pulling the anchor back up when he heard someone walking g toward him, he glanced behind and saw Luffy.

"What's up?" He asked.

"He won't kill us." Luffy simply said, it wasn't a question, nor assuring type of sentence, it was said as if it was the most obvious fact. Vergil's eyes widened, while Luffy was pretty much a dumb person he had his moments and this was clearly one of them, while the rest of the crew seemingly didn't pay attention to Mundus' comment about Vergil losing everything Luffy certainly noticed it.

Vergil sighed and closed his eyes. "Ah, I'll trust you. You are the captain after all." He said and opened his eyes as he flashed Luffy a slight grin.

"Shishishi. Set sail!" Luffy cheered.

As the ship set sail Vergil glanced toward the shore one last time to see Diana and Dinahi standing there.

"Good luck!" Dinahi yelled, the boy had a grin on his face.

"Thanks! Good luck to you too!" Luffy yelled back.

"Take care kid!" Vergil added with a small smirk. It looked like the former Cambion would be just fine.

-That night-

The only sleeping pirate was Luffy who was peacefully snoring through the night…

Usopp and Nami were thinking about the event that occurred in the morning but for different reasons.

Usopp felt kinda strange, leaving the village he grew up in and becoming a pirate was fine with him but running into a demon king on the first island they got on wasn't that much of a good start. Especially since they couldn't do anything about him. The mysterious demon that showed up just in time was also bothering him. He was honestly a bit scared by the veil of mystery that surrounded Vergil, after all not everyone had their eyes on taking the demon king's head.

Nami on the other hand wondered about something entirely different, she was questioning her opinion on demons, less than 24 hours ago she has screamed for a demon not to get killed and even felt revealed when he didn't get killed. She resolved, as soon as she got a bit more treasure she would go with the usual plan. She had to, before things went out of her hands…

-On the deck-

Vergil was sitting on the deck, simply gazing at the stars.

"Can't sleep?" He suddenly heard Zoro asking.

"You don't need to be much of a genius to figure that one out." Vergil replied.

"Thinking about the way you lost today?" Zoro asked, even though he was aware that this was a question that didn't really need an answer.

"Yeah, Mundus surprised me today, heh, well not that knowing he would come would help. He'd defeat me anyway." Vergil stated. "I know that he won't kill any of you. I won't let him do it. I'm simply thinking about how to act from now on when it comes to that bastard." Vergil assured the swordsman.

"I realized what you were trying to teach me, underestimating opponents and arrogance can cost me not only my life but the lives of people around me. Still your method still seems irritating." Zoro commented as he sat down next to Vergil.

"I didn't come up with it, the demon that taught me pretty much everything I know, the one that beat the very basics of fighting into me, used that method on me. I used to be so arrogant back in those days, he tried to talk me out of it and then when he realized it wouldn't help he took away my powers." Vergil revealed.

"And you just accepted it?" Zoro asked not being able to believe that Vergil would just give in.

"I didn't exactly have a choice but no, I didn't just accept it. I was angry, furious and I didn't understand why. I was being swallowed by my own powers I relied on so much. If Grom didn't do that I would have died in a battle because I'd get consumed by my own arrogance." The white haired demon admitted.

"Sounds like he is a successful teacher, since you are still alive." Zoro commented.

"Was. He's dead." There was no need for furthering the talk, they came to an understanding and the revelation wasn't of much importance to either of them. Zoro just nodded as a way to show his understanding and Vergil nodded back.

* * *

_**That's it. It's a bit short though so I hope you won't mind, I wanted to make a couple of short moments that would create some more obvious nakama moments between crew and Vergil and yet I didn't want to rush.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Strange Creature, Gaimon**_


	27. Strange Creature, Gaimon

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Anime PJ – Thanks for the review, I'm glad you enjoy Vergil's bluntness. Personally I think being blunt is both a virtue and a flaw, it's the purest kind of honest, on the other hand it can get you in trouble.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 27 – Strange Creature, Gaimon**_

* * *

As the crew relaxed on the deck they heard thunders in the distance.

"Is this direction all right? It looks kinda bad. Luffy said as he looked at the stormy clouds in front of them.

"What?" Usopp asked.

"Wait." Nami said, she took out binoculars and looked at the area in front of them. "That's it. That's it there's no doubt about it." She stated as she noticed an island in front of them.

"Did you see something? Something interesting?" Luffy asked, the rest of the crew was behind Nami as well.

"That's the Legendary Treasure island." Nami stated.

"Legendary Treasure island, I've heard of it before." Usopp realized.

"Yes, it's famous among pirates. And it has a strange rumor about it." Nami told them.

"Strange rumor?" Luffy asked.

Nami got sort of a mischievous look on her face. "Whoever goes close to that island faces God's anger." She said, thunder cracked next to Merry as waves rocked it back and forth.

Usopp screamed as he dropped down and held onto the railing. "Could the legends be true?! Is this God's anger?!" Usopp yelled as the fear overcame him.

"Who cares?" Vergil blankly pointed out.

"I do!" Usopp yelled at him.

"This sounds interesting!" The already excited captain pointed out.

"Luffy don't tell me…" Usopp muttered as he looked at the rubber man.

"It's what you are thinking!" Nami assured him as she smiled as well.

"Don't bother, you can't win against Luffy alone let alone against Luffy and Nami." Vergil simply said as he grinned and stretched his body a bit. "Now this is my kind of weather…" He muttered and it was true, being a Lightning demon stormy weather was the one that he enjoyed the most and seeing as he was also a Darkness demon he preferred night over day anytime.

"Let's go! To the treasure island!" Luffy exclaimed as he sat on his special seat.

Vergil, Usopp and Zoro pulled the ropes to lower the sails as Nami made sure they were on the right track, the girl had gigantic smile on her face.

* * *

The crew was finally on the island, it was, as they suspected, a rather dense forest. Nami was walking first, Luffy followed her, then came Vergil and Zoro and finally Usopp.

As the carnivore plant opened its mouth to his at Usopp the long nosed male shrieked and ran forward to catch up with the crew.

They all looked around mostly in curiosity. "This is a strange island." Usopp said as he hid behind Zoro.

"Is it?" The swordsman questioned.

"It's said that there's unimaginable treasure somewhere on this island." She revealed and glanced at the crew for a moment before turning her attention back to the path. "Many pirates came here. But before any of them could even find the treasure, they were scared away."

"Huh, scared away?" Luffy asked, Vergil on the other hand noticed something close to the road.

"For example some pirates would turn into a boar in the middle of a night. There was one guy whose mustache grew longer and longer and finally like a snake it choked him to death." Nami said.

Usopp's face turned blue due to fear.

"You're lying right?" He asked hopeful that the trusty navigator would simply say that she lied.

Nami simply shrugged and smiled. "Well those are the most exaggerated rumors." She stated.

"Don't scare me like that!" Usopp yelled.

"Someone's on the island." Vergil suddenly said and they finally noticed the first mate who was currently down on one knee and inspecting the ground.

"W-what are you swaying Vergil?" Usopp asked, the concept of someone other than them being on the island wasn't something he liked.

Nami leaned in to see exactly what he was looking at and saw a couple of footsteps.

"It's fresh, the person is most likely light and it's a human, although with a strange way of walking. Whoever it is passed a couple of hours ago and wasn't in any type of rush. He or she was simply walking since the part of the footstep that's deeper into the ground is the heel." Vergil said.

"How do you know all that?" Nami asked.

"I have been a Demon Hunter for years, in the first year before we can finally become Demon Hunters we have to go through very basics of fighting, tracking down the targets and so on." Vergil explained.

Nami's curiosity reached its peak. "What exactly is a Demon Hunter?" She asked.

"A person who hunts down demons." Luffy said as if it was the most obvious thing.

"He's right." Vergil cut Nami off before she could snap at the rubber man.

"He is?" She asked making Vergil nod.

"Anyway we should keep going and find that treasure, there is no God or anything else here, it's just some human that found a way to scare pirates away." Vergil assured them.

Unknowingly to them they were being surrounded as the multiple pairs of red eyes glared at them.

"I'm hungry." Zoro complained as he yawned. "I'm gonna sleep." He set his words down on the road and fell asleep.

"How can he fall asleep in a place like this?" Usopp wondered.

"Seriously what kind of nerves does he have?" Nami added.

Luffy and Vergil were however looking at the snake with a rabbit head.

"Rabbit?" Luffy said as he pointed at the animal.

"In a way…" Vergil muttered.

A drop fell onto Usopp's neck making the sharpshooter scream.

"What?! Don't scare me like that!" Nami yelled in panic.

"I just wanted to dance a little to lighten up the atmosphere!" Usopp said as he did sort of a dance only to get his hand licked. "Stop that… Luffy." Usopp said as he turned to see a dog and chicken hybrid licking him…

Nami turned around to face a hybrid of a small bear and bat. They both screamed as Usopp fell down and Nami fell on top of his back.

"This… This is…" Nami gasped as they noticed the multiple red eyes surrounding them.

"Get out of here." They heard a voice echoing through the forest.

"Who's there?!" Luffy demanded to know.

"Get out of here!" Voice repeated.

"Where is that voice coming from?" Nami asked.

"I'm not sure, but it's a human, there's no doubt about it." Vergil assured her.

I am the Guardian God of this forest. Leave immediately or face my judgment." Voice threatened.

"Guardian God?" Luffy repeated.

"Cut the crap we know you are a human so get out of here before I make you." Vergil threatened, unlike the voice he didn't need to raise his voice, he simply needed to drip a bit of his killing intent into it.

"You aren't usually this quick to threaten." Nami pointed out.

"I'm a bit annoyed and grumpy right now, that's all." Vergil simply stated.

"Are you sure you want to challenge a god?" The voice was a bit quieter this time seemingly scared by Vergil outright threatening.

"Why do you ask me?" Luffy asked confused.

"What's with this?" Nami asked.

"This guy is kinda strange." Luffy commented.

"What did you say straw hat boy?!" Voice demanded as different hybrids came out and surrounded them. "All the humans that came here for the treasure, this is their form after being transformed by me!" Voice yelled at them.

Usopp knelt down in a praying pose. "So you really are a God!" Usopp exclaimed.

"I keep telling you he's a human…" Vergil repeated.

"Is this a lion?" Luffy asked as he held a pig with lion's mane.

"Isn't that a pig?" Nami corrected him.

The pig or lion bit Luffy thus stretching out the rubber man's face.

"What… What are you?" Voice asked in disbelief.

"I'm a rubber man." Luffy said as he pulled and stretched his left cheek with his finger. "I ate a Devil Fruit." He added.

"That can't be! Back when I was a pirate I heard rumors…" Voice admitted thus revealing himself unintentionally.

"Back when you were a pirate?!" Nami repeated, this had proved Vergil's earlier statement, the one talking to them was indeed not a god.

"That's not it...! I'm not reminiscing the past or anything!" Voice said. "I don't want to hear about the past!"

"What are you saying? You are the one that's talking." Luffy pointed out.

"Shut up! If you are not leaving then face God's judgment!" As the voice said those words wooden spears came lunging toward the crew.

Usopp and Luffy tried their best to dodge and luckily managed to dodge them just fine, Zoro was lucky enough to have the spears stab all around him but never into him, Nami was on the other hand protected by Vergil who blocked the spears with his Dark Edge.

The so called judgment wasn't done as rocks began falling toward them.

"Stupid traps. **Lightning Breath**!" Vergil yelled as the same attack that killed Jango shot out of his mouth, the difference this time was in the radius, it was far bigger, at its widest the attack had three meters wide radius.

"You are kidding right?" Usopp muttered.

"So cool!" Luffy marveled.

"_Good, the amount of power I have left is not even close to what I once had, but it's so much more than what I had just a couple of days before. Anshoku sure did wonders with that partial unsealing, it's not much but even _**Breath **_this strong didn't get me that tired. With some hard work I'll be able to fire four or five of these in one day in a short amount of time._" Vergil thought with a wide smirk on his face.

"Thanks…" Nami muttered her thanks to him for helping her out.

"No problem Princess, I'll always come to save you." Vergil nonchalantly replied, well no one could argue with the fact that Nami sure got lucky because he didn't see her face. She sported a barely visible tint of pink on her cheeks, but more importantly she bit her lower lip.

"_Jerk…_" She cursed on the inside.

"What is he?" Voice asked himself as he began sweating.

"Over there huh?" Vergil noticed.

"Don't move! I'm telling you not to move!" Voice yelled at them, gun fired from the bushes and the bullet hit Luffy. It was no use though as the bullet bounced off the pirate captain.

"Hey. Bullets don't work on him." Nami revealed.

"Mon… monsters!" Voice yelled as he began running away.

"Where are you going now?" The voice suddenly stopped when he saw Vergil standing right in front of him. "I'd appreciate it if people didn't shoot at my captain without or with a reason." Vergil stated. He then noticed the appearance of the human in front of him. It was a human, trapped in a treasure chest with a gigantic green afro that looked more like a bush than anything else…

"A bush?" Luffy said as he looked at the trapped man.

"I told you, it's a human, well a human bush I suppose." Vergil partially agreed with Luffy. "A bushman?" He suggested.

"Yeah, a bushman!" Luffy agreed as he grinned.

"Idiots… Both of them…" Nami and Usopp muttered.

"I'll forgive you this time!" Bushman said as he began running away, but Luffy grabbed the hold of the chest and while the bushman kept running he unknowingly stretched out Luffy's hand.

Everything would have been fine if Luffy didn't lung forward after the bushman and slammed into him thus sending both of them flying forward. The skidded to a stop about fifty meters away…

The trio left sleeping swordsman and followed Luffy and bushman.

* * *

Most of the crew and the bushman were sitting in a small clearing on the island, strange animals were licking their human companion.

"You seem really popular." Nami commented.

"So you used those animals to scare away the pirates." Usopp repeated, the bushman had told them that he used the animals for that just a couple of moments ago. He had also introduced himself as Gaimon.

"Are you a boxed son?" Luffy asked happily.

"Yeah, since I was little because I was a precious little master… That's not possible! I can't even get out of this box, I've been stuck in it for 20 years…" Gaimon told them.

"20 years?!" Nami gasped.

"Bad for you, bushman." Vergil said blankly.

"You!" Nami punched him on the top of his head. "Can't you at least try to show some compassion!" She yelled at the white haired demon.

"Nope, not a chance." Vergil replied.

"You've been living alone for 20 years?" Usopp asked.

"Look at how my hair and beard have grown, even my eyebrows joined together. It's been 20 years since I last spoke with people. Do you understand my position?" As Gaimon told them that Nami and Usopp saddened a bit.

"Could have been worse." Vergil blankly commented earning himself not only a punch from Nami but from Usopp as well.

"At least don't talk if that's all you are going to say!" They both yelled at him.

"Why? Idiot." Luffy followed the first mate's manner and bluntly stated his opinion.

"Who are you calling idiot?!" Gaimon snapped at him.

Before anyone else could say something Zoro came in yawning and rubbed the top of his head. "What? You were all over here?" He said as he sat down.

"Even with all that commotion you could still sleep?" Nami asked.

Finally the swordsman opened his eyes. "What's with that?!" He exclaimed as he fell off the rock he was sitting on.

"Notice sooner." Nami scolded him.

"He's a man who lives in a box." Luffy replied.

"A bushman." Vergil added.

"Are you a boxed son?" Zoro asked.

"Yeah, since I was little because I was a precious little master… That's not possible! Don't tell me such stupid jokes again!" Gaimon snapped at him.

Luffy stood up and grabbed Gaimon's head. "Zoro, Vergil lend me a hand!" He said and so as one Luffy and Zoro tried to pull Gaimon out. "Vergil!" Luffy demanded the first mate to join in.

"I could just break the box." Vergil said as Dark Edge appeared.

"Wait, wait, wait! Don't do it! Stop it!"Gaimon began panicking.

Finally, Luffy and Zoro let go of him. "It's true, you can't get out. Vergil cut the box!" Luffy ordered.

"Are you crazy! My body has fit this treasure box perfectly. If you break the box my body will be done for!" Gaimon revealed.

"What a chatter-box." Zoro commented.

"I didn't think it could get this literal." Vergil muttered.

"Anyway just who are you guys? You are nothing like other pirates that came here." Gaimon asked.

"I'm Luffy. I'm the man that will become the Pirate King." Luffy confidently stated.

"Wh-what?!" Gaimon asked in utter surprise.

"I'm going to the Grand Line to get the legendary treasure, One Piece." Luffy confirmed.

"One Piece? You are not planning on going to the Grand Line are you?!" Gaimon asked.

"He just said that." Vergil pointed out.

"We even have a map." Luffy said as he showed them the map that led to the Grand Line.

"Don't underestimate it!" Gaimon exclaimed as he pointed at the map. "It's a hell's coffin. I've seen pirates coming back from the Grand Line, they were spiritless like the undead. Whether something horrible has happened to them, whether they met a terrifying monster not one of them was able to say anything!" Luffy kept looking at him intensely. "Furthermore, there are so many rumors about One Piece that no one knows the truth anymore. The Great Pirate Era has lasted for more than 20 years now. One Piece is no longer a legend but a dream inside a dream." Gaimon told them.

Well it didn't take long for the small speech to be forgotten as Luffy and Gaimon looked at the map of the Grand Line.

"So, which one is Grand Line?" Gaimon asked.

"Who knows? Don't you know Bushman?" Luffy asked.

"I know nothing about the maps." Gaimon said.

"Then we are the same!" Luffy said before the two pirates laughed together.

"Is this how pirates talk amongst themselves? Anyway when we get to the Grand Line we'll just get as much as possible and leave as soon as possible." Nami stated.

"I'm sure we'll find One Piece. I have good luck." Luffy said with a grin.

"Where did you get such confidence?" Nami asked.

"I'll definitely find it and show it to you!" Luffy assured her. Gaimon kept looking at him.

"I give up." Nami accepted the defeat.

"What are you surprised for, he had enough guts to free a dangerous prisoner he knew nothing about." Vergil told her.

"Who did he free?" Usopp asked as he gulped.

"Me." Vergil bluntly stated.

Nami and Usopp went to punch him again but he just moved back and they hit the air instead.

"Your punches are kinda annoying." Vergil replied as Nami glared at him.

"You resemble…" Gaimon began getting their attention. "Your face is exactly like mine, like a twin!"

"Where is the resemblance?!" Vergil and Nami snapped at him.

"I knew it! That one day our dreams would come true! We were like that from the very beginning!" Gaimon exclaimed.

"We?" Luffy asked.

"In order to find treasure losing your life didn't matter. That passion changed my life." Gaimon said.

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Nami asked.

"It was 20 years ago. Back when landed on this island with my comrades As a pirate."

Long story short he climbed up a cliff, saw the treasure chests and fell down thus getting stuck in the box.

"Ever since then that one glance at those treasure chests hasn't left my mind. So whenever pirates came here I used these guys to scare the away. Those are mine!" Gaimon exclaimed.

"That's right. They are yours." Luffy agreed.

"Gaimon-san, I understand. I'll help you get that treasure." Nami assured the trapped human.

"Really?" Gaimon asked, Luffy nodded.

"Could it be…" Usopp realized.

"Aren't you a thief who robs the pirates?" Luffy asked.

"That's rude!" Nami snapped at him. "Even I get emotionally moved! Unlike someone else." She said and glanced at Vergil who was still rather neutral about the entire thing.

"Emotionally? Yeah right, more like treasure moved." Vergil said

* * *

Finally with the help of the animals the crew and Gaimon reached the cliff.

"So this is it." Luffy said.

"It's been so long since I've been here. Today is a good day." Gaimon said, Nami, Usopp and Zoro were smiling at him while Vergil remained neutral. "I'm counting on you Straw hat boy." He added.

"All right, **Gomu Gomu no… Rocket**!" Luffy's arm stretched as he grabbed the edge of the cliff and rocketed up. He landed on top of the cliff.

"All right!" Usopp cheered. Gaimon looked happier than ever, he'd finally get his treasure.

"So? Did you find it?" Nami urged the captain to answer.

"What's he doing?" Zoro asked when they realized that Luffy wasn't answering.

"Luffy!" Nami and Usopp yelled.

"What's going on?" Nami asked.

Finally Luffy appeared, he was holding a treasure box.

"I got them. Five treasure boxes!" Luffy revealed.

"Got… them… I can finally get my treasure! Treasure!" Gaimon cheered. "Can you hurry and get them down here!"

"No!" Luffy said.

"What?!" Gaimon asked in disbelief.

"I don't want to give them to you." Luffy said with a grin.

"What are you saying Luffy?! Stop joking around!" Nami yelled at him.

"Hand them over! All of them! They are Gaimon-san's!" Usopp yelled.

Zoro's eyes narrowed while Vergil walked up between Usopp and Nami.

"He's doing the right thing." Vergil said, Nami wanted to snap at him once again but his eyes told her not to overreact.

"It's fine. You are a really good boy, Straw Hat." Gaimon said, tears appeared in his eyes.

"What are you saying?" Nami asked.

"I thought about it, even though it's hard to even think about it. There's nothing inside, isn't that right?" Gaimon asked.

Luffy sat down, all five chests behind him were empty. "That's right, they are empty." Luffy confirmed.

"No way. The treasure you've guarded for 20 years is nothing but empty boxes." Nami said, she honestly felt sorry for Gaimon.

"It's something that often happens with treasures. Someone takes them but people still keep searching for it. That's the trial of pirates. Wasting your life, risking it, only to get nothing in the end. There are many pirates like that." Gaimon said through tears.

"Shishishi! Don't be sad Bushman! You got lucky we came here in the 20th year. If no one came here in another 30 years you could have wound up dead." Luffy tried to cheer him up.

"He's got a point for once." Vergil commented.

"Luffy…" Nami muttered.

"That guy…" Usopp was moved by Luffy as well.

"You just got sidetracked. All that's left now is One Piece. Become a pirate with us once again." Luffy invited the bushman to his crew.

"Straw Hat… You are inviting me… Up until now no one wanted to even talk to me after seeing my condition. I don't know how long has it been since I've trusted anyone. Thank you." Gaimon thanked Luffy. Nami and Usopp got emotional as Zoro and Vergil simply looked at the man.

* * *

-Sunset-

* * *

"Are you sure you want to stay on this island, Bushman?" Luffy asked.

"Yes. Even though there is no treasure there are other things on this island for me to protect." Gaimon revealed.

"Other things?" Nami and Usopp asked.

"I've lived with these guys." Gaimon began referring to animals that surrounded him. "For 20 years, we've been together through hard and happy times." Everyone smiled at the revelation. "Now that I know there is no treasure I feel free for the first time in 20 years. I can finally live my life the way I want to. To be honest, I began enjoying the life in the box." Gaimon admitted.

"I see. That's bad. Because Bushman is so interesting." Luffy said.

"The strange creatures are your true companions, right?" Zoro added.

"Although Bushman is the strangest one." Luffy bluntly said.

"Hey!" Gaimon yelled at him, they all began laughing together.

The ship set sail a couple of minutes later.

"See you! Take care!" Luffy bid the goodbye to Gaimon.

"Goodbye!" Nami added.

"Straw Hat… Work hard for both you and me. If it's you I'm sure you can do it. Find that legendary treasure, One Piece. Then you can buy the whole world!" Gaimon exclaimed with teary eyes.

* * *

-That night-

* * *

Nami was in her room, the one that was supposed to be the captain's room, well that kind of went out of the window and became Nami's room.

Either way she found herself thinking yet again.

"I sure can't get enough sleep because of that jerk lately." She muttered. His words about always coming to save her played in her mind again and again.

"Jerk… You promised you wouldn't fight Krim and now you are saying that you'd always save me… What do you even know? Why would a demon like you care, you certainly don't care about other people's feelings…" Nami muttered as she buried her head into her pillow.

* * *

_**Rashca Village Arc - Finished**_

* * *

_**And that's it.**_

* * *

_**Trivia:**_

* * *

_**-Dinahi was supposed to be younger.**_

_**-Mundus originally killed Dinahi.**_

_**-The details of Cambion test were supposed to be revealed to a certain extent.**_

_**-Reikoku at one point attacked Vergil.**_

* * *

_**Next Arc – Movie 1**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Great Gold Pirate Woonan**_


	28. Great Gold Pirate Woonan

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Anime PJ – Thanks for the review, yeah Dinahi's death would have gotten the situation to a really dark place which is why I changed my mind, it's still too early to get things too dark. Nami will remain confused for a couple more chapters. One side of her wants to trust Vergil but other side is still defensive when it comes to him. She is aware of the fact that she is bonding with not only Vergil but with the crew and that's in the way of her goal so that only adds to the confusion she feels.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the reviews, I'm glad you like the chapters.**_

_**Guest reviewers – Thank you.**_

* * *

_**Arc 5.5 – Movie 1**_

* * *

_**Chapter 28 – Great Gold Pirate Woonan**_

* * *

In East Blue there was a man known as the 'Great Gold Pirate'. His name was Woonan. In countless harsh battles Woonan robbed many enemies of their gold. Legend says that the gold he stole pulled up as high as the mountain… and lit up the ocean at night as bright as the day. However over the course of a few years Woonan's existence faded. The Great Gold Pirate hid all his treasure on a small island and then died. The rumor is still alive to this day as many pirates still try to find this island. There's a map drawn by one of the Woonan's crew. Whoever gets the map can locate the island. A place where the mountain of gold is said to lie in wait. A legendary island.

Somewhere in the vast ocean a single boy kept floating in a box. He was really young and probably couldn't be older than 10, he had dark spiky hair, he was wearing a red waistcoat, white shirt and had a large black bow.

"Legendary treasure…" he muttered, the boy, even though he was young had adventurous spirit. Still he gasped when he saw a large ship.

Everyone on the ship was killed by a pirate crew and the large captain took a hold of a map. "I finally got it. The map to Woonan's gold." Boy watched as the pirate captain laughed, lightning cracked behind them…

* * *

Luffy and Zoro were sprawled on the deck, their stomachs grumbled.

"I'm starving." Luffy complained.

"Last time we ate was three days ago, even Vergil failed to capture something descent." Zoro added.

"I can't go and fish because most of the fish worthy of getting soaked for evade the ship. We should get a small ship or something, with the way things are I can't jump into the water and spend more than five minutes in it, the ship starts drifting away from me…" Vergil stated, he was sitting with his back leaning against the railing next to Nami.

"Clouds look tasty…" Luffy said.

"I can't even drool anymore." Zoro said.

"_The gold island where Woonan hid his treasure. If the information I gathered are true it should be nearby…_" She thought as she smiled a bit. "_All I need to do now is find the treasure map_."

"Princess, since you are smiling for no reason whatsoever in a starving situation you are looking a bit creepy." Vergil said bluntly.

"What was that?!" Nami shrieked at him.

"You look creepy." Vergil repeated.

"_Brave soul…_" Zoro and Luffy thought as Vergil got clobbered by Nami.

"I got, got, got, got, and got it! I finally got it!" Usopp cheered, he was the only one who bothered to try to get the food. He ran around pulling the fishing pole. "This pole is really heavy! This has got to be the biggest elephant tuna in the world!" He boasted. "Brace yourself you are going to eat until your stomach explodes!" Usopp yelled and then pulled a simply bottle. "Just kidding."

"I'll never fall for a joke like that." Nami said as Usopp began his joke yet again.

"If this goes for a couple more days we'll all starve to death." Zoro commented.

"Furthermore whose fault is this in the first place?" Nami asked as she strolled back and forth. "I worked so hard to stock up food for this long journey and who ate it in three days? Luffy, it was you." She accused the clearly guilty captain.

"Two days!" Luffy corrected her.

"Don't brag about it!" Nami yelled. "Anyway, go catch a bird or fish or something!" She yelled.

Luffy suddenly noticed a grain of rice… "Aah! A grain of rice!" He revealed as he grabbed the lid of the bucket they used for rice.

Usopp and Zoro were immediately tugging at the lid along with Luffy.

"Pathetic… I was an idiot. Why did I even join these idiots…?" Nami muttered and then turned to see three men in front of her with her treasure bags in their hands.

"Oh hello." The one in the middle greeted her.

"That's my treasure and who are you?!" She demanded, her question got Vergil's attention as the white haired demon strolled to her and saw the thieves.

"I'm sure you know who we are." Thief stated.

"Everyone come! Thieves!" Nami yelled.

"You don't need to call others." Vergil assured her as he held the two that tried to jump off and pinned the third on with his foot. Nami was however still trying to get others to help her out.

"Thieves? Are they bad people?" Luffy asked.

"Who knows, those treasures were stolen in the first place." Usopp commented.

"That's true." Zoro snickered.

"They are bad people!" Nami yelled.

"Princess, over here…" Vergil muttered finally getting her attention.

"What?!" She shrieked at him only to find her anger completely disappearing once she saw that her treasure was safe.

"Where's my 'thank you'?" Vergil asked with a grin.

"Thank you…" She said kinda softly, making Vergil pale.

"Guys, we have a problem! Someone kidnapped Nami! We've got an imposter!" Vergil panicked.

"Really?!" Luffy asked.

"You idiot, it's me!" Nami yelled as she punched him on the top of his head.

"I change my mind. It's her." Vergil muttered, as he was distracted by Nami one of the thieves managed to pull out a gun.

"Watch out!" Zoro was the first one to notice this, but it was too late, the gun fired and the bullet headed toward Nami.

"Nami!" Her brown eyes widened as she saw none other than Vergil, standing in front of her. He managed to move them both out of the way, albeit with a scratch on the left side of his abdomen.

"Vergil…" She honestly didn't know what else to say.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

The navigator nodded and he smiled before turning to the shooter.

"Those bastards!" Luffy cursed as he began approaching them, no matter how hungry he was no one was getting away with shooting his nakama.

"Bastard…" Vergil hissed as he slammed the head of the thief that shot at Nami and the second one's head together thus knocking them out. He turned to glare at the third one.

"Please don't hurt me…" Thief begged.

"Give us your food." Vergil demanded.

"Yes, sir!" Thief quickly agreed as he jumped down to the boat and got some rice balls.

"Oh, they are good guys." Luffy said as he, Usopp and Zoro ate the rice balls.

"They just shot your first mate!" Nami reminded him as she went to Vergil, who threw the two remaining thieves overboard and glanced the bleeding wound.

"That's right!" Luffy remembered as he ran to the railing. "**Gomu Gomu no… Rocket**!" He slammed into the boat, thus breaking the mast and the small room in which the boy from before was in… Luffy turned to the remaining thief and was about to say something when he heard a groan behind him.

"Who are you?" Luffy asked as he looked curiously at the boy.

"And his attention span is worse than that of a five year old…" Vergil muttered.

"Stay still I'm trying to check the wound." Nami scolded him, his shirt was lifted a bit as she inspected the wound, bullet had missed him to a certain extent but it still left a scratch.

"So Princess? Am I free to get up now?" Vergil asked making Nami glare at him.

"Jerk." She said as she got up and left the confused demon on his own. He blinked a couple of times but got up and went to the railing to see what Luffy was doing.

"Hey Luffy! Be careful!" Zoro suddenly warned the captain as he pointed at his left. "That." On their left they could easily see a ship much bigger than Going Merry.

"El Drago-sama. He's going to use his Devil Fruit!" The thief realized as he jumped into the water.

"Devil Fruit?" Luffy repeated as they looked at large pirate standing with his hands raised. Golden aura surrounded him and he opened his mouth. An attack similar to Vergil's **Lightning Breath** came out of the pirate's mouth and tore between small boat and Going Merry.

Vergil's eyes widened as he saw the attack.

"It's just like Vergil's!" Zoro realized as Nami and Usopp screamed.

Zoro fell overboard as Vergil held Nami and Usopp close to the railing to make sure they wouldn't fall as well.

"Damn it…" Vergil cursed, going after Zoro and Luffy was the logical thing to do but knowing that pirates could attack their ship he knew that leaving Nami and Usopp alone would be worst idea right now.

* * *

Zoro came up to the surface along with Luffy and the boy.

"I thought I was going to die…" Luffy admitted as they held onto the remainder of the boat.

"What was that? It looked like Vergil's attack." Zoro asked.

"No idea. Why do I feel heavier?" Luffy asked and then they noticed the boy who was holding onto his right shoulder.

"Who is he? Is he one of them?" Zoro asked.

"What was that?! You dare say that to great pirate Tobio?!" The boy, clearly named Tobio demanded.

"Great pirate Tobio?" Luffy repeated as the boy climbed up on the wreckage.

"That's right! I'm on a journey to find the treasure island. But I was caught by El Drago and forced to work… No that's not it! I pretended to join them so I could find the treasure island!" Tobio corrected himself, although the first turn of events seemed to be a bit more believable.

"I'm starving…" Zoro said.

"I wonder if there's food around here." Luffy muttered, the two were completely ignoring Tobio.

"Hey, don't ignore me!" Tobio yelled at them.

Luffy suddenly smelled something, he began smelling the air to figure out from where it was coming from. "This wonderful aroma…" He realized as he and Zoro grinned at each other.

"Wh… What is it?" Tobio asked them.

Two pirates pulled out two boards and used them as makeshift rows o row at incredibly high speed, one that would put a motor boat to shame…

"What the?" Tobio grunted as he tried to keep himself from falling.

"Oden!" Luffy yelled.

"Oden?" Tobio repeated. He looked behind to see a small oden food restaurant.

As they finally made the boat stop Zoro and Luffy panted.

"What's with all the commotion?" The owner asked as he looked at them. He was dark skinned man, probably around 60 years old. "Tobio?" He asked in surprise, it looked like the boy and the old man knew each other.

"Grandpa Ganzo." Tobio muttered, this man was his grandfather.

"How many times are you going to run away before you are satisfied?" Ganzo asked, his arms were crossed over his chest. "You always run off for a couple of days and then come back."

While he said that Zoro and Luffy jumped to the food…

"Whatever. My underlings were hungry so I came to feed them some oden." Tobio lied.

"Underlings? Hey don't eat without my permission!" Ganzo scolded the two eating pirates.

A couple of moments later both Luffy and Zoro were crying, but not for a reason one would guess… "Delicious!" They exclaimed.

"I've never had such a good oden! Your grandpa is the best cook in the world!" Luffy praised as he stuffed his mouth, Zoro on the other hand peacefully ate, he had a lot to learn about eating with Luffy…

"He's just a stubborn old man. His oden is good but that's all." Tobio said, it seemed like he for some reason held grudge against his grandfather. Ganzo glanced at him before turning back to making oden. Luffy just kept stuffing himself. "Every single day he commits himself to making oden, but for what? There aren't many customers either. I'm tired of this poor life." Tobio stated.

Zoro was about to take more only to find out that there was nothing left. "It's gone! Luffy you damn!" Zoro growled at Luffy.

"I'm definitely not going to become a man like grandpa. I'm going to become a pirate like Woonan!" Tobio revealed.

"Woonan? That gold pirate?" Zoro asked and he paid the price. Luffy ate his food… "That's mine!" Zoro growled at the captain. "I'll kill you!" The two pirates began a childish fight on the floor.

"The legend says that Woonan stole one third of the world's gold. Also he only stole gold from evil people, so if you are not evil he won't steal from you. He was a very honorable pirate." As Tobio bragged about Woonan Ganzo placed another portion of oden on Zoro's plate thus making the fight stop.

While Zoro sat and tuned back to eating Luffy remained lying on the floor. "So he's really strong, right?" Luffy asked.

"I heard he died long ago." Zoro stated.

"He's alive! I'm sure Woonan is alive somewhere on the gold island!" Tobio exclaimed as he climed onto the chairs. "I heard that El Drago is going to the gold island. I have an idea where it is. I'll go and meet Woonan and ask him if I can join his crew!" Tobio revealed.

"All right!" Luffy began as he easily lifted the chair up and sat on it in one with move. "I'm going to meet that Woonan and if he's a good guy I'll ask him to join my crew." Straw hat wearing pirate decided.

"What are you saying?! Why would Woonan join you?!" Tobio yelled at Luffy.

"Because I'm gonna become the Pirate King." Luffy told him making Tobio and Ganzo's jaws drop.

"Pirate King?" Tobio repeated.

"Yeah. I'm going to go to the Grand Line and find One Piece. Then I'll become the Pirate King. As a Pirate King it's only natural to have a legendary man on my crew." Luffy stated.

"Shut up! Stop joking around and just say what you want to say! Why don't you just say that I won't be able to join Woonan?!" Tobio demanded angrily.

"What are you talking about?" Luffy asked oblivious to the meaning behind Tobio's words.

"Hey, kid. I know it's hard to believe but this guy is serious." Zoro stated.

Tobio just kept looking at them. "You people. Whatever you do don't forget one very important thing." Ganzo reminded them.

"What very important thing?" Luffy asked.

"Do you guys have any money with you?" Ganzo asked making the two pale and so the terror began… "125 kamodoki, 153 seaweed, 302 fish balls, 102 white radishes, konjac, fish cakes, eggs, etc, etc…" As Ganzo calculated the money they were supposed to pay Zoro was getting pale, he knew that Nami wouldn't like this one bit… "I, Ganzo, prepare this oden with my soul. When added it all costs 11 beri." Ganzo revealed.

"11 beri?!" Zoro yelled as he stood up.

"Is that expensive?" Luffy asked, he had no idea about just how expensive their meal was.

"It's too cheap! It's less then getting a nosebleed!" Zoro yelled. "But…" he sat back down and looked away. "No money…"

"No money?!" Ganzo asked.

"Yup, no money!" Luffy said as he stood up, he sounded rather proud about it.

"Don't brag about it!" Zoro yelled at him.

"Guess it can't be helped…" Luffy muttered as he fished through his pocket.

"Luffy?" Zoro questioned.

And well no one could expect anything more from Luffy who placed a rock that had 'Future Pirate King (Luffy)' written on it. "Thanks for the meal, this is my token of gratitude, keep it." Luffy said. "That was good. Thanks for the food old man!" Luffy thanked Ganzo as he jumped back onto their wreckage. "Zoro, what's wrong?" Luffy asked.

"That's… That's called eat and run!" Ganzo exclaimed as he roped Luffy and pulled him back…

* * *

Three thieves from before were in front of El Drago, their captain and the thieves weren't even thieves, they were pirates…

"What was that? Are you complaining about my daily vocal training?" El Drago asked.

"Of course not, El Dragon-sama." The middle on assured him.

"It's just that it almost hit us." The one of the right said.

"So? It's your fault for being there." El Drago said.

"Well that's true, but we would have gotten a lot of gold if some demon didn't stop us." The middle one revealed.

"Gold? It can wait for now. Can you see it, it should be around here?" El Drago asked. Neither him nor his crewmates knew about Nami and Vergil hiding on the ship with Nami eavesdropping on the conversation. Anyone who found them just got knocked out by Vergil…

"Could that be?" She thought.

"I see it! It's Woonan's gold island!" The pirate that was on the crow's nest exclaimed.

"We finally found it!" El Drago laughed.

"The gold island…" Nami realized with a grin on her face.

"Remind me once again why am I here." Vergil whispered to her from behind.

"To protect me of course. They tried to steal my treasure so I'm going to steal their treasure." She stated.

"And you couldn't come here on your own?" Vergil asked.

"You saw what he did. Would you really leave a defenseless girl to fend for herself?" Nami asked as she finally looked at him, they were whispering the entire time so they wouldn't get noticed.

The ship docked at the shore of the island and as soon as the crew left it Nami took out her binoculars and looked at the island.

"Now I know the location of the island. All I need to do is get the map." Nami thought.

Vergil was obediently leaning against the wooden wall behind her.

"That's… Going Merry!" Nami exclaimed getting Vergil's attention.

"So? Usopp is somewhere on the island bound to get into trouble…" Vergil realized.

"You're right, there he is, surrounded by those three pirates." Nami told him.

"I'm going to get him." Vergil said and was about to jump down when he felt Nami grabbing him by the collar of his shirt.

"You'll only endanger him, furthermore you won't make it in time." She told him.

"I can't just leave him." Vergil stated.

"I'm surprised you even care." She replied confusing Vergil a bit.

"Look I don't get what's up with you lately but I'm going." Vergil decided and prepared to jump down into the water. "We'll talk later, when you feel like it cause I don't like having this tension around." He stated, it wasn't much of a tension really, it was the simple fact of Nami being confused and often changing mood around him.

Nami sighed. "Wait, I've got a plan." She said making Vergil turn to glance at her.

"I'm listening."

* * *

Usopp was surrounded by three pirates from before and not too far away from him the other pirates were looking at him.

"I'm late! I'm late! I have to go on my date!" Usopp exclaimed as he began running only to crush into El Drago…

"Who are you?" El Drago asked.

"You don't know who I am? The great Captain Usopp is standing in front of you, I am far greater than you are!" Usopp lied as he tried to intimidate El Drago.

"Maybe he's the same as us, looking for the treasure on this island." One of the pirate thieves suggested.

"Lo… Looking for treasure? What's going on? Who are these guys?" Usopp wondered.

"Gorashi." El Drago said as he tossed three gold coins down on the sandy beach. The man, almost as large as El Drago picked them up and grinned as he looked at them. "Do it." El Drago ordered. Gorashi pulled out his sword and began approaching Usopp.

"Stop! Don't do it! If you kill me you won't be able to find gold! Ever!" Usopp stated.

"What?" El Drago asked.

"Do you know where the treasure is?" Pirate thief asked.

"Of course I know! If you take this famous treasure hunter, the great Usopp. I'll show you where you can find a lot of diamonds, rubies, sapphires etc, etc…" Usopp revealed.

"Diamonds and rubies?" El Drago asked.

"Sapphires and others." Usopp added.

"Kill him." El Drago stated.

"Why?!" Usopp shrieked.

"What I want is…" El Drago showed his golden nails. "Gold."

"G-gold. That's right, I know where a mountain of gold is buried." Usopp lied.

"Gold!~ Gold!~" El Drago said in a singing voice making Usopp sweatdrop.

"_What's with this guy?_" He thought.

"Where is it?" Gorashi asked as he pointed his sword at Usopp's neck.

"Of course I'll show you, but I need a treasure map. Without it I can't actually show you." Usopp said hoping that they wouldn't have a map.

"Here it is." Pirate thief said as he handed the map to Usopp.

"No way…" Usopp thought. "They really have it."

He unfolded the map . "It's a map to Woonan's gold. It says? The treasure sleeps, look at the hill on the south. If the whale's head faces west then the tail…' We can't read it from that point.

"Then the tail faces east." Usopp stated.

"Huh?" El Drago was a bit, well a bit more, confused byy his statement.

"If the head faces west then naturally the tail faces east. Which means the gold is the opposite from the direction which the head faces!" Usopp explained with a wide grin on his face.

"Oh, I see. So that's how it is." El Drago agreed.

"These guys are idiots…" Usopp thought.

"All right everyone, let's go!" El Drago ordered.

"Wait I'm going to?!" Usopp asked.

"Of course." El Drago confirmed.

* * *

_**That's it.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – El Drago Attacks**_


	29. El Drago Attacks

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**blazeinferno – Thank you for the review, I'm glad you liked it.**_

_**Guest reviewers – Thank you all. Thanks for the advice when it comes to grammar, I'll try to work on it. I like the movies so I decided to put them in as well, you'll have to wait for the next chapter for that fight though.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 29 – El Drago Attacks**_

* * *

Nami saw Usopp being taken away as she looked through her binoculars.

"Damn, always making me worry…" She cursed.

"So you worry about us Princess?" Vergil teased.

"Shut it Vergil." She ordered.

"I'm so touched, you ain't denying it." Vergil kept teasing making the orange haired girl glare at him.

Either way Nami looked around through her binoculars and spotted Luffy and Zoro, chained up by Ganzo…

"It's them after all!" Nami hissed.

"Luffy and Zoro?" Vergil asked.

"Forget it." Nami stated but then saw Vergil moving to the railing.

"I'm not leaving my nakama on their own." Vergil stated and finally jumped into the water.

"Why is every single demon dead set on being stubborn..." Nami said, she knew that it was too late to get Vergil to return.

* * *

Luffy and Zoro were chained up by Ganzo while Tobio washed the dishes.

"Damn you old man, you didn't have to go this far!" Zoro snapped.

"I told you that we'd pay for it by working on the ship!" Luffy added.

"Having him work for me is enough. Eat and run people should just shut up." Ganzo stated and motioned toward Tobio who still washed the dishes.

"I didn't run!" Zoro snapped.

"They can you pay the bill?!" Ganzo snapped back.

Zoro smirked as he came to a realization. "I see, I understand now why you brought us to this island. You want us to find the gold for you."

"Shut up!" Ganzo snapped, at that moment the wind blew a bit stronger and managed to blow Luffy's straw hat off of his head.

"Oh. Hey Tobio! Can you get that for me? It's very important!" Luffy yelled as he watched the hat fly toward the young boy.

"Yes!" Tobio agreed as he stood up and went after the hat.

"Get back to work! If you keep day dreaming you'll never grow up to be like me!" Ganzo scolded him.

"What?" Tobio asked furious about the scolding he got. "Don't decide that on your own! When did I ever say I want to sell oden?!" He yelled.

"Don't talk back to me, you powerless midget! Just do what I say!" Ganzo yelled back.

"Shut up! You always talk about the freaking oden! Is oden really that important? I'm tired of it!" As he said that Odio kicked down the plates and began stomping on them thus breaking most of them. "I'm going to find Woonan and I'll never come back!" Once he declared that Tobio ran off, with Luffy's hat.

"Ah! My hat! Wait come back! Tobio!" Luffy easily stood up and jumped to the shore before he began running, Zoro was still chained up to his back."Pops we'll definitely pay for the food!" Luffy yelled.

Ganzo's eyes were however dead set on the broken plates. "Tobio…" He muttered as his eyes saddened a bit.

A minute or two passed and Ganzo didn't stop looking at the way Tobio ran off.

"So, I take it you aren't an enemy." Vergil said as he climbed up to the deck thus starling Ganzo.

"Who are you?" Ganzo asked as he regained his composure.

"No one important now, where did my nakama go? The straw hat wearing male and the green haired swordsman." Vergil asked, Ganzo just pointed at the direction Luffy, Zoro and Tobio went, Vergil nodded and ran off, not at all bothered by the fact that he was pretty much soaked to the bone…

* * *

Luffy kept running after Tobio.

"Tobio!" Luffy yelled, the younger boy finally stoppd and thus allowed Luffy to catch up. The rubber captain skidded to a stop in front of Tobio completely missing the fact that Zoro wasn't all that fine… "My hat." Luffy reminded the boy.

"Oh, that's right…" Tobio muttered as he placed the hat onto Luffy's head.

"Great. All right, let's go Zoro." Luffy said and finally noticed the unconscious swordsman. "What? You are sleeping? Guess it can't be helped." Luffy reasoned.

"You guys… I'd have to be strong to become part of Woonan's crew, right?" Tobio asked. "I don't think I'm that strong right now."

"Then become stronger." He suddenly heard not only Luffy but Vergil saying.

"Oh, Vergil! What are you doing here? Did you get lost?" Luffy cheerfully greeted his first mate.

"I came to find you two. Anyway Luffy you were saying." Vergil urged him to continue.

"Huh? I was saying something?" Luffy asked.

"Then become stronger…" Vergil reminded him.

"Oh, right! You have your own ambitions and I have my own ambition. So that means we only have to keep moving forward." Luffy said.

"You, what a simpleton." Tobio commented.

"See ya!" Luffy said and was about to ran off. "Which way is the coast?" Luffy asked as he halted.

"And this guy is my captain…" Vergil muttered but then grinned. "_That's perfectly fine_." He thought.

* * *

Nami was hiding behind a tree, she had spotted Usopp and El Drago's crew.

"Hurry up and keep walking." One of the pirate thiefes urged him. Nami sighed and left the sniper to take care of himself.

"I'm pretty sure the gold is somewhere near that castle. The only problem is exactly where is the castle." Pirate said.

"Don't worry, this guy knows where it is." The second one assured him.

Usopp got a bit scared and then did the one thing he was really good at. "Of course I know! I was a good friend with Woonan!" He exaggerated the story…

"Woonan?" One of the pirates repeated.

"That's right! If you hurt me Woonan's crew won't just keep lying down! Usopp boosted but to his utter surprise the pirates just began laughing.

"Woonan's crew is no longer part of this world." El Drago revealed.

"What? What do you mean?" Usopp asked, he was a bit confused with that statement.

"It means we took care of them already, with our own hands." Pirate thief revealed.

"What did you say?!" Usopp exclaimed.

"The last guy we killed had the map." The second thief added. "The map showed that Woonan's treasure is on this island."

"Since they are no longer a part of this world it's only natural for us to take the gold." Pirate stated arrogantly.

"It's not 'us'" Gold is mine!" El Drago quickly corrected the pirate.

"Of course, all the gold belongs to El Drago-sama!" Pirates tried to calm their captain down.

Usopp decided to try and use the commotion for running away but he was spotted by Gorashi.

"Where are you going?" The large swordsman asked.

"Trying to run?" El Drago guessed.

"N… No, I just need to go to the toilet." Usopp lied. "Holding it in your bladder is not a good thing to do." He said as three pirates approached him.

"This guy is definitely suspicious." One of the pirates said.

"Do you really know where the gold is?" Another one asked, they were beginning to suspect Usopp's words.

"Come on you guys, do I look like someone who'd lie?" Usopp asked them as he dismissively waved his hand in front of his face. He placed his hand onto his chest. "I am a very trustworthy person."

"Really?" They asked.

"Of course, that goes without saying! I haven't said a single lie in my life." Well one could say that he just lied, again… He chuckled uncomfortably. "_Crap. This is really bad, if I don't find a way to escape soon_…" He thought as he looked to the side.

"El Drago-sama!" One of the pirates yelled turning the attention from Usopp to himself. "What should we do? The path is blocked over here!"

The crew walked up to the ruble of rocks and earth in front of them.

"Hey, hey, are you serious? We came this far only to have to change the route now." Pirate complained.

"Don't worry. Gorashi." El Drago tossed four golden coins into Gorashi's hand making the man smirk.

Gorashi stepped forward and began unsheathing his sword. "Move out of the way." He warned the pirates who quickly ran back.

"Wh… What?" Usopp was confused as pirates around him smirked.

Gorashi concentrated and then sliced… Birds flew away as Usopp stood with his mouth wide open. "NO WAY!" He yelled in disbelief, Gorashi's swing of the sword destroyed entire ruble in front of them, in fact it created a massive damage.

"That thing was a piece of cake for Gorashi." El Drago commented as his crew smirked.

"How adept." One of the pirates cheered, as for Usopp he was so scared even his nose wiggled…

* * *

"That does it… I'm taking the lead from now on…" Vergil grumbled as they reached the cliff, once again.

"We are here again." Zoro realized.

"I told you! Now I'm lost as well!" Tobio yelled at them.

"Don't be angry." Luffy told him with a grin.

"Anyway. Woonan's castle should be somewhere on the island. All we have to do is find it." Zoro said.

"So why are we running around in circles?" Tobio scolded them.

"Because they have no sense of direction and I have no idea where that castle is." Vergil explained and then seemed to realize something. "Woonan's castle? Why are we even looking for it?" Vergil asked.

"So I can ask Woonan to join my crew!" Luffy replied with a grin.

"Like hell if Woonan will join someone like you!" Tobio snapped.

"Watch your tongue kid." Vergil warned the boy who piped down right away. Well Vergil was a demon after all, anyone normal would pipe down.

"If we knew where we were this wouldn't be a problem." Zoro said.

"What was that?!" Tobio snapped angrily.

"Don't be so impatient. You'll get hungry." Luffy reasoned.

"Right." Zoro agreed, the captain and the swordsman sat down while Vergil leaned against a tree.

"You guys!" Tobio yelled as he got even more frustrated.

* * *

Usopp's situation didn't change much, he was still with the pirate crew that captured him with no way of escaping, one thing that did change was the fact that they actually found the castle…

"Amazing…" Usopp marveled at the building.

"This is Woonan's castle." One of the pirate thieves commented.

"So, where is the gold?" El Drago asked. Usopp shrieked as he knew he would soon be in trouble. "Where?" El Drago repeated.

All of a sudden Usopp started doing some kind of extremely weird dance, his body wiggled around as if he was the one made out of rubber. "My stomach growls! It growls! My stomach goes pa pi pu pe po!" Usopp sang. As he said the last part he stopped and turned to look at the crew. "That's how it goes."

"What was that?!" Pirates yelled at him as two of them began approaching the long nosed male.

"So you really don't know where the gold is." One of them said.

"What should we do with him?" Another asked.

"Kill him!" El Drago decided.

Usopp crouched down and covered his head in fear. He was saved though, by none other than Nami.

"Hey, Kamesuke! You betrayed me!" Nami yelled as she stepped down the stairs and glared at 'Kamesuke'.

"Who are you?" El Drago demanded.

"I am Josephine! I am Great Gold Pirate Woonan's granddaughter!" 'Josephine' revealed.

"Granddaughter?" Pirate questioned.

"Kamesuke! You told them didn't you?! That the gold is hidden under this gate!" Josephine yelled.

"Under the gate?" El Drago asked.

"_Under the gate… Under the gate_…" Usopp quickly thought of a way to use Nami's little help. "Lady Josephine, what should we do now?" Usopp exclaimed as he clutched the sides of his head. "If you continue to dig three days straight you'll find the gold." He revealed, although he may have went overboard with his lie… "Of course I would never tell that… Oh crap I said too much!" He clapped his mouth with both of his hands as he faked panicking although with the way situation was maybe he didn't really need to fake that part…

"_You are overdoing it… It's not believable_…" Nami thought, her thoughts were rational but the ones that she thought were rational weren't even close to that…

"I see. So it's under the gate!" El Drago actually believed Usopp.

"_Hey! Anyway three days is enough for me to find the gold and run_." Nami thought with a satisfied grin on her face.

"El Drago-sama. Let's start digging, in three days…" Pirate began.

"There's no need." El Drago said. He raised his hands up as golden aura surrounded him. "Ten seconds is enough."

Pirates began running behind their captain frantic to get away. "Here it comes, his devil power!" They exclaimed.

"What?" Nami asked.

"Oh, no! Nami run!" Usopp yelled as he ran toward the girl and as El Drago used his power Usopp pushed Nami out of the way in the very last second.

"Usopp!" Nami called out to him.

"I'm fine. What is he?" Usopp asked as El Drago used his power yet again. "He's doing it again!" Usopp screamed.

All the destruction got the attention of the rest of the crew.

"Over there." Vergil realized as he, Zoro and Tobio halted to a stop.

"That's Woonan's castle!" Tobio realized.

"Then that's where Woonan is." Zoro guessed.

"Woonan!" Tobio called as he ran toward the castle.

"Tobio!" Luffy called after the boy. "Hold onto Zoro!" Luffy said and Tobio did as he was told. As soon as Tobio grabbed onto chains Luffy and Vergil began running and they sure ran fast.

At the castle Nami looked at El Drago's attacks. "The sound techniques. It's the Goe Goe no Mi(Voice Voice Fruit)" Nami explained.

"So it's a Devil Fruit?" Usopp asked.

"They say it has the ability to transform sound into force of destruction." She explained. "The rumors were right."

"At this rate Woonan's castle will be destroyed." Usopp realized.

"Who the hell went and told him the gold was under there!" She yelled scolding whoever that was.

"That was you!" Usopp snapped at her. The orange haired girl chuckled a bit uncomfortable.

El Drago laughed as he took a short break from his constant attacking. "If I destroy everything the gold will eventually appear!" He exclaimed.

"Shut up!" Luffy yelled at him. "Shut up you lion! You are hurting my ears!" He yelled at El Drago.

"It's damn annoying!" Vergil added, he was honestly annoyed by all the noise El Drago was making, not to mention that these pirates took Usopp hostage before.

"Lion?" El Drago asked.

"Ah, sorry. A cat then." Luffy apologized.

"He's clearly a human…" Vergil muttered. "A strange one but human none the less."

"Who are you?" El Drago asked.

"Me? I'm Monkey D. Luffy. The man that will become the Pirate King." Luffy introduced himself then turned around. "The guy tied to me is Zoro."

"Hey." Zoro greeted.

"And he's Vergil." Luffy finished the short introduction of his crew.

"Well ain't he polite…" Vergil commented.

Luffy quickly forgot about El Drago as he glared at the ruins. "Woonan! You in there! Answer if you are!" Luffy yelled, but all they heard was Luffy's voice echoing.

El Drago began laughing again. "What are you saying? That guy died a long time ago!" El Drago stated as he pointed toward the castle.

"You won't know until you see it for yourself. If there is one person left who believes he is alive, he might be alive!" Luffy stated, Tobio kept looking at the straw hat wearing captain.

"What kind of nonsense are you blabbering about?" El Drago asked.

"Why are those two chained together like that?" Usopp asked as he and Nami watched the scene. Suddenly their eyes widened as Tobio pushed Luffy and Zoro out of the way.

"Move aside! I'll protect Woonan's gold myself!" Tobio exclaimed, he held a wooden bat in front of him and while he put up a brave front his legs trembled.

"Hey, hey." El Drago warned him.

"On this island lies the treasure Woonan risked his life to get! I won't let evil people like you get it and do as you please! Leave this island at once!" Tobio declared. Luffy just looked at him.

Vergil sighed. "What will you do kid? You can't even land a hit on this bastard." Vergil said as he picked the boy up.

"Let go!" Tobio yelled at Vergil as he tried to get free.

"Do you really want to die that much?" EL Drago asked as he prepared to cut the duo with his golden nails.

"Won't work." Vergil stated as his fist became engulfed in lightning and he clashed it against the nails. Nails dug in a bit but the damage to El Drago was bigger as gold effectively made the lightning pass into El Drago's body, it would have happen either way but with gold being as good of a conductor as it was the effect was even better.

"You bastard." El Drago cursed as he attacked again, this time though Vergil didn't act and instead allowed Zoro to block the nails with his sword, with his hands tied though, Zoro could only use one sword, the one in his mouth.

"You are a good swordsman, but you can't stop me." El Drago complimented as he slammed his palm toward them, both Vergil and Zoro jumped out of the way but while Vergil jumped toward Usopp and Nami, Zoro lured El Drago further away from them.

"I'm going to help them, watch Tobio while we are fighting." Vergil said but in a matter of seconds he was pinned down to the ground by Nami and Usopp.

"You are staying with us! That power is scary!" Usopp whined.

"How did I get myself into this…?" Vergil muttered as he relented.

Zoro dodged another attack and deflected the second one while the third one hit the chains.

The green haired swordsman went into offensive as he swung the sword a couple of times but couldn't actually cut El Drago who kept evading the sword.

"What's wrong?" El Dgaro taunted.

"Damn, if I had three swords… This bastard wouldn't…" Zoro cursed but then realized something more important. "_It's the same situation_…" He realized as his thoughts went back to the battle against Nyaban Brothers… "_Blaming the loss on something as trivial as handicap is dishonorable to a swordsman, that's why, even with one sword, I will defeat this bastard_." Zoro resolved.

He would have went for a much more lethal attack if he wasn't suddenly stopped. "Hey Luffy, don't stop me! I'm going to kill him!" Zoro snapped at the captain.

"I'm not stopping you." Luffy simply replied and Zoro saw exactly what was the problem, Luffy's foot was stuck… to the anchor which was stuck to the cliff… The rubber's affinity kicked in an sent both pirates flying…

"What happened to Josephine and Kamesuke?!" El Drago asked as he noticed that the duo was missing.

"Eh? They are gone." One of the pirates realized.

El Drago gritted his teeth in frustration.

* * *

Vergil, Nami, Usopp and Tobio ran toward the whale, the place at which Luffy and Zoro landed.

"And this is what happens when you stop me from interfering… On top of that you dragged me away from the battle field!" Vergil snapped at them.

"Less talking more running!" Nami exclaimed.

"Luffy! Zoro!" Usopp called as he saw the tied pirated…

"For crying out loud what a bother." Nami complained as she knelt down and began picking at the lock. "Done." She said as the chains unlocked and Zoro stood up.

"We're saved." He said as he raised his arms up to stretch out a bit.

"Hey Nami, lend us some money."Luffy requested making Vergil pale.

"You idiot!" He snapped at Luffy.

"Why?" Nami asked but not before glaring at Vergil.

"They didn't pay. Why not pretend you just forgot it. It's just stupid oden." Tobio muttered.

"Who's the kid?" Nami asked.

"Tobio." Luffy relied.

"Who's Tobio?" Nami asked trying to be a bit more direct with Luffy.

"It's just Tobio." Luffy stated firmly.

"That's not what I mean." Nami stated as she lost a bit of her patience.

"Give it up." Vergil said as he placed his hand onto her shoulder and shook his head. She sighed and decided to drop the topic.

Tobio ran forward and looked at the place where the castle was, unfortunately the only thing that was there now were ruins. "Woonan's castle…" Tobio mumbled.

"I guess the gold is under all that ruble." Usopp commented as the crew walked up to Tobio.

"What? Are you after the gold as well?!" Tobio snapped at him.

"That's not what I meant." Usopp defended himself. "The gold is Woonan's. If he's still alive." He said.

"He's alive!" Tobio yelled angrily.

"Face it kid, he's dead. People don't stay alive just because you want them to be." Vergil said coldly.

"Hey Vergil. Maybe he's alive." Luffy said.

"Woonan is alive! I'm sure he is!" Tobio snapped.

"GROW THE HELL UP!" Vergil yelled making Nami and Usopp flinch but then look at him surprised, as far as they knew Vergil had never raised his voice that much and with so much anger slipping through. "The blind trusting that someone is still alive! That's retard's way of coping with the death! People die and that's all there is to it. They don't come back, not in the way we want them to." He said his voice calmed down a lot but the cold fury in his eyes was clearly present, he suddenly strolled a bit away from the crew and leaned against the whale.

"Gold's not there and neither is Woonan." Nami stated, a descent part of her was kinda afraid she would invoke Vergil's fury again, but a part of her knew that he wouldn't snap at her, not just for this.

"How do you know that?" Zoro asked, he glanced at Vergil afterwards. He understood the reasoning behind Vergil's words, there was nothing to agree or disagree with, it was the simple truth, only question was whether you could accept it or not.

Nami's hand went underneath her collar and she took the map. "Can't you tell? The castle doesn't have any signs of anyone living down there, if he's alive anyway. It must be a decoy. Woonan is probably somewhere else, again if he's alive." Nami said as she unfolded the map. She noticed Vergil glancing at her and thus added the last part, she didn't know what his deal was but he was a lot easier to anger when this topic came up and while she supposed he could have lost someone important before she may have dismissed the theory. "_As if demons can care for someone that much_ _he is just being blunt like usually_…" She thought bitterly.

"That's the treasure map!" Usopp realized happily.

"Treasure map?" Zoro questioned.

"Yes. This is the map left behind by one of Woonan's crewmates." Nami revealed.

"When did you?" Usopp asked.

"Did you forget who I am?" Nami asked as she pulled out the matches and lit one of them on.

"Hey what are you doing?" Usopp asked.

"Just watch. If my instincts are right, then there must be..." Nami confidently said.

"Scorching?" Zoro asked.

"That's right. Look something's showing up." She replied, they all, with exception being Vergil looked at the map.

And as pretty much any normal paper exposed to flames would, the map burnt down.

The crew's mouth went wide. "NAMI!" Three males yelled at her.

"Now let's go! To the Grand Line!" Nami exclaimed as she raised her fist up trying to change the subject.

"Don't change the subject!" Usopp snapped at her.

Vergil kept looking at them and could help but smile. "Damn Princess…" He muttered.

"What are we going to do without the map?" Usopp asked.

"The only clue about Woonan is gone now." Zoro stated.

"Well…" For once Luffy was going to say something smart. "Was there something written on the map?" he asked and Usopp walked up to Vergil and placed his palm on the whale.

"I think it said. 'The treasure sleeps. Look south of the hill. If the whale's head faces west then the tail faces east.'" He said as he tapped the stone whale.

"Eh? Really?" Nami asked.

"Woonan's castle is to the east." Usopp said.

"The tail is to the east?" Nami asked.

"It's not." Vergil stated.

"Ahhh! It really isn't!" Usopp yelled and they went to look at the direction the whale's tail was actually pointing toward to see nothing else but a large and rather steep cliff.

"That…" Usopp muttered.

* * *

The crew was climbing up the cliff. Nami held onto Vergil's hand as she got up to the same level as the rest of the crew.

"Don't get blown away." Usopp warned them.

"If we climb up this cliff we'll be able to see Woonan's…" Tobio encouraged himself.

"We'll meet Woonan!" Luffy exclaimed.

Nami glanced at Vergil who took a deep breath to calm himself down.

"Maybe he is alive. You never know." Nami said and he sighed.

"That's rarely how it goes. Remember what Usopp told us? He said they took the map from Woonan's crew, what kind of captain would leave his crew. Even if that Woonan is still alive he is anything but the great captain Tobio admires." Vergil explained.

"Either way I'll be taking the gold." She whispered to the white haired demon with a grin on her face.

"I should have expected as much." Vergil replied with a grin of his own.

Tobio tried to grab onto the cliff but slipped, he would have fell down if Usopp didn't grab him.

"Hey are you all right?" Usopp asked as he held the boy.

"As I thought it's too hard for a kid." Zoro stated.

"If I give up now… I won't be able to join Woonan's crew!" Tobio exclaimed as he trashed around.

"Tobio… Either calm down or jump down from here on your own. If you make a mistake and make Usopp fall I will catch him but I will let you fall." Vergil stated completely ignoring the disapproving looks Nami and Usopp sent him and the utterly scared look he got from Tobio.

"You can be a real scum you know." Nami told him.

"Fear is a got motivator when you need someone to calm down. I'm not that much of a scum to let the child fall from here, but he doesn't know that." Vergil told her.

"You could still be softer to him. He is just a child." Nami scolded him.

"I've seen children much younger than him dealing with dangers much more threatening that this one. If for no other reason I will not be soft on someone who is endangering not only his own but the life of others just because he doesn't know how to stay put and calm down." Vergil simply told her thus ending any and all arguments about the topic.

Nami couldn't help but shake her head, at the moments like this she was torn between liking and hating his bluntness.

"Hey, I found a good place to rest!" Luffy exclaimed as he reached a small cave. His eyes widened when he saw that there was someone in the cave. Tobio followed after him and in the same manner his eyes widened, although he also let out a gasp.

"Grandpa?!" Tobio realized that the one in front of them was none other than Ganzo.

"You guys, why are you here?" Ganzo asked, he had a pot on his head.

It took Straw Hats a bit to explain the situation to Ganzo.

"I see, the treasure map." Ganzo said once they finished the story.

"What are you doing here, Pops?" Luffy asked.

"Burying treasure in the highest place was always his way of doing things. On this island this is the only place he would do it." Ganzo revealed.

"Grandpa. You knew about Woonan?" Tobio asked.

"Have you met him before?" Nami asked.

Ganzo looked to the side. "He and I were like brothers growing up in the same village." Ganzo said as he began remembering the past… The crew and Tobio looked utterly surprised at this.

* * *

_**That's it.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Woonan's Treasure**_


	30. Woonan's Treasure

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Guest – Thanks for the review.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review.**_

_**OPFan37 – Thanks for the review and the honest opinion, it's greatly appreciated. For your comment about Vergil you are completely right, while blunt is more of an optional trait that can be both a flaw and a virtue it's more of a flaw when it reaches Vergil's level, rude, yep he is rude, and shouts way too much, uh is he? I'm not sure if I paid much attention to the number of times Vergil actually shouted, I just wrote the scenes as I felt it when I felt like it would be a situation in which Vergil would shout I made him shout. He certainly was worse in certain period as a kid but it'll be a long time until it's all revealed. Normal trope was never my intention, maybe leaning toward anti hero to a certain rather small extent. **_

_**You are right once again, I am a blunt person, too blunt if you ask me and I have drawn a short straw on multiple occasions because of that. As for me using pathetic fallacy (I think that's what you are talking about) well not intentionally that's for sure. Woonan's movie is one of my favs and even if it wasn't I still plan on doing all the movies that weren't like Episode of Merry, or Chopper's movie the alternate of the Drum Island Arc. One Piece is extremely long so I'd say that's the reason why so many writers tend not to start a companion to cannon story but trust me I won't stop the story unless I'm forced by death. If the story is incomplete and hasn't been updated in half a year (without me announcing a hiatus) then I'm most likely dead… Yeah bold words, I know… I'm glad you like the story and I'll be sure to check out your story as well.**_

_**20th Cboys' Fan – Thank you for reviewing, I appreciate it. Same goes for the review on my 20th Century Boys story, I probably will come back to add a bit more to it one day. As for the review on this story thank you, I'm glad you like it.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 30 – Woonan's Treasure**_

* * *

"Burying treasure in the highest place was always his way of doing things. On this island this is the only place he would do it." Ganzo revealed.

"Grandpa. You knew about Woonan?" Tobio asked.

"Have you met him before?" Nami asked.

Ganzo looked to the side. "He and I were like brothers growing up in the same village." Ganzo said as he began remembering the past… The crew and Tobio looked utterly surprised at this.

* * *

-Ganzo's flashback-

* * *

Much younger Woonan finally made a break from all the digging.

"Woonan! I knew you'd be here! I did it. I made this myself." Ganzo exclaimed as he ran up the hill carrying a small kettle.

"That's enough Ganzo. Like I'd ever eat an oden made by you." Woonan rudely disregarded his friend's effort.

"What was that? How can you say without even tasting it once?!" Ganzo demanded an answer.

Woonan turned to face him and began fishing through his pocket. "Open your eyes! When did you become such a weakling, Ganzo?" Woonan asked.

"What did you say?" Ganzo asked.

"Look at this gold!" Woonan exclaimed as he held out a rather small piece of gold. "This is the gold my father spent all his life earning!" It was getting clear that Woonan was not happy with what his father gave his life to, he wasn't happy with the amount that his father earned even though he gave all of his life to earn it. "His entire life! And this is all he earned! I'm not going to live life like that! I'm going to become pirate. And I'll steal from evil people. Ganzo, come with me. You are worthy of being my right hand man!" Woonan declared and invited Ganzo to join him at the same time.

"Gold eh…? Pathetic…" Ganzo simply stated.

"What?" Woonan snapped.

"Your old man was a good man. He taught me how to make oden… and many other things…" Ganzo began as he knelt down and lied the kettle on the grass.

"He was just a drunkard." Woonan simply stated.

"I noticed… Gold doesn't laugh. It doesn't drink. It doesn't sing . Gold doesn't get sad. It's no different than a rock!" Ganzo exclaimed.

"A rock?!" Woonan was getting irritated and raised his voice yet again.

"Your old man said my oden is good. That's when I decided, that I'd bet my life travelling the world to let people eat my oden." Ganzo declared, from the beginning of the conversation this seemed like it would end badly.

"Pathetic… Pathetic, pathetic! You are going to waste your life like that?!" Woonan demanded clearly angry at his friend. "Man's life should be spent on a great ambition!" He pulled a flag that would later become his pirate flag out of his pocket. "Forget it! Swear onto this flag and become pirate with me!" Woonan ordered.

"No!" Ganzo fiercly objected.

"You stubborn bastard!" Woonan snapped and punched Ganzo on the face making the oden making man step back. Ganzo regained his composure though and lunched himself at Woonan.

"What did you say?!" Ganzo made Woonan fall down and two boys rolled across the ground. Ganzo landed a couple of punches as they finally stopped but Woonan quickly turned things around and pushed himself up so his was now the one on the top, he punched Ganzo twice but his third punch was stopped.

"Do you really think that you can beat me, Ganzo?!" Woonan yelled, Ganzo gritted his teeth and slammed his forehead against Woonan's.

"Damn it!" Ganzo cursed as Woonan fell near the cliff and the two wrestled a bit, but as Woonan began getting upper hand again his flag was blown over the edge by the wind.

The fight was immediately forgotten as Woonan jumped to catch the flag, he caught it but he himself was now without a stepping ground, he was about to fall…

"Woonan!" Ganzo shouted as he grabbed onto his friend's waist. Woonan gasped as his upper half hovered in the air, the only thing that stopped him from falling was Ganzo's quick reaction.

"Good Ganzo, don't let go. Pull me up slowly." Woonan instructed.

Ganzo of course did as he was told but the cliff gave in and two males began falling down. Luck was on their side yet again as Woonan's flag got stuck on the branch and stopped their fall, it ripped a bit though.

"Woonan, are you all right?" Ganzo asked.

His friend grunted and Ganzo looked as the flag tore further…

"Woonan…" Ganzo called.

"I know…" Woonan simply replied.

"At this rate your pirate flag will be torn." Ganzo stated.

"What are you saying? This wouldn't have happened if you didn't keep blabbering." Woonan scolded him, his voice was clearly showcasing the strain he was forced to endure.

"Woonan…" Ganzo called his name once again.

"What now?" The future pirate hissed.

"Treasure your ambitions." With that Ganzo let go of Woonan and fell down.

Woonan's eyes widened and he gasped as he watched his best friend fall down into the sea… "GANZO!" Woonan screamed.

* * *

-Ganzo's flashback ends-

* * *

Ganzo finished telling them the story and Luffy was eager to hear more.

"And? Did… Did you die?" The straw hat wearing captain asked.

"He's obviously alive idiot!" Usopp scolded him.

"At that time a boat passed by. It was the first miracle in the village." Ganzo explained.

"What? You didn't die?" Luffy asked sounding a bit disappointed.

"Kinda kills the impact of the story." Vergil commented.

"You idiots!" The remaining of the crew plus Ganzo and Tobio yelled at them.

"When I woke up three days after the incident Woonan had already left the village on his journey. We've never seen each other since." Ganzo revealed further course of the events.

"I never knew… Grandpa knew…" Tobio muttered.

"Woonan I remember changed since. That stubborn, obstinate man that wouldn't even try my oden… But now, I think he would eat it now. This pot of oden which I've put my life into…" Ganzo said, his words explained the pot on his head.

"A pot of oden which you've put your life into?" Luffy asked.

"I think it's clear to you Luffy. When someone treasures doing something they put all they have into it, they put their life into it. Is it an object that they are making, or is it something that you can't touch, it doesn't matter, it becomes something that not only represents you but also what you treasure. For you it's your adventures." Vergil explained, he had to admit he respected the fact that the man in front of him was putting his life into what he was doing.

"Now, let's not waste our time here." Ganzo said as he stood up. "The oden will get cold!"

"All right, let's go!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Right." Zoro agreed and as others voiced their agreement they went off to climb once again.

It didn't take them too long to get to the top from that point and there they saw a rather simple looking hut.

"A hut!" Luffy eagerly exclaimed.

They ran into it to find an empty room with only a simple fireplace.

"It's empty?" Luffy asked.

"So it seems." Vergil agreed.

Nami ran to the second room to find that it's empty as well.

"There's nothing here either!" Nami voiced out.

"Did Woonan really live here?" Tobio asked.

"There are no chairs or tables here." Zoro said. "Only a very common fireplace." And that's when he realized it.

"At least someone noticed." Vergil commented as Zoro walked up to the fireplace and pushed it to reveal a secret passage.

"AMAZING! How did you find it?!" Luffy asked as he and Usopp looked utterly surprised by the passage, Tobio just looked at them with look that said 'Idiots'.

"Any idiot should be able to find it!" Zoro snapped at his captain.

"Look! You can go down!" Usopp exclaimed.

"A basement?" Nami asked.

"Woonan should be down there, then." Tobio assured himself.

"Tch." Vergil looked away annoyed.

"Don't you dare…" Nami hissed at him, loud enough only for him to here.

"I'm not going to waste my breath on someone who lives in a lie." Vergil assured her.

"Along with his mountain of gold." Usopp added. At that moment Vergil and Zoro's eyes widened.

"Duck!" Zoro warned all of a sudden.

"**Devil Arms: Dark Edge**!" Vergil exclaimed as his broadsword appeared and he blocked the incoming attack. He was pushed back a couple feet but he stopped the second half of the house from getting destroyed.

"Nice Vergil!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Heh, I'd throw away both my names if I allowed someone like them to catch me off the guard." Vergil said with a smirk on his face.

The smoke cleared and they clearly saw Gorashi and El Drago along with three thieves and other pirates standing there.

"'If the whale faces west the tail points at the east.' What a bunch of crap." El Drago said as he glared at them.

Usopp covered behind Vergil in fear. "Ah, crap." He muttered.

"What are you worried for? They can't defeat us." Vergil casually stated.

Ganzo and Tobio glared at the pirate captain that was after Woonan's gold.

"El Drago-sama there's the entrance!" One of the thieves pointed at the entrance but refused to move toward it as Vergil glared at them.

"So the gold is over there?" El Drago asked and then laughed. "Okay then you guys get it up here!" He ordered.

"Yes!" Pirates agreed and were about to make an advance.

"Stop!" Tobio yelled as he ran up to El Drago. El Drago went to strike him but Ganzo took his grandson's place and fell down. The pot fell off of his head and the oden spilled.

"Pops!" Usopp yelled.

"Grandpa!" Tobio called out.

"What's this? Gold?" El Drago asked. As Ganzo tried to crawl to the pot El Drago kicked it and thus revealed the oden.

"Stop! That's the oden grandpa put his life into for Woonan!" Tobio said as he held a rock. His legs trembled and he was clearly scared. "Don't touch it." Tobio exclaimed loudly.

El Drago smirked and was about to step on the oden but…

"The hell do you think you are doing?" Vergil asked, El Drago was stepping on the side of his broadsword which was placed above oden thus stopping the pirate captain from stepping on it. "It's already pretty much ruined, but I ain't letting you disrespect it." Vergil stated as his eyes clashed with El Drago's.

Suddenly El Drago got a punch on the face and stumbled backward.

"Who are you?!" El Drago demanded dangerously.

Luffy walked up to the oden and began picking it up, Vergil already removed his sword and took a step back to give his captain the space. Two glanced at each other and Vergil nodded.

"He's all yours." The white haired demon agreed.

Luffy continued picking the oden up while his crew watched him. He finally placed it into his mouth and swallowed it. Zoro and Vergil smirked a bit at this.

"Delicious! I knew it. Pops' oden is the best in the world." Luffy stated, he was satisfied with the taste of the oden. But then the straw hat wearing male turned to glare at El Drago. "I will not forgive you for trying to ruin it." Luffy declared.

"What are you babbling about?!" El Drago demanded angrily. "Take care of them, Gorashi!" He orered and the large man swung his sword, of course the one to block his advance was none other than Zoro who was already prepared for battle. He even had his bandanna on.

"Zoro!" Luffy shouted.

"Looks like I'll take this one." Zoro stated as the two pushed against each other's weapons a bit more before backing away.

"Hey, that guy is using three-swords style!" One of the pirates realized.

"That guy is Zoro! The Pirate Hunter, Roronoa Zoro!" The second one exclaimed.

"Heh, it doesn't matter who he is, there is no one better with sword than Gorashi! Gorashi cut him into little pieces I'll give you 200 gold pieces for every cut! If you kill him it'll be 500!" El Drago encouraged his subordinate.

Gorashi grinned. And lunged at Zoro. Zoro blocked the massive sword but he was mostly on defensive as he tried to push Gorashi back. With a loud yell Gorashi pushed forward and pushed Zoro back. The green haired swordsman hit a large rock with his back and the force of the impact made him drop the sword that was in his mouth.

"Damn, powerful strength…" Zoro cursed.

"Go Gorashi! I'll give you 1000, 1000 gold pieces!" El Drago exclaimed fueling Gorashi's determination.

Gorashi screamed as he pushed Zoro through the rock and made him fall on the ground, yet neither he stopped pushing nor Zoro stopped defending.

"Zoro!" Usopp yelled.

"Vergil help him!" Nami yelled at the white haired first mate.

"He's got this." Vergil plainly stated.

"Die!" For the first time in the battle Gorashi actually spoke, but his eyes widened when he looked at Zoro's eyes.

"You, what are you ashamed of?" Zoro asked making Gorashi gasp but not pull away. "in your heart you don't want to kill for that guy. Isn't that what you are thinking? Your eyes… They tell me you are asamed to draw your sword for gold. You've given up the pride of wielding the sword." Zoro stated.

Gorashi growled a bit as he struggled to keep the preasure.

"Gorashi why are you hesitating?! Kill him!" El Drago ordered.

Zoro finally pushed Gorashi off of himself and stood up. "You certainly have skills. But without the pride in your sword, you have a slight hesitation and that split moment is the unmatched difference between you and me!" Zoro declared, he once again had all three of his swords.

Gorashi attacked again but this time Zoro took offensive stance as well and prepared to attack Gorashi with none other than his signature technique, Demon Slice. Ganzo and Tobio watched in awe as Zoro sliced Gorashi and as he came to a halt about ten meters away from Gorashi the large man's cuts finally appeared.

Zoro sheathed his swords. "I avoided hitting anything vital. When you've regained your pride in your sword, come and challenge me again. I'll face you then." Zoro declared, Gorashi spat out blood as he lied there unconscious.

"I never knew he was so strong." Tobio muttered in awe.

Nami had her hands on her hips as she grinned. "It's not over yet. It's too soon to be surprised." She told him.

"Nami there are still those guys…" Usopp said as he pointed at the terrified pirate crew.

"Leave them to Vergil." Nami assured the long nosed sniper.

"What guys?" Vergil asked and Nami pointed at the crew close to them. "Those?" He questioned and sighed. "Not interested." He stated.

"What was that?! You want us to get killed?!" Usopp and Nami shrieked at him.

"Just look at them, they are afraid. You really think they are even thinking of attacking anyone right now?" Vergil pointed out. "Just relax, as soon as Luffy takes down El Drago they'll scram."

As soon as Vergil said that Luffy stepped in. He looked at El Drago. "Now it's your turn." He stated.

"You bastard now you've really angered me." El Drago said as golden aura surrounded him.

"Oh crap! Run away!" Pirates began running away due to their captain's soon to come attack.

"What?" Ganzo asked in confusion but either way he was pushed out of the way by Nami and Tobio.

"Get away." Nami warned him.

El Drago fired his beam but instead of dodging it Luffy allowed it to hit him dead on.

"It hit him directly!" Usopp yelled.

"Don't worry." Vergil assured him.

Indeed there was o need to worry as Luffy held onto a rock and used the force of the wave to stretch out. As wave disappeared he grinned. "**Gomu Gomu no**…" He began returning back to normal. "**Rocket**!" He slammed head first into El Drago and pushed the man off of his feet, the force of impact made El Drago crash into a rock and get somewhat stuck in it.

"You! Stop screwing around!" El Drago freed himself.

"What on earth…" Tobio wasn't sure as to how Luffy could stretch so he naturally was confused by the situation.

"Luffy ate one of the Devil Fruits, the Gomu Gomu no mi. He's now a rubber man." Usopp explained with a grin on his face, as Vergil said he had no reason to worry, this was Luffy after all, the rubber pirate seemed to always find a way to win.

"So he was a Devil Fruit user." Ganzo realized.

El Drago fired his sound wave again but this time Luffy jumped out of the way. "**Gomu Gomu no Pistol**!" Luffy's fist went forward and slammed into El Drago's mouth.

"He did it!" Tobio cheered.

Zoro gritted his teeth a bit as he frowned. "No, wrong." He corrected Tobio as they realized that El Drago has caught Luffy's fist with his teeth.

"That hurts! Let go!" Luffy demanded as he felt El Drago biting his fist.

The said pirate grabbed onto Luffy's arm and due to the rubber man's arm retracting back to its normal state he was pulled toward Luffy.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" Luffy exclaimed.

El Drago crushed into Luffy thus doing pretty much the same thing Luffy did to him previously. Luffy was on the ground holding onto his treasured straw hat. "That jerk's copying my technique." Luffy complained but quickly stood up to avoid golden nails.

El Drago began slashing around with his nails and Luffy had no other choice but to keep jumping back to avoid the attacks that would slice him. With all his reflexes Luffy still got his vest torn a couple of times though.

"This is bad. Rubber man is done for if hes cut in half!" Usopp exclaimed.

"Usopp… Almost everyone is done for if they get cut in half. Buggy and maybe a small number of individuals being the only exception." Vergil pointed out blankly.

Luffy tripped on a rock and fell down to the ground, El Drago ran past him and when he turned around Luffy wrapped his stretched legs around his neck. He spun his body around to make it twist, he reached a certain point and began spinning the other way around making El Drago fly up. Nami and Tobio watched with their mouth open as they realized that they could no longer see El Drago. Luffy landed on his feet and put on his straw hat which was previously on the ground.

It was too late to relax though as sound wave came down upon Luffy who looked up and in the last moment managed to jump out of the way, however the force of the wave still made him lose his balance.

"Luffy!" Zoro called out to him as he shielded his eyes from the dust.

Luffy's eyes opened as he latched out and grabbed onto El Drago. "**Gomu Gomu no**…" He snapped his neck back. "**Bell**!" With a loud gong El Drago fell on the ground seemingly unconscious.

"El Drago-sama!" Pirate yelled out his name.

Luffy caught his breath a bit and panted. That one moment of getting rest allowed El Drago to regain his consciousness and attack again. His eyes snapped open and he lunged at Luffy who dodged first two nail attacks but failed to evade the punch and while brute force didn't hurt him he still fell down to the ground. El Drago attempted to cut his head in half by running his nails through it still both times he attacked Luffy moved his head to the side thus leaving the nails to hit the ground and make five holes each time they struck it.

"Die!" El Drago shouted but before he could attack again Luffy joined his feet together and slammed them into his chin, he jumped and did a flip a couple of times in the mid air. "**Gomu Gomu no Gatling Gun**!" The barrage of punches pushed El Drago back but Luffy wasn't finished. He jumped back. "**Gomu Gomu no Whip**!" The swipe broke El Drago's weakened armor down into little pieces.

Pirates gasped.

"El Drago-sama's golden armor…" One of them breathed out.

"…Has shattered!" The second one finished.

"Amazing!" Tobio said as he watched Luffy in awe.

El Drago was still standing as he glared at grinning Luffy. "The gold is mine!" He yelled as aura surrounded him once again.

Luffy inhaled a lot of air as he turned his body into a balloon.

Tobio, Ganzo, Usopp and El Drago's pirates looked in terror as El Drago fired his laser. It hit Luffy dead on. Nami gasped as Luffy's body went backwards but the rubber man wrapped his arms and legs around El Drago's arms and waist.

The sound wave was stopped and all the energy behind it along with everything that El Drago put into it afterwards kept piling into Luffy's rubber stomach. Finally, El Drago stopped and looked at Luffy who still grinned.

Zoro smirked.

"_I think I've got an idea_." Vergil thought with a smirk on his own, his smirk became even wider when the sound wave came back and hit El Drago dead on making the man fall down and destroying a good portion of the mountain.

El Drago gasped for air. "The… the gold is…" He tried to repeat.

Luffy threw his arms back. "**Gomu Gomu no**…"

"GO!"Tobio encouraged him.

"**Bazooka**!" Luffy's attack finally knocked El Drago out and not only did it knock the pirate out it also sent him flying far away and potentially into the ocean.

"El… El Drago-sama has been… defeated…" One of the pirates gasped.

Luffy turned to them and that did it for them.

"Time for us to run!" The first one exclaimed.

"Let's run away!" The second one agreed.

"Run!" The third one finished.

The pirates began running away with unconscious Gorashi.

"Hey wait." Luffy called out after them but it was too late, they ran over the cliff and went down faster than they should… "That's what I was trying to say." Luffy said.

"Looks like you won't be getting that rematch." Vergil commented as he glanced at Zoro.

"Looks like that." Zoro agreed.

Tobio, who was holding Luffy's straw hat and Ganzo went to Luffy. With a wide smile on his face and awe clear in his eyes Tobio gave Luffy back his straw hat.

"Thanks Tobio." Luffy thanked the boy as he placed the straw hat back where it belonged. "Pops sorry, I ate all of Woonan's oden." Luffy apologized.

"You shouldn't eat stuff like that. It'll make your stomach upset." Ganzo easily brushed it off.

"My stomach won't get upset. I'm a pirate." Luffy argued.

"We can all vouch for that. On both accounts." Vergil said getting himself a grin from Zoro and small chuckles from Nami and Usopp, honestly rubber man's stomach seemed to be capable of enduring anything.

Ganzo smiled at that and Luffy and Tobio laughed.

Finally they all looked at the passage…

* * *

The crew was led by Nami who lighted their way with a lantern.

"I finally get to meet Woonan." Tobio said still excited about meeting his idol.

They soon reached the doors. "It's here." Nami said.

"Behind these doors is Woonan." Luffy said.

Ganzo and Tobio nodded.

"_Most likely what's left of him, no human can live here_." Vergil thought.

"I'm opening it." Nami said and opened the doors. Inside they were faced with none other than a skeleton.

"This is…" Usopp breathed out.

Tobio ran forward with tears in his eyes.

"No way! This can't be Woonan! It's a fake! Woonan must be somewhere else!" He still refused to believe it, even with the skeleton, with the remains right there in front of him he refused to belie it.

"Pitiful." Vergil muttered.

"Sometimes I think you are worse than K…" Nami was about to say Krim's name but caught herself for two reasons, first she would reveal Krim's name and second, no matter how rude, blunt and what not Vergil could be he wasn't even close to Krim.

"Worse than?" Vergil urged her.

"Sorry, you can't be worse than him…" She apologized and he sighed.

"You are still lying to me huh, just so you know I am fully aware that you lied to me back then." Vergil revealed to her making her eyes widen.

"But…" She breathed out and began panicking.

"Save it, now's not the time." He assured her, surprisingly there was a hint of softness in his tone.

They watched as Ganzo walked up to crying Tobio.

"Grandpa…" Tobio muttered, the look in Ganzo's eyes told him to face the truth, it really was Woonan.

"Hey, what's this?" Usopp asked and pointed toward the wall, there were letters on it as Nami revealed by lighting the wall.

"There's no doubt about it, it's Woonan's handwriting." Ganzo confirmed it.

"'To the people who came here for the gold. My name is Woonan. Formerly known as the 'Great Gold Pirate'…" Usopp read. "Formerly? What does he mean by that?" The long nosed sniper wondered.

"'But now I'm just a man waiting to die. All the gold I've stolen has been returned to its rightful owners.' Eh?!" Nami gasped as she read further.

"'This was a battle. To fulfill my childhood dream…" Usopp kept reading.

'And to build a mountain of gold, the likes of which have never been seen before. But as I sit before it the words a man once told me come to my mind. 'Gold can't laugh, it's just like a rock!' That's right, the thing I devoted my entire life to, it wasn't the gold! It was the adventure to find the gold.'

Luffy and Tobio watched as the crew kept reading. "'There's no gold here anymore. But a treasure that's even more valuable. To others, this might be worthless, but to me it's plenty. Please, do not destroy this place. This is where my most precious treasure sleeps.'" Zoro finished reading and turned along with others to see Ganzo taking something from Woonan. It was the sewed flag, the one that was ripped all those years ago when Woonan and Ganzo fell down.

_'Ganzo. Since the day you've saved my life. Deep in my heart I've always believed that you were on the same boat as I. By my side through all these adventures. Because of this, I have no regrets about the way I lived my life.'_

"Woonan." Ganzo muttered.

Usopp knelt down behind Tobio and patted his shoulders a couple of times. "My goodness, your grandpa is a great man! He is the only person in which the legendary pirate trusted!" Usopp praised, his tone was filled with excitement for once.

"One is a legendary pirate. One sells oden. But… they had the same pride." Zoro stated.

"Grandpa… I'm… I'm… Sorry!" Tobio apologized as he ran up to Ganzo and hugged him.

"Tobio… Live your life the way you want and I'll always… protect you." Ganzo assured his grandson.

Tobio nodded.

The crew smiled.

* * *

The crew finally returned back to the shore where Going Merry was docked.

"Are you guys leaving already?" Ganzo asked.

"Yeah, what are you going to do now?" Luffy asked.

"After we build a grave for Woonan I'll continue selling oden." Ganzo replied.

"So? Do you want to be a pirate or…?" Usopp began the question.

"Sell oden?" Zoro finished.

Tobio grinned. "I'll think about it the next time I leave home!" He replied happily. "If I live my life seriously as grandpa I'm sure I'll find the answer one day. Right?"

"Right!" Usopp agreed then they turned to the side to see Nami walking in front of Vergil who carried the large sack of gold.

"Where did you?" Usopp asked.

"El Drago's treasure. I took it all." Nami explained.

"And made me carry it…" Vergil muttered.

"That's what you get for being so blunt." Nami replied.

"You never change do you?" Zoro asked.

Nami took some gold from the sack and went to Ganzo.

"Here, money for the food those two ate. It's a loan." Nami said directing the last part toward the two eat and run pirates.

"A loan?!" Zoro snapped.

"Of course! I expect three times the return." She stated.

"Why you…" Zoro growled.

"No. I can't take the money now. I talked with Tobio, you will owe us money. With no interest." Ganzo revealed making Nami glare at the kid.

"This is so we'll be able to meet again." Tobio explained.

"Shishishi." Luffy grinned along with most of his crew, Zoro and Vergil settled for a smirk though.

"Now what are you guys doing here. Set sail while the weather is still good! You eat and run bastards!"Ganzo urged them.

The crew finally set sail.

"Good bye!" Nami, Luffy and Usopp waved at them.

"Don't forget the great Captain Usopp!" Usopp reminded them.

"Take care of yourself!" Luffy added.

"We'll meet again someday!" Tobio exclaimed as he ran into the water and waved at them.

The ship was no longer in their sight when Tobio said. "He… Really is going to become the Pirate King."

"Maybe." Ganzo agreed.

Tobio ran a bit more forward. "Thank you everyone! Thank you, Luffy!" He yelled.

* * *

_**Movie 1 Arc - Finished**_

* * *

_**That's it for this chapter, sorry for the late update.**_

* * *

_**Trivia:**_

* * *

_**-Vergil was supposed to take down three thieves before they could go back to El Drago.**_

* * *

_**Next Arc – Baratie Arc**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Weight Of The Wado Ichimonji**_


	31. Weight Of The Wado Ichimonji

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Guest – Thanks for the review, glad you liked the fight.**_

_**Blazeinferno – Thanks for the review, I'm glad you liked the chapter. Trust me I can't wait to write Arlong Park Arc.**_

_**OPFan37 – Thank you for reviewing, to be frank, while it's not actually an excuse I'd like to point out that English is far from my native language so that coupled with the fact that I don't re-read them is the reason behind the spelling mistakes. Baratie will be a fun arc to write, although I'll most likely try to get it done quickly so i can get to Arlong Park arc, I've got some changes planned and all but some things could change, as proven by trivia. I'm fine with reading separate stories that are part of the one whole story and I began reading your story although I haven't had much time, but I can say that I like it, I'll leave a review when I read another chapter or two.**_

_**20th CBoys' fan – Thanks for the review, you are right, there aren't any major scenes due to the fact that I didn't really feel like there would be much to change with Vergil around.**_

_**Guest – Thanks for the review, there is a potential of one more OC joining, under assumption he stays alive. There will be some OCs that will be temporary allies though.**_

* * *

_**Arc 6 – Baratie Arc**_

* * *

_**Chapter 31 – Weight Of The Wado Ichimonji**_

* * *

Nami's eyes opened up as she sat up abruptly in her bed. She looked around gasping for air, searching, trying to find the cause of her nightmare. She just sat there for a minute until her brain kicked in making her remember that she was currently with a completely different pirate crew, sailing on the Going Merry.

She gritted her teeth and stood up from her bed before she went out of her room hoping to get some fresh breath.

The last thing she expected was to see Vergil leaning against the mast and looking at the sky, from what she could see it was about half past four and she honestly hoped that everyone would still be asleep.

Her presence made Vergil look toward the doors of her room and then at her.

"A nightmare, huh." He bluntly said, his tone making it sound more like a statement rather than a question.

"I didn't have any nightmares, I just needed some fresh air." She refused to admit it.

Vergil rolled his eyes and jumped up to her slightly startling her, he landed next to her and while she was facing the railing he leaned his back and rested his elbows against it. "It sure ain't convincing me with the way you screamed. What's the point of lying about it Princess?" He asked.

"I screamed?" She asked, that was new, or so she thought, she knew that she used to wake up a lot, especially when she was younger, but to scream without knowing it, it was new, or at the very least no one ever told her.

"Yeah, I suppose a couple of minutes before you woke up, you screamed a couple of times." Vergil stated and turned his head a bit to look at her, he knew it, normally she would look strong to others, he was aware of her pain even though she hid it so well, but here she was trembling slightly. He closed his eyes for a moment and then turned around. "Princess, let me help you…" He said.

Nami's eyes widened and she turned to look at him. "You can't help me." She refused making him sigh.

"I can. Just tell me who and I'll defeat him. You just need to trust me, to trust us." Vergil told here, for once he wasn't acting like a demon he was, right now, with the way he was talking it would seem like he was more of a human than a demon.

"I'm going to go back to my bed." She said and then looked at him. "Mind bringing me a glass of water?" She asked, not feeling a need to be flirty to get him to do this, it was kind of pleasant, not having to flirt with anyone to get things done like she did in the past.

"Sure." Vergil replied and the two went separate was.

Nami sat down on her bed and waited for a minute or two before she saw the doors opening, there was no knocking, not even announcing that he was coming in.

"Seriously, for all you knew I could have been undressing or something." She scolded him.

"Three things Princess. First you expected me to come in so you wouldn't just go and start undressing yourself. Two, I'll knock when you aren't expecting me. And three, well it wouldn't be a bad experience." Vergil bluntly stated and she almost choked on the water as he said the last thing.

"What did you say?" She asked ready to punch him.

"Really Princess? What kind of grown up straight man would find seeing a beautiful woman undressing a bad experience, the aftermath sure, it can be bad if the woman in question is as violent as you. To be honest though I'd look away depending on the amount of clothing left." He admitted earning himself a well expected punch directly to the face.

"Pervert." She said.

"I beg to differ Princess, there is being perverted and then there is normal male behavior. You really think that any normal straight man wouldn't have a reaction depending on the state of your clothing?" He inquired.

"So you are saying that you find me attractive?" She decided to tease.

"Yes, I do find you attractive, beautiful, pretty, cute, gorgeous, choose the compliment that you like the most." And the teasing tactic, failed, being as blunt as he was Vergil simply admitted the truth.

"Even though you are a demon?" She asked remembering how Krim always degraded her in every possible aspect, even the beauty she clearly had.

"You haven't met many demons before me. I don't know what the bastard told you but being a demon doesn't have anything to do with what we find attractive or not. It's more about being willing to admit it." Vergil replied and then grinned.

"Why were you even awake?" She asked.

"Well most nights I sleep from 12AM to 4AM but lately Zoro has been waking me up around 3AM to have a spar, not every night, but you could say every second night. I use the time between 4AM up until near 7AM to train myself." Vergil explained. "Come on now, you should go back to sleep. Think about my offer though, I'll repeat it again, I can help you." Vergil stated again. Nami lied down and he covered her with sheaths.

"Why are you trying, you are a demon… Why would you want to help me?" She asked as she lied on the bed. Vergil sat down and leaned over so that his right palm supported his weight on her bed. She watched him as he half towered over her and fought back to gulp in fear.

"Because I want to protect you no matter what. I know that with the way things are in this life I can't say that I'll protect you forever, but until the day I die, or until you can protect your own freedom on your own, I will protect you." He said.

Nami's eyes widened. "Vergil…" She muttered softly but then rebuilt her resolve. "I can't…" She told him trying to sound completely sure of what she was saying.

Vergil sighed and got up. "Try having some sweet dreams for once." He told her and then left the room.

Nami let out a long sigh and looked at the doors… "Why me of all people…" She muttered not feeling sure why exactly she said that. Was it because of the situation at her home, or her current relationship with the white haired demon, or something else she honestly wasn't sure…

-Tomorrow-

Tomorrow was a rather normal day with the crew. Zoro was sleeping, Usopp was cleaning his slingshot on the deck while Nami sat in the armchair and read her book. Vergil was sitting on the deck leaning against Nami's chair. Luffy on the other hand was carrying a crate, one which he promptly dropped on the deck getting the attention of everyone but Zoro.

"What?" Usopp asked as he turned to look at Luffy.

"Whew, this is heavy." Luffy complained.

"You should have called me to help you out." Vergil pointed out.

"What's that?" Nami asked.

"A crate?" Vergil supplied.

"I know that!" Nami snapped at him.

"Shishishi. I found these in storage room." Luffy laughed and then explained.

"Cannonballs?" Nami asked.

"I figured we could practice using our hard earned cannon." Luffy said and pointed at the cannon on the deck.

"Then leave it to me!" Usopp exclaimed and began rubbing his chin. "I think I was three, when I travelled half of the world riding a cannonball…" He began his tale.

"How do you use this?" Luffy completely ignored him and so did Vergil who simply leaned back against the armchair.

"Listen to me!" Usopp snapped at him.

"Hey Zoro! Do you know how to use this?" Luffy asked yet he got no reply as Zoro kept sleeping.

"He's been asleep this whole time." Nami told him.

"Tch, no fun." Luffy complained childishly.

"If we go a litte south, there's a place we can use for practicing." Nami told him.

"Really? Let's go! Let's go!" Luffy urged.

"Heh, can you shoot the cannons as well as I can?" Usopp boasted "People call me the cannon master…" He continued but then realized that Luffy wasn't listening. "Listen!" He snapped.

-Zoro's flashback-

It was yet another peaceful and nice day and the much younger Zoro was clearly satisfied as he looked at the village from one of the hills. He was currently dressed in a plain white shirt and grayish pants.

In a local dojo a middle aged black haired man dressed in gray kimono was wearing glasses and had his hair tied in a ponytail, this man was overlooking many boys that were about as old as Zoro practicing their swordsmanship.

"Anyone here?!" He suddenly heard.

"Anyone here?!" Voice repeated and he saw Zoro standing outside. "I'm a doujouyaburi. Any strong person come forth! Come and fight me!" He challenged eagerly and in a rather cocky way.

This earned him a soft chuckle from the dojo master Koshiro. "It's pretty rare to see a doujouyaburi these days." He commented as he walked up to Zoro

Zoro folded his arms. "Hm, don't underestimate me just because I'm a kid. I'm undefeated in all of nearby towns.

"That's fine. We accept your challenge." Koshiro agreed.

"If I win, I'll take your signboard." Zoro requested, other kids his age were watching from the doors of their training room.

"If you lose?" Koshiro inquired.

"If that happens…" Zoro began unsure about what to say. "I'll join this place." He stated the first thing that came to his mind.

"Hahahaha, that is acceptable." Koshiro stated. "Then. Kuina!" He called thus confusing Zoro and making the students jump out of the way to allow a girl, a couple of years older than Zoro to step out.

"Yes, father?" She asked. Kuina had short black hair and was wearing a rather plain clothing consisting of a white sleeveless shirt and pants. She was carrying her weapon, a bamboo sword in her right hand.

"What the hell?!" Zoro raged. "You are not the one who's fighting?!" He demanded an answer.

"Even though Kuina is a girl, she is stronger than the adults in the dojo. I'm not the father that brags about his daughter." Koshiro assured him.

"I get it!" Zoro finally agreed.

"Then please come inside." Koshiro invited him.

Inside Zoro saw a basket filled with the bamboo swords.

"I can use any of these right?" Zoro asked.

"Do as you please." Koshiro simply replied.

Zoro smirked and spit out the grass he had in his mouth up until now.

It was clear that Zoro was already leaning toward his future sword style as he held numerous swords in not only his hands but his mouth as well.

"Now, let's begin." Koshiro said.

"Right, come at me." Zoro agreed but due to the swords it came out quite incorrectly.

"Bow to the gods!" Koshiro instructed as he, Kuina and Zoro bowed, one of the swords fell out of Zoro's mouth.

"Is he stupid?" One of the students who was watching asked.

"Bow to your opponent." Koshirof further instructed. As instructed Kuina and Zoro bowed only to get yet another one of Zoro's swords to hit the ground. Now he only had one more left in his mouth.

"Begin!"

The two opponents stared at each other for a moment before Kuina went in and slammed her sword down toward Zoro's head, green haired boy blocked it but failed to stop the second attack that made him not only drop all the swords but also fall to the ground with a yelp.

"Da… Damn." He cursed as he picked himself up and took two swords surprising not only Kuina but Koshiro as well.

"You…" Kuina began as she watched Zoro's fierce expression. "Have been taught in two sword techniques?" She questioned.

"I wouldn't know!" Zoro bluntly replied. "Today is the first time I ever held a shinai!" He revealed.

Koshiro was smiling from the very beginning but his smile seemed to widen at this. "First time ever?" He repeated.

"_Damn… I'm strong, and I'll become even stronger. How? How can I lose to this girl?!_" He thought as he recklessly rushed in.

His attack was easily halted when Kuina slammed her bamboo sword on his face.

Other students winced at the scene. "Why isn't he dodging?" One of the students asked.

"Single blow. Stop." Koshiro stopped the battle.

Kuina slammed the top of her bamboo sword net to Zoro's head. "This kid is like a boar." She commented.

"Hey, Kuina." Her father tried to warned her.

"A poser like you is ten years too early to wield two swords!" She said.

Zoro clenched her sword and with an angry expression he hissed "What?"

"What?" She asked with a somewhat furious but more than anything confident and arrogant expression. "You want to go for another round?" She challenged.

"Shit… A loss is a loss!" He declared.

"Good, very straight forward. Then…" Koshiro said.

"Yeah. I will join this place! Any problem with that?" Zoro asked as he stood back up onto his knee.

"No." Koshiro simply replied.

Kuina began walking away. "I'll…" Zoro began making hr stop to look at him. "Become stronger! I'll continue, continue, continue and continue training even more. And I'll defeat you! Remember that!" He declared.

Kuina looked at him with the same expression she wore from the very beginning. "That will never happen." She stated.

Days went by with Zoro practicing much more than humanly possible for someone his age. He kept swinging his sword, either practicing and perfecting the stance or swinging and hitting a post. When he would get tired he would rest under a tree in the dojo's yard. Not to mention he stood on the two rocks over the river with a rock tied to the rope which he held in his mouth.

Months passed and one sword tuned to two, instead of running just like other students he was carrying one of them on his back and still managed to run faster than others. The rock he would hold was also getting bigger and heavier, all the while Kuina watched him.

The progress was clearly visible when Zoro began defeating the adults. Koshiro watched with a satisfied smile on his face. The students that were Zoro's generation looked at him in awe but Kuina remained neutral.

On yet another one of their duels Kuina defeated him. Even with all the training she was still better.

"Single blow! Stop!" One of the judges stated.

Kuina glared at Zoro, seemingly angry at the boy she had just defeated. "Winner Kuina. 2000 wins, 0 loses." He added and Kuina let out a sigh.

"Da… damn…" He cursed as he tried to get back up.

"You are as weak as usual, Zoro." Kuina commented, her tone however didn't hold the same arrogance as during their first battle. Zoro turned his head to look at her. "How can you be so weak, as a man?" She asked, seemingly mocking him.

"Hey, Zoro isn't weak, is he?" One of the boys asked.

"He's the strongest male student." Another one replied.

"He even wins against the adults." The last one stated.

"However he's weaker than me." Kuina stopped their blabbering thus making the boys flinch. She had a cocky smile on her face. "Even with two katana a weak guy is a weak guy." With those words she began walking away. "A dog who loses should stay quiet. Barking about it only makes it more pitiful." She said and left the dojo. Boys frowned at her but didn't make a comment.

Zoro stood up and dusted off as Koshiro came up to him. "You've lost again. Zoro you have gotten really stronger." He commented.

"Sensei you aren't giving her special training just because she's your daughter are you?!" One of the students asked.

"That's not fair!" The second one added as they all ran up to Koshiro.

Koshiro on the other hand just held his hands up in defensive manner. "No I wouldn't do something like that." He assured them with an uncomfortable expression on his face. His expression turned back to a smiling one. "It's true that Zoro got stronger. But, Kuina has also gotten stronger than she was before." He told them.

Zoro began walking away stoically.

"Zoro?" A couple of students called after him.

"I'm going to wash my face." He stated.

Outside Zoro finished washing his face, his expression was serious as he looked at the water. "_Damn!_" He thought. "Why can't I beat Kuina? Why? Why?! I'm going to become the strongest man in the world! Why?!" He ranted unaware of Kuina listening to him the whole time.

He wiped off the water on his face. "Tonight, I will duel her once more." He decided to himself.

-That night-

Koshiro and the second teacher sat in Koshiro's quarter.

"It's only been a year since he joined. Zoro's progress is unbelievable." Teacher stated. "He practices more than anyone else. So his progress is quite expected. However, he still can't defeat Kuina-san." He added.

"There's a huge wall blocking a female swordsman's future." Koshiro suddenly began.

"Huh?"

"Under the current circumstances… I can't let her inherit the dojo." Koshiro stated most likely unaware of his daughter being right in front of the doors.

"Father!" She exclaimed as she opened the doors.

"Kuina-san!" Teacher acknowledged her presence although his voice was filled with certain amount of surprise.

"You shouldn't eavesdrop, Kuina." Koshiro scolded her, if he was surprised he was doing a good job at covering it.

Kuina placed her hand over her chest and leaned in. "I will become the world's greatest swordsman to show you!" She declared.

Koshiro's expression was cold, pretty much emotionless. "Kuina. A woman will not be able to become the world's best." He stated.

Kuina's eyes were wide and then she walked away.

Zoro was running through the fields carrying two real swords. He stopped when he saw Kuina sitting by the road.

"Zoro…" She muttered when she saw him.

What are you doing here?" He asked her.

"That's what I wanted to ask you." She replied and wiped her face with a handkerchief, it was pretty much clear that she was crying just up until now. "What are you doing here at this hour?" She asked.

Zoro walked up to the raven haired girl. "I came to request our 2001st battle. For this will be our last duel. Let's end this." He said and tapped the sheathed sword on the ground. "Fight me with a real sword. You do have a real sword, right?" He asked.

Kuina was a bit surprised at this, she got serious. "With me?" She asked and then she smiled the way she always would. "Fine."

-A bit later-

Kuina opened the doors and there as the trophy of the room lied a sword in the white sheath. She took it and partly unsheathed it. "Wado Ichimonji." She muttered the sword's name.

-Later-

Zoro and Kuina stood on a grass field staring at each other and taking their respective stances.

Wind blew by them as Zoro finally rushed toward Kuina. The raven haired girl let out a battle cry as she swung her sword toward Zoro from above. Zoro was capable of blocking the first strike and then slashed toward her, Kuina backed away a bit, just enough to dodge even though Zoro's blade cut off a bit of her hair. She attacked again, this time from the side. Zoro blocked her blade and stopped it from cutting his left side. They pushed against each other a bit before jumping back.

Two charged at each other again, swords clashed in a deadly dance of blocking and attacking. The time passed and finally the difference between them was clear, Zoro was panting while Kuina showed no signs of tiredness.

"Two real swords must be heavy, right?" She said, her voice betrayed the fact that she wasn't unaffected by their battle, she was also tired, though not as much as Zoro. "It seems like you still lack a bit of stamina." She stated.

Zoro narrowed his eyes. "Shut up!" He yelled at her.

For the first time Kuina was the one to charge first taking Zoro by surprise. He tried to block but with a powerful swing she made him lose grip on his blades and fall to the ground with his swords falling behind him. She towered over him and stabbed her blade into the ground right by the left side of his head.

"This is my, 2001st win." She said with a satisfied smile on her face. Zoro's swords landed, stabbing the ground slightly and getting stuck in it.

Kuina stood up and wiped the sweat off of her forehead while also throwing her hair back a bit.

"Damn…" She heard Zoro crying, he was actually crying, covering his eyes with his hands and finally crying… "Shit. I can't accept this…" He sobbed.

"I'm the one who wants to cry because I can't accept it." She said, making him look at her, his crying stopped. "Girls… When we grow up we become weaker then men." Zoro just looked at her. "I will probably be overtaken by you soon." She lifted her head up. "You always say that you'd become the world's best swordsman. My father told me… It's not possible for a girl… I know, I already know about this." Her voice was starting to get overpowered by her emotions, it wavered slightly as she raised her tone just a tiny little bit, yet it was noticeable for Kuina who was always so stoic and arrogant. "But, but… I can't accept it!" She said louder than before. "Zoro it must be nice to be a man." She said envious of Zoro's gender, her voice however regain the calm demeanor. Zoro stood up. "I also want to become the world's greatest swordsman! My chest is starting to grow out." She admitted as she placed her hand on her chest, Zoro looked at her slightly red in the cheeks. "If… If I was born a boy!" She started crying…

Zoro gritted his teeth and growled a bit. "How can you say such weak words after beating me?!" He demanded. "That's despicable! You've been my goal all this time!" Zoro told her. It was true that he wanted to become the world's greatest swordsman but right now Kuina was his goal.

"Zoro…" She muttered.

"Whether you're a man or a woman. Is that what you're going to say when I beat you one day?! As if it wasn't because of my own skills?! It makes me who's training hard a complete fool!" Kuina just watched him, she was seeing him in a new light. "Don't say thing like that!" He walked up to her and looked her in the eyes. "Promise me. One day either you or I will be the world's greatest swordsman! We can compete to see who does it!" He declared and they looked at each other for some time before she closed her eyes and smiled.

"Stupid, saying that even though you are weak…" She said

Zoro held out his hand and she took it. "It's a promise." They both said.

-Later-

Some time passed and Kuina was fighting the second teacher of the dojo, in fact she was winning.

"Amazing…" One of the students commented.

"Doesn't she seem stronger than before?" Another one asked, the students weren't the only ones who watched in awe, Koshiro was also surprised by his daughter.

-With Zoro-

Zoro was pulling the tied rocks up and down while holding a small weight in his mouth. "_I must increase my stamina. Until I can wield as many swords as I want! If two wasn't enough I'll use three!_" He thought, that's when he noticed three students, they had utterly grim looks on their faces, almost as if they were crushed by something. "What's wrong with you?" Zoro asked.

"Kuina is… Kuina is dead." The student told him and for the first time Zoro felt something clench inside of him…

The funeral time came and while the rain fell down upon them the students of the dojo and some of the local people walked toward the graveyard carrying Kuina's body in a coffin.

"She missed her footing on the stairs in the storage room." One of the people said.

"Storage room?" Another one asked.

"It seems like she went in there to find her katana's whetstone." The same man from before replied.

"Why look for such a thing?" The second man asked.

"Who knows…" The first one stated.

"She was still a child"

"You can't understand humans."

"Who knows what will happen tomorrow."

Zoro was walking silently along with the people who had the conversation.

The morning after that Zoro ran toward the dojo and while panting opened the doors, doors to the room in which Koshiro was supposed to be. The said man anywhere but in the room though, either way Zoro heard him not too far away, in a dojo where adults trained.

How it came to that one could probably guess but Zoro was fighting against one of the adults and albeit with certain amount of straining he won. Sweat dripped down his face and he panted as other students looked at him in utter surprise along with the second teacher. Koshiro just looked at him with an unreadable expression.

Zoro intensified his training doing the same things with even more dedication. While he was holding the massive rock he felt like he was watched by none other than Kuina, he turned behind to see that no one was there, but still he dropped the rock and let out a loud scream.

The training took on a whole different level when he broke the polls that he has been hitting rapidly with his bamboo swords. As he panted he turned to see Koshiro looking at him. Zoro's eyes widened when he saw the familiar katana, Wado Ichimonji in Koshiro's hand.

The master and the student sat in Koshiro's personal quarter.

"Humans are really fragile beings, Zoro. Kuina was… That girl hated to lose. Ever since she was little she trained in this dojo. Obtaining skills that would even beat adults. Because of that, she became arrogant… At that time, Zoro. You appeared before us. I sincerely thank you. To be able to beat you who has become stronger day by day she concentrated on her training even more. She didn't want to lose to a boy like you. This she started breaking the obstacles of being a swordswoman… I'm just an ordinary father after all." As he said that Zoro fought back the tears.

"Even now when I look at you. I feel a pain in my heart…" Koshiro admitted as the first tears fell down to the floor of the dojo.

Tears kept falling down, with no indication that they would stop… "Sensei." Zoro called getting Koshiro to look at him. "That katana… Please give it to me." Zoro requested.

Koshiro looked down to Wado Ichimonji. "Kuina's katana?" He asked.

"I will… Take her share of training and become even stronger! I'll become so strong that my name will reach the heavens! I'll become the world's greatest swordsman!" He announced with as much determination as he could muster. "We promised… I… I…"

Koshiro smiled and picked up the katana.

"That's fine." He said making Zoro look up. "Kuina's soul and dreams…" He said as he held the katana in front of him in a manner that clearly said he was passing it down. "I leave them to you." He said, his eyes were for once opened. Zoro let out a loud cry…

-Years later-

Years went by and Zoro now pretty much an adult was ready to leave, he stood in front of the rocks he trained with and sliced them.

He was ready to leave and there was once thing left for him to do. He paid his respect in front of Kuina's grave.

"It's been eight years since then. You'll finally go on your journey." Koshiro told him, the swordsman was pretty much the same with the exception being the gray hair that was now mixing up with his black one, although the black hair was still the prominent one.

Zoro stood up. "Yes, sensei. To fulfill… my promise." He said and smiled at the man that helped him up until now.

Zoro bowed and began walking away in hopefully right direction.

"Zoro." Koshiro called out to him. The green haired male turned to look at Koshiro. "Take care."

-Zoro's flashback ends-

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_**That's it. Good thing is there aren't many of these episodes so I can somewhat bear with it in a bit easier way. Flashbacks of this kind are a bit annoying to me when it comes to writing them.**_

_**By the way a doujouyaburi is someone who challenges a dojo and defeats all its members and shinai is a bamboo sword.**_

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_**Next Chapter – Baratie's Cook, Sanji**_


	32. Baratie's Cook, Sanji

_**Answers on reviews:**_

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_**Guest – Thanks for the review, yeah it's a bit different side. **_

_**Blazeinferno – Thanks for the review. I'm glad you like the chapter, the worst one of the flashbacks will, so far be Luffy's flashback after Marineford, I'll try to put it all in one or two at most chapters though and I'll try to do that with every flashback.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks for the review and the honest opinion.**_

_**OPFan37 – Thank you for reviewing and continued support. I'm glad you think I did a good job with the flashback and that you liked the little moment in the beginning.**_

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_**Chapter 32 – Baratie's Cook, Sanji**_

* * *

While Zoro was sleeping, the crew reached the place Nami had told them about and Luffy was trying to hit a big rock… Yet he failed miserably. One thing that he did do though was waking Zoro up.

"Eh? I missed." Luffy said with no clear indication that it bothered him.

"What are you guys doing?" Zoro asked.

"We're practicing shooting the cannon. But it's harder than I thought it would be." Luffy said thoughtfully.

"I told you, let me show you how it has to be done." Usopp said confidently. He took Luffy's place and began preparing. "Eh, with our current distance… This is about right?" He mumbled to himself. "FIRE!" And he shoot the cannon, to the amazement of Luffy he hit the target dead on.

"AMAZING!" Luffy exclaimed. "You hit it in one shot."

"It really hit the target." Usopp mumbled in disbelief but then turned to Luffy and began boosting. "Of course, when it comes to aiming I know everything. So you believe me now?"

Luffy nodded a couple of times. "From now on you are our sniper." Luffy decided.

"What? I'm not the captain?" Usopp asked.

"I'm the captain!" Luffy exclaimed, Zoro just chuckled at the duo quietly.

"Would you look at that, he hit it on the first try." Vergil commented, he was yet to leave his spot and was still leaning against the side of the armchair that was occupied by the orange haired navigator.

"Are you planning to do this frequently?" She asked and glanced at him. She obviously referred to him leaning against the side of her armchair.

"Yeah. Got any problem with that Princess?" He asked back.

"Not really. You'll have to pay though." She said making him smirk.

"I have less money than our dinner table has food after Luffy finishes eating." Vergil replied making her bonk him on the top of his head.

"Stop lying, you can't have less than that." Nami told him.

"I sure can, when you put a debt around my neck." Vergil assured her.

"That's not a bad idea." She said with an evil grin on her face.

"Well I'm not paying you so I don't care." He said and grinned back at her.

"One way or another you are going to pay me back." Nami assured him and lifted his chin with her finger.

"Make me." He challenged.

"Oh I will, just you wait." She stated.

-Later-

In the kitchen Zoro was leaning against the fridge, while others sat at the table.

"That's okay I'll let you have the position for now. However if you do a poor job I'm going to replace you." Usopp stated still going on about being a captain.

"Usopp…" Vergil was the one to speak first making the sniper gulp a bit. "I'll warn you only once, don't disrespect the captain. Luffy is the captain for a reason, many of them in fact. Carry the title of our sniper with pride, for this is the crew of the future Pirate King." Vergil told him. Usopp was taken aback by the words and nodded with a nice amount of determination. Zoro grinned and Nami smiled a bit.

"Shishishi. I've been thinking. Before going to the Grand Line, there's one more position we need to fill." Luffy told them.

"Right, and we have such a nice kitchen." Nami said.

"I know where this is going, you aren't filling that position." Vergil cut her off making her glare at him. "It would cost more than eating at the most elite restaurants in the world every day." He deadpanned.

"For once you are right." She admitted.

"It's important personnel for any long trip. Zoro pointed out.

"Right. It's one person that a pirate ship absolutely must have." Luffy raised a finger and grinned. "A musician."

"Should have guessed it…" Vergil muttered but grinned none the less.

"Are you an idiot?!" Zoro asked loudly.

"What do you think sailing is?" Nami demanded.

"I actually thought that you were going to say something smart for once." Usopp commented.

"But pirates have to sing." Luffy argued. "Right, Vergil?" The captain asked for the support from none other than his blunt first mate.

"He does have a point there and while cook is more important than musician at this point it's true that a bit fun would be refreshing one in a while." Vergil agreed.

"You actually agree with him?" Nami asked feeling like she was just having a bad dream, someone agreed with Luffy on something that was so ridiculous to her…

"I do. Nothing in this world is useless, not a person, not a thing, not an action… A musician is a direct source of amusement, after a long battle, or a bad situation, who would you look for in need of relaxation, for a musician… If he can fight as well then we are hitting a jackpot." The white haired demon explained.

All the argument was cut short when someone jumped onto the deck and kicked the barrel thus breaking it.

"Come out you pirates!" Voice demanded.

"What, what?" Luffy came out. "Who are you?" He asked and saw an average sized male wearing a pair of sunglasses, light pants, blue jacket and a shirt underneath it. He was having a somewhat tanned skin and he had a black tattoo, a kanji for sea on his left cheek.

"Shut up! It doesn't matter…" The man swung his sword and cut the railing thus breaking a part of it. "…Who I am!"

Nami and Usopp looked at the scene through the small window while Vergil and Zoro sat back.

"How many opponents are there?" Zoro asked.

"Is there… one?" Nami guessed still not buying the fact that there was only one opponent.

"Then leave it to him." Zoro told her.

"I've killed countless pirates. But a no name pirate like you tries to kill my partner!" Man yelled as he swung down, Luffy dodged with ease.

"That voice…" Zoro seemed to recognize the voice.

"Partner?" Luffy asked. "What do you mean, partner? I don't know what's going on." Luffy told him feeling confused. He knew one thing though as he grabbed the man by the sides of his head. "But, don't damage our ship!" Luffy sent the attacked flying and slamming into the wall.

"_It… It was hair thin_…" Attacked lied to himself.

"What was that?" Luffy wondered.

"Hey you. Aren't you Johnny?" Zoro asked.

"Who is it? Calling my name with no respect?!" Johnny demanded but then he saw that it was Zoro. He quickly sat up. "Zoro-aniki!"

"So it is Johnny." Zoro said.

"Why are you here big bro?" Johnny asked.

"Where's Yosaku? You're not together?" Zoro asked.

"What, what? You two know each other?" Luffy asked.

"So it seems." Vergil replied as he stepped out as well.

-On a marine ship-

A certain marine poured wine into a glass held by an elegant blonde woman named Moodie.

"Hey… Where are you taking me today?" She asked.

"To the greatest restaurant in the world." Marine stated. He was an average size person wearing a white pinstripe suit. His pink hair was well combed and he had a scar under his right eye. The name of the marine was Fullbody.

"Don't tell me, it's in the middle of an ocean?" She asked.

Fullbody chuckled a bit. "To your beauty. Cheers." He said as they cheered, on his hands he had iron knuckles with bolts attached to them. "Well just look forward to it." He told her.

-Back on the Going Merry-

Usopp and Nami still watched through the window. Johnny ran off to somewhere.

"What? Those two know each other?" Usopp asked.

"What's going on?" Nami wondered.

"Come on you two, you can get out." Vergil called them.

As for Zoro he followed Johnny to the railing where the other boat was attached to Going Merry. He looked down along with crying Johnny to see Yosaku, a man wearing a black shirt with a long green coat, red headgear and plaid yellow shorts over unshaven legs. He was however wounded and had bloody bandages wrapped around his stomach.

"Yosaku is…" Johnny tried to say but due to crying he couldn't actually say it.

Zoro placed a comforting hand on his shoulder and they pulled the wounded man up.

"He's ill?" Zoro asked, now that Yosaku was on the deck they could see that he looked rather sick and that he was panting heavily.

"Yosaku is… He was perfectly fine up until a while ago… Then he grew pale and began losing consciousness. I have no clue why." Johnny told them as he sat next to his fallen partner, he was holding onto his head trying not to cry.

Nami walked down the stairs.

"Lately his teeth has started to fall off and his old wounds have started to bleed again… I just don't know what to do anymore! So I took him to that rocky island to let him rest, but…" He began remembering what happened.

-Flashback-

Johnny was sitting next to the lying Yosaku when the cannon ball hit the island. Johnny could only watch as the top of the island got blown up into smithereens…

-Flashback ends-

"That's when your ship attacked us." Johnny told them making Luffy and Usopp look at him with mouth wide open and horrified look in their eyes.

Nami finally reached the bottom of the stairs.

"I'm sorry!" Both Luffy and Usopp apologized as they bowed down.

"If all the problems could be solved with an apology, we wouldn't need the police. Isn't that right? Partner!" Johnny cried out. "Big bro, is he… going to die?" He asked Zoro.

Zoro didn't answer, he wasn't sure about what to say.

"Not yet." Vergil supplied.

"Are you stupid?" Nami asked as she walked past Luffy and Usopp and knelt down in front of Yosaku.

"What?" Zoro demanded.

Nami ignored him and pulled out Yosaku's tongue and checked his eye. She pulled on Yosaku's tongue a couple of times. Johnny enraged tried to stop her only to be held back by Vergil.

"What are you doing to my buddy here?" He demanded loudly and actually spat as he shouted. Nami moved away a bit to avoid the spit.

"Don't spit at her. She's trying to help." Vergil said and bonked the man on the head.

"Luffy! Usopp!" She called the crying pirates. "There are some limes in the storage, aren't there?" She asked but when she got no response she angrily turned to them. "Are you listening? Bring 'em to me, right now!" She ordered.

"Aye, aye!" They quickly agreed and ran to the doors but as they went in at the same time they got stuck…

"Get out of my way!" Luffy demanded.

"You get out of my way!" Usopp argued.

"Hey, you are the one who is in my way!" Luffy argued back. They finally went through and with a yell, they crashed into the floor.

A bit later Luffy and Usopp were squeezing the limes onto Yosaku's face.

"He's got scurvy." Nami said.

"Scurvy?" Johnny asked.

"We've got him in time. He should recover in a few days." Nami assured him.

"Is that true big sis? I am really grateful big sis!" He thanked her and well once again spat as he talked.

Nami clapped his mouth shut. "Stop spitting all over me, please." She told him a bit harshly but none the less with a good reason. "In the past it was an incurable disease that plagued sailors." She explained.

"Come on. Drink up." Luffy and Usopp urged the unconscious man.

"But now, it's just a minor problem caused by the lack of Vitamin C. In the past ships couldn't carry enough fresh fruit to avoid it." As she said that Luffy began stuffing the lime into Yosaku's mouth.

"Come on drink up." Two boys urged him as they stuffed even more limes into his mouth.

"He should be fine now. Usopp said.

Nami let out a frustrated sigh.

"You sure are something. You are like a doctor." Luffy told her, amazed at the skills his navigator showcased.

"I've always known you were a smart woman." Usopp added as he held his hands half raised.

"Yep, that's it." Luffy agreed sending Nami over the board…

"You should of at the very least known what this was!" She snapped at them. Her teeth even became shark like due to the anger. "It could happen to you sooner or later too you know!"

At that moment Yosaku spit out the pieces of limes and sat up, his skin turned back to its normal color and he blinked a couple of times.

"Idiots…" Vergil muttered as he watched Johnny and Yosaku dance around while cheering loudly.

"It's working! He's recovering!" Johnny cheered. "Welcome back, partner!"

"You don't recover that quickly!" Nami snapped at the two.

"Don't bother Princess, idiots are idiots…" Vergil tried to calm her down.

Two males suddenly stopped and turned to the crew.

"Pardon us for not introducing ourselves." They apologized.

"I am Johnny." Johnny stated.

"And I'm Yosaku." Yosaku introduced himself.

"We are the bounty hunters. Zoro-aniki used to be one of us two. It's a pleasure to meet you." They said.

"Anyway, I'm surprised to see you here." Zoro told them.

"But I'm even more surprised. The Pirate Hunter Zoro has become a pirate himself." Johnny said as Zoro walked up to them and held his hand out.

"I guess." He agreed.

"Big bro." Johny accepted Zoro's hand but when Yosaku tried to accept it as well he fell down…

"Partner?" Johnny asked.

Soon enough Yosaku was lied down to rest on one of the beds while others went to the kitchen.

-That night-

"Let this be a lesson to us." Nami said referring to Yosaku's condition.

"Yeah. These kind of things can happen on a long trips." Zoro stated.

"Especially since we don't have much room for food on this ship." Usopp added.

"Speaking of which, we should really get somebody who'd know about this dietary business." Nami stated.

Luffy being Luffy just munched on some bread. "Dietary eh? I get it! We need a sea cook!" Luffy exclaimed and sat up.

"Well he does have his moments." Vergil commented dryly.

"That's right! Then we'll have all sorts of delicious food to eat." Usopp exclaimed.

"EX-ACT-LY!" Luffy agreed happy to get some tasty food, or an food…

"If you are looking for such a cook. I know where you could go." Johnny told them.

"Yeah, yeah. That's the spirit! Where would that be?" Luffy asked excited about the new nakama.

"But, it's pretty close to the Grand Line. And the man that big bro's been hunting for, Hawk Eyes is around there too." Those words were enough to get Zoro excited as the swordsman clenched his swords and grinned. "Its direction is… North-northeast." Johnny pointed at the direction they were supposed to head out to. The five pirates grinned.

"Our direction is, the Floating Restaurant, Baratie!" Johnny exclaimed.

The crew finally reached the restaurant and everyone but Yosaku stood on the upper deck.

"Whatcha guys think, guys?" Johnny dramatically asked, Luffy and Usopp drooled, Nami just smiled and Zoro and Vergil looked passive.

"Ooh! That's a big fish!" Luffy exclaimed.

"It's amazing." Nami agreed.

"It really is." Usopp added as Yosaku stepped out of the doors drooling as well.

"Amazing!" Two youngest males exclaimed happily.

"Marines." Vergil said as he noticed a marine ship.

"What? Way out here?! Marine ship?!" Yosaku panicked.

"It didn't come all this way just to attack us?" Usopp asked.

"Even if they did they'll just lose." Vergil assured the sniper.

"Tch, I smell trouble." Zoro muttered.

"Just out of the blue?" Nami asked, behind her Johnny sneaked toward Yosaku.

Both ships sailed toward Baratie and Fullbody stepped out onto his ship's deck. "I've never seen your pirate flag before." He stated.

"Oh, no." Johnny cursed as he hid behind the doors and then peeked along with Yosaku. "We aren't pirates, you know?"

"I'm Marine Lieutenant, Iron Fist Fullbody. Hey who is your captain, show yourself!" Fullbody demanded loudly.

"I am Luffy!" Luffy stepped out.

"I am the sniper, Usopp!" Usopp added.

"Now that's more like it, sniper." Vergil commented to himself.

Luffy grinned. "Our pirate mark was just made a week ago!"

"I painted it on the sails!" Usopp added.

Fullbody smirked. "What's with you people?" He mocked then turned a bit to the side and saw Johnny and Yosaku. "I've seen those two before, though. You claim to be pirate hunters, don't you?" He asked.

"W-What?" Johnny, insulted by the words stepped out of his cover looking irritated.

"It looks like you finally caught yourself some." Fullbody mocked.

"Listen to him Yosaku, I think this bro is mocking us." Johnny said confidently.

"It's not like we are going to make a single beri on him but let's beat him." Yosaku decided, the two attacked together only to get defeated in a matter of seconds…

"It was hair thin…" They muttered.

"You two are really weak." Luffy commented.

"We'll get him easily." Yosaku tried to save their pride.

"Like usual it was hair thin…" Johnny added.

"What's with you two?" Zoro asked them.

Moodie came up from behind Fullbody and took his hand. "Hey, let's go." She told him.

"Yeah, let's head to the restaurant." He said and while he held his hand around her shoulders they walked away. "The ship is an eyesore, sink it down." Fullbody ordered and the marines saluted.

Nami's eyes fell onto the papers that were now scattered all around the deck due to Johnny falling down.

"What's all this?" Nami asked as she knelt down and took two papers, one had the name 'Saw Tooth Arlong' on it while the other one had 'Blood Puppeteer Krim'. Arlong had 20 million beri reward on his head while Krim had 15 million.

"These are all people with bounties on their heads, Nami-ane-san." Johnny explained but then gasped and covered his mouth when he saw the bounty posters Nami was holding. "It means we'd get the money offered on their head if we get 'em." He added with an uneasy smile.

"Don't you think it's a good business, big sis?" Yosaku asked but then Johnny clapped his mouth.

Nami's breathing was uneven as she crumbled the paper.

Vergil noticed her state but before he could do anything he saw cannon pointed at the ship.

"Hey, they are aiming at us!" Usopp exclaimed.

"Leave it to me!" Luffy said as he prepared to take the cannon ball on.

"Wait, Luffy!" Vergil shouted and as the cannon ball hit the rubber captain he managed to stop it, Vergil grabbed onto Luffy and with lightning engulfed fist slammed the cannon ball away into the ocean, however the inertia worked against them as Luffy and Vergil shot forward to the restaurant.

"Well fuck…" Vergil muttered as he used **Demon Slide** to ease down the landing on the roof.

"Thanks Vergil…" Luffy mumbled.

"Come on, let's get others and get into this restaurant." Vergil told him and used **Air Hike** to get away from the restaurant and then **Demon Slide** to approach the ship. Luffy took their falling as a cue and stretched out his arm so he could grab onto the mast.

Two pirates slammed against the mast and fell down onto the deck.

"Good job Vergil, just as i instructed you." Usopp took the praise.

"Yeah, yeah. Thanks for the instructions, in case you didn't know I can't read other people's minds so next time you come up with instruction, do say them." Vergil teased but then glanced at Nami who had calmed down to the point of looking like nothing had disturbed her.

"_She is too stubborn. At this point revealing that I am the Black Thunder she accused would give me two potential outcomes. First and most likely the one to happen would be her being scared to the point of escaping right away. If she could accuse me without even knowing me and with only thing she knows about me or well the Black Thunder being the fact that I killed a lot and that I'm pretty much the worst of them all then that is the most likely to happen. The second outcome is if she would finally ask for help._" He thought and sighed.

"Let's go to that restaurant." Vergil urged the crew.

"All right! Let's go!" Luffy cheered happily.

-With Fullbody-

Fullbody and Moodie enterd the Baratie, well Fullbody opened the doors and looked around to see if the restaurant was acceptable and when it proved to be just fine and more than that he led the woman inside.

The one that was going to serve them their food was a blond man whose hair covered his left eye, on the other side of his face he had a swirly eyebrow and he was dressed in a black suit.

This man was Baratie's assistant chef, Sanji.

* * *

_**That's it. Well as you probably know aniki is a big brother and aneki or ane-san is big sister, when Johnny or Yosaku say it along with a name I'll use those suffixes, when they don't add name I'll write it normally. Sanji didn't appear too much this time, he was simply introduced so hope you aren't too disappointed.**_

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_**Next Chapter – Sanji's Food, Gin's Grace**_


	33. Sanji's Food, Gin's Grace

_**Answers on reviews:**_

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_**Guest – Thanks for the review, I have some changes in plan but you'll just have to wait and see.**_

_**Blazeinferno – Thanks for the review. Water 7 incident, well I can't tell you how exactly he'll react but I think you can pretty much guess.**_

_**OPFan37 – Thanks for the compliments, not all the main characters are always in every conversation in the anime/manga itself so i see no reason for Vergil to always be there or take part in conversation, especially not through a forced way, either. As for Fullbody, well I'm debating over a certain event when it comes to him, but I won't reveal it yet. Vergil will cause changes like that and then some more major ones as well. I don't really see a point in original character if all he does is add a couple of lines, becomes a love interest of some other character and takes a couple of battles while making some minor changes, it kind of takes away from his purpose and makes being the love interest of someone else the main point of his character in the story.**_

_**That's certainly not what I want with Vergil, saying this however doesn't mean that OC should never fight an OC, rather he probably should to a certain extent fight other OCs because most battles serve as character development for the main characters. Still rather than changing battles he/she should change the course of events, help develop the character into something new, like Usopp saying that he is a sniper instead of a captain to Fullbody. Well enough about this, I'm starting to rant… Krim's epithet came after a selection from a couple of different epithets, the chosen one seemed to fit the most. Another 10-13 chapters before he makes a official appearance outside of the flashback though.**_

_**20th CBoys' fan – Thanks for the review and continued support, I already talked about Vergil making changes so let's just cut the chase and get to the chapter.**_

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_**Chapter 33 – Sanji's Food, Gin's Grace**_

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The crew, minus Johnny and Yosaku entered Baratie and sat at one of the tables.

One of the supposed waiters came and took the order which surprisingly had a lot of meat in it. The crew may have gotten into the restaurant but they certainly didn't expect to get both food and a show.

Sanji walked up to the table that Fullbody and Moodie occupied and elegantly poured the wine into their glasses. There was a cloth around the bottle making it impossible to read the name of the wine.

"Look." One of the customers urged. "Isn't the man sitting at that table Lieutenant Fullbody?"

"He's a lieutenant of the marines." A bit older male said and two kids, most likely his own peeked out to look at Fullbody.

"Oh, he's so handsome and noble!" Came a comment form one of the females.

"You're amazing. Everyone is looking at you." Moodie told him as they held their glasses in front of them.

"Not true, they are all admiring your beauty." Fullbody assured her and they allowed themselves a small toast.

"Hm?" Fullbody looked a bit surprised at the taste of the wine. "This is exquisite." He exclaimed as he held his hand up, three of his fingers were unclenched pointing at the ceiling. "T-this taste." He said and then sniffed the wine. "This fragrance…" By the time he said this all the eyes were upon him. "It's the fragrance of the Mitqueo City in the north. A bit sour, and a bit spicy. This wine is Wurzburger Stein!" Fullbody declared confidently.

Sanji placed the wine bottle on the table. "Am I right, waiter?" Fullbody asked and Sanji removed the cloth.

Sanji grabbed his forearm making it relax and placed a spoon in his hand before closing the hand around it. "Sorry, but it's not… Sir." Sanji said shocking Fullbody. "Your soup is getting cold. Please enjoy it while it's still hot." Sanji told him and began walking away leaving the surprised duo. "By the way, I'm Assistant Head Chef, Sanji. All the waiters ran off after what happened yesterday," Sanji told him.

Moodie chuckled a bit and then sipped at her wine. Fullbody piped down, grunted and placed the spoon in his soup. All he could do was listen to the comments. "Don't laugh at him" "But, have you seen the look on his face?"

"Discouraged…?" Moodie asked him. "'Cause of the wine?"

"A little." He admitted and lifted his spoon a bit. "My tongue is a bit numb today." He tried to give an excuse, one that only made her chuckle. And his face, well it would make the person who commented that he was handsome rather blind. "_Hey, what the hell is going on here? I told the waiter the specific wine to be served!"_ He thought and glanced at Sanji who was climbing up the stairs.

-With the crew-

The crew finished their meal a bit sooner then they hoped they would, due to certain someone taking anything on the table and eating.

"So good!" Luffy exclaimed happily.

"Heh, I' have to agree." Zoro said with a smirk on his face.

"Let's go, we'll come back for a lunch." Nami urged them.

"Go on, I'd like to relax a bit." Vergil said making her glance at him. "There's a descent show going on." He explained, she shook her head in slight disbelief and stood up.

"Shishishi. Let's order more food." Luffy urged Vergil when the other three left.

"So that's why you stayed here." Vergil commented with a smirk. "Assistant Head Chef!" Vergil called.

Sanji walked up to the table.

"We'd like another portion of meat and make it really big, this guy has a bottomless pit for the stomach." Vergil said.

"Were you with someone?" Sanji asked when he noticed three empty plates, clearly used by someone.

"Our nakama." Luffy simply answered. Sanji just brushed it off and glanced at Vergil's eyes.

"Demons are rare guests around here. I don't think I'd need to use the fingers on my second hand to count the number of times I've seen one here." He commented.

"Demon ignorance rarely knows bounds. I'm actually quite fond of human food, so I'd prefer it if you didn't jump into conclusion right away, I will never be your everyday demon that finds humans to be lower than dirt." Vergil stated.

"Then we won't have problems." Sanji said and went to get the meat.

A bit of time passed and Fullbody was still quite enraged when he noticed a bug on the floor. He stepped on it causing Moodie to look at him, yet he only smirked a bit.

"Waiter!" Fullbody yelled getting the attention of everyone in the restaurant once again. Sanji stopped his stroll and then turned to walk up to Fullbody and Moodie.

"Didn't I tell you that I'm not a waiter?" Sanji asked then looked at the two and leaned toward Moodie. "But you've certainly got a good taste when it comes to your company." He commented and placed his hand on top of Moodie's. "How about it, Miss? Would you care to ditch this guy and have some wine with me?" Sanji suggested.

Fullbody slammed his hand on the table getting Sanji's attention. He was pointing at his soup, or more specifically at the bug in it. "Hey! Does this restaurant serve bug soup to its customers?" He demanded to know.

"Bugs?" Sanji asked.

"Then what is this bug?!" Fullbody demanded and smirked. "This should do the trick." He thought confidently.

Sanji smirked. "I'm sorry sir. I don't know either. I'm not much of an expert on bugs." Sanji stated earning Fullbody a laugh from the entire restaurant.

Fullbody clenched his fist, feeling angrier than before. "Don't mock me!" He yelled and slammed his fist down on the table thus breaking both the table and plates.

Vergil and Luffy watched as Sanji knelt down and touched the spilled soup. "If you had just picked the bug out it would've been edible. I spent three full days and nights making this soup." Sanji stated, he was suppressing his own anger.

Fullbody stepped onto his hand. "Should you have such an arrogant tone towards your customers! I'm a customer! I paid you the money!" Fullbody raged.

Moodie went to him trying to stop the marine. "Stop it, Fullbody-san!" She begged but he pushed her to the floor.

"Shut up!" He snapped at her.

"F-Fullbody-san…" She muttered.

"Can money… fill your stomach?" Sanji asked. His tone was dangerously low.

"What?" Fullbody asked.

"I said can money fill your stomach?" Sanji repeated and then gave in to his anger.

"I think we've got him Luffy, our new nakama and cook." Vergil said exactly what was on Luffy's mind.

"Shishishi. Yup." Luffy agreed.

Customers watched, rather surprised as blood dripped on the floor.

"F-Fullbody-san?" Moodie called out to the marine.

Cooks came down the stairs.

"Sanji." One of them muttered.

"Assistant Head Chef!" Another one called.

"Someone call the owner." One of the cooks said.

Sanji was holding Fullbody by the neck while the marine lieutenant bled. "Don't go ruining our food." Sanji stated. "Messing with a cook of the sea is a good way to get yourself killed. Remember that well…"

-Bathroom area of the restaurant-

One of the customers was quickly approaching the bathroom doors. "Man i can't hold it any longer…" He muttered and went for a doorknob.

"Courtesy!" He suddenly heard and well it made him forget his, needs so to speak. "That's love! Only love makes a restaurant. The customers are Gods!" In the bathroom a large man known as Patty, man who pretty much looked like Popeye and Brutus combined… He was without a doubt practicing his performance in front of a mirror. "Service, service and more service! And the very foundation of service is a heartfelt greeting. Welcome, mere bastard." Well the heartfelt greeting just went on a whole new level with this guy. "Please enjoy yourself. No entry for the poor. Here's 10,000 beri! Keep the change!" He laughed at his own preparations.

Patty stepped out of the bathroom. "All right I feel ready now! Time to go back to work." That's when he noticed the customer. "Oh. Welcome, mere bastard." He greeted and walked away happily. "Service, service and more service. Custo…" He began singing but then came into the hall and saw Sanji holding Fullbody.

"A customer!" He yelled. "You're at it again, Sanji? What are you doing to our customer? Isn't that a marine lieutenant?" Patty asked as he approached the blond male.

Sanji glanced at him. "Got a problem with that, shitty cook? Don't talk to me that way." Sanji told him.

"A shitty cook like you has no right to call me shitty." Patty hissed at Sanji. "To a restaurant, the customers are everything. Beating up our valuable customers, what do you think you are doing?" He demanded.

Sanji turned to look at Fullbody. "Customer or not, it's no different. This guy not only ruined our dishes, he also insulted its cook." Sanji let go of Fullbody who dropped down to the floor and just sat there. "That's why I thought I should teach him a lesson."

"What kind of restaurant is this? Do you treat all your customers like this? How does it even stay in business? I'll destroy it! I'll destroy your precious little restaurant! I'll destroy it! I'll contact my superiors right now!" With every word Fullbody said Sanji got angrier.

"I guess that means I can't let you leave this place alive." Sanji breathed out and began walking toward utterly scared Fullbody.

"Stop it Assistant Head Chef!" Three cooks came up to him and tried to stop him from harming, or killing, Fullbody.

"Let go of me!" Sanji demanded. "He started it!"

"Stop it! Stop fighting Sanji!" Another cook yelled at him.

"Just who do you think you are?! Huh?!" Sanji yelled at the now crying marine, there was no shame in those tears, Sanji right now looked furious.

"Hey, Sanji!" A voice suddenly boomed making Sanji ease down his struggle to get free. He glanced at the figure that was walking up to them. The man was an elderly looking, blond whose hair was kept under the extra long chef's hat. He had extremely long mustaches that seemed to stick toward the sides in a somewhat weird way and a beard. He was wearing his chef's uniform with blue ascot and white apron. He also had a peg leg instead of an actual right leg. This man was Zeff, the Head Chef of the Baratie.

"Were you fighting in my restaurant again, you ingrate?" Zeff demanded.

Sanji stopped completely and stood to look at Zeff. "Shut up, old fart." He said.

"What? Who do you think you're talking to?! You want to destroy my restaurant?!" Zeff scolded him. "You insolent boy!" With that Zeff kicked Sanji with the peg leg.

Fullbody smirked satisfied that Sanji was getting beaten. "You are another one! Get the hell outta here!" Zeff kicked Fullbody as well making the man fall down to the floor.

"It seems like 'Who celebrates too early, mopes all day' is true." Vergil commented with a smirk on his face.

"Shishishi, that's funny." Luffy laughed.

Fullbody grunted as he tried to stand up. "_What's with this restaurant? Even the owner has gone nuts. Just looking at them… They are just like… Just like a pirate crew!_" He thought.

"You got that? Customers are Gods!" Patty scolded Sanji.

"Only the ones who can stand your cooking." Sanji retorted.

"Patty, Sanji! If you wanna fight don't go doing that in front of our customers!" Zeff told them, he wasn't telling them not to fight, or to get along, just not to do it in front of customers and that's all. For all he cared they could fight behind the walls anytime.

"Are these people really chefs?" Fullbody wondered as he sat up.

"L-Lieutenant! Lieutenant Fullbody!" One of the marines yelled, calling out to the beaten up marine. "We've got a problem!"

"This restaurant sure is lively." Luffy commented.

"You could say that." Vergil agreed.

"The Pirate Krieg's man has escaped!" Marine told him.

"What?!" Fullbody asked loudly.

"We thought he could've given us a lean on Krieg… We've already lost seven of our men!" Marine informed him while looking down ashamed.

"That's ridiculous! When we got him three days ago he was about to starve to death! And we haven't fed him yet, have we?" Fullbody asked.

"The d-dreaded Don Krieg Pirates!" One of the customers began panicking.

"Isn't he supposedly the most powerful man in the East Blue?" Another one asked.

"I'm really sor…" Marine tried to apologize but gun fired and the man dropped down dead. Customers ran off to try and hide as the prisoner stood at the doors. The combat commander of Don Krieg's pirates, Gin was a relatively thin man of average height with scruffy, short hair, a scruffy beard and a slight mustache. He had dark circles under his eyes and was wearing an open gray jacket with a red sea serpent design on each side with a green shirt underneath it. He also had headband with blue and gray stripes and pants that matched the jacket. As the final detail he had two spherical earrings on each ear.

Zeff, Sanji, Luffy and Vergil simply watched the pirate.

"Another customer has arrived." Patty stated although he sounded anything but polite.

"He'd better not cause any more troubles in my restaurant." Zeff added.

"Pirate, eh?" Luffy commented.

"You two are still here?" Sanji asked.

"Sure, is there really a reason for us to run?" Vergil replied with a rhetoric question.

Fullbody looked away as Gin passed by him and sat down at one of the tables and raised one of his legs on it. "I don't care what it is. Bring me some food. This is a restaurant, isn't it?"

Patty was right away there. "Welcome, mere bastard." Patty mocked making the other customers gasp in fear.

"I'll say it only once more, so listen up. Bring me some food." Gin demanded.

"He's gonna kill that cook." Fullbody muttered.

"Nope, I'll kill you if you don't scram, and I mean now." Vergil threatened making Fullbody scream.

"I'm sorry Sir, but we'll be expecting you to pay for a meal here. Do you have enough money?" Patty asked as he rubbed the top of his head.

"Hm?" Gin glanced at Patty and pointed the gun at him "Is the bullet okay?" He asked.

Patty's expression changed right away from a ipolite one to hostile one. "So I take it you don't have any money." In a flash Patty slammed his fists together and slammed them down onto Gin like a hammer. He also broke the chair Gin was sitting on.

"What?" Fullbody exclaimed in surprise.

"Why that Patty bastard broke one of my chairs!" Zeff said, he was clearly more irritated about the chair than anything else.

"Wow, what power." Luffy marveled.

"Not something you'd expect from a cook but seeing how Sanji and that owner are I suppose it's not a surprise." Vergil commented. "_But still it's quite contradictory, Sanji was so set on the fact that money can't fill your stomach, yet a cook of the same restaurant demands money… So it's not a mentality of the restaurant but rather Sanji's._" He thought.

Customers watched in awe and relief.

"If you don't have money you can't eat!" Patty declared as he folded his arms across his chest.

"Way to go, Cook-san!" One of the female customers cheered while the other one whistled encouragingly.

"That pirate's nothing! Take him out Patty-san!" One of the cooks encouraged.

"Tch. Humans…" Vergil breathed out kinda irritated at them.

Gin's stomach growled. "Oh, your stomach is growling there, you filthy pirate." Patty mocked.

The pirate in question looked up toward Patty. "That was a fart. You jerk, hurry and get me something to eat." Gin demanded.

"You are no customer! So get the hell outta here!" Patty yelled at him.

Sanji walked away and went to the kitchen, he began preparing something. Whether he was aware of Zeff standing next to the doors was unknown.

Patty kicked Gin again and again.

"All right that's enough. He clearly can't defend himself." Vergil said as he pulled Patty back.

"What was that? Don't interfere!" Patty yelled at him.

"I said that it's enough. And you bunch of lowlife bastards, cut it out with the cheers, the next one to cheer or attempt to attack this man gets killed. Got it?" Vergil threatened. He glanced at Luffy who was grinning, Vergil could do what he wanted to do, as long as he wasn't outright killing innocent people and he knew that while Vergil threatened to do it and while the white haired demon was irritated by the situation he wouldn't kill. Patty stepped back, normal pirates were one thing, but demons were completely different. The customers piped down out of fear.

"_I can't take it anymore. I don't want to have anything to do with this restaurant anymore! I'll never come here again!_" Fullbody thought as he crawled out of the restaurant.

"I don't need pity…" Gin muttered.

"It's not pity you idiot. It's my own decision and it has nothing to do with you. When I look at you bastards I know you see me as a lowest scum of them all, but in my eyes you are just as bad as demons, maybe even worse. Tell me humans! What kind of people laugh and cheer at the death or suffering of another person?!" Vergil demanded, his voice thundered though out the restaurant as he grabbed Gin by the collar and walked away along with Luffy who looked rather happy.

"Damn him… How dare he...? Normally I wouldn't let anyone get away with that crap…" Gin breathed out as he tried to stand up but ell down onto the deck.

"Hey, you are starving aren't you?" Luffy asked.

"S-Shut up! I am least bit hungry." Gin denied even though his stomach chose that exact moment to growl, again.

"Denying it won't make the hunger go away. Cut it out." Vergil told him as he sat down and leaned against the railing while Luffy sat cross legged on the railing.

The doors opened and Sanji came out carrying a plate of food and a glass of water. While Vergil and Luffy watched, he placed it in front of Gin. Gin looked at the plate and then at Sanji who sat down next to Vergil and breathed out the smoke of his cigarette.

"Eat it." He simply told the starving pirate who gulped.

"Shut up! Go away! This is worse! I won't accept charity! Take it away!" The pride was talking out of Gin.

"Don't be so tough. Just eat it already." Sanji told him. "To me, any hungry person is a customer."

Gin looked away. "I, I can't pay for it."

Sanji sighed and looked up. "The vast ocean can be very cruel. It's awful to not have any food or water. Just awful… I understand starving people more than anyone. I don't care if you want to die with dignity. But if you eat up, you'd be able to look forward to a new tomorrow, won't you?" Sanji lectured him.

Gin gasped, then gulped and finally relented. He dug in and began eating while crying. "This is so delicious. So delicious. It's too delicious. I thought I was going to die! I thought I was a goner." He continued eating. After a few moments he stopped again. "Delicious, so delicious. I've never had such a good meal in my whole life."

Sanji smirked at the words. "It's shitty delicious, eh?"

"Shishishi. Well now we really found our cook!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Looks like it." Vergil agreed.

"Hey, aren't you lucky? If he hadn't given you something to eat. Shishishishi! It'd be all over you by now. Hey, Cook, become my nakama." Luffy invited the confused Sanji. "You'll be the cook on our pirate ship." Luffy decided.

"Huh?" Sanji and Gin responded together.

"Don't even bother. It's kinda like first order." Vergil assured Sanji. "Anyway was that old guy a pirate once?" He asked curiously.

"He was. On a notorious pirate crew as well." Sanji simply replied.

"Ah, so that old guy was a pirate." Luffy said with a grin as he looked up.

"For that old fart. This restaurant is worth more than any treasure. And those cooks who came after his fame were once fierce pirates. Well the pirates in these parts often come to this place" Sanji explained.

"Yeah, this place never seems to have a dull moment." Luffy pointed out.

"It's not bad. I'm used to it. Recently, most people only come to see the brawl between pirates and cooks. But thanks to that it scares away all the part time waiters." Sanji said.

"Which just proved my words from before." Vergil commented.

"You made quite a statement back there, are you sure a demon has the right to say something like that?" Sanji challenged.

"Demon or not, I at the very least won't laugh when someone is getting beaten up like that." Vergil stated.

"Fair point." Sanji admitted.

"Hey, join us." Luffy invited again.

"I refuse. I have my reasons why I must remain here." Sanji replied.

Luffy dropped down a bit and came face to face with Sanji, though he was upside down. "No! I refuse!" Luffy refused.

The blond cook backed away a bit. "About what?" Sanji asked.

Luffy went back to his previous position. "I refuse your refusal. You are a good cook so come with me and be a pirate." He stated.

"Hey now, you listen to me." Sanji demanded.

"So what's this reason of yours?" Luffy asked.

"I don't need to tell that to you!" Sanji argued.

"You told us to listen." Vergil and Luffy pointed out at the same time.

"I meant that you must accept my decision!" Sanji snapped as he got angry. "You'd better watch out or I'll gut you like a fish, you straw hat bastard!"

"What did you say?! Don't insult my hat unless you are picking a fight you bastard!" Luffy argued back.

"Just give it up Sanji. 'Be my nakama' is the first order you get." Vergil stated.

"I refuse!" Cook snapped again.

"Sorry to interrupt, but." Gin began, he was still sitting on the deck, although he now looked much better.

"What is it?!" Luffy and Sanji snapped at him as well.

"I'm a part of the Krieg Pirates. The name's Gin. So you're pirates too, eh? What are your goals?" He asked.

"I'm looking for One Piece! I'm headed for the Grand Line." Luffy answered right away.

"To kill the Demon King." Vergil stated.

Gin's eyes widened. "Demon King thing, I won't comment on it. However, you are still looking for a cook… Your crew must be quite small." Gin guessed.

"Yeah. We've got six, counting him." Luffy stated while pointing at Sanji.

"Why the hell are you counting me?!" Sanji demanded.

"Because you'll join." Vergil answered.

"You look like decent guys, so let me give you a piece of advice. You'd better not go to the Grand Line. You're still young. There is no need to rush. The Grand Line is only a small part of the world's vast oceans. If you want to be a pirate there are many less intimidating places." Gin warned them.

"Oh, I see. So, do you know anything about the Grand Line?" Luffy asked, his smile was clearly saying that he wouldn't change his mind.

"Nope, I don't know anything about it. Nothing, nothing at all. That's why it's so scary." Gin admitted as he held the side of his head.

"Are you really one of the dreaded Krieg's man? I don't think he'd hire such chickens." Sanji commented.

"Krieg?" Luffy asked.

-In the kitchen-

Cooks were currently preparing food, a lot of it.

"Table 3's fried rice is ready!" One of the cooks said.

"You take it! There's no waiter." Another one told him.

Patty was getting ready to prepare a fish.

"You sure we'll be okay, Patty?" One of the cooks asked. "The guy you punched in the restaurant a while ago… Isn't he one of Krieg's men?"

"Yeah, that's what I heard." Patty replied.

"His captain, Don Krieg. He's supposedly the greatest pirate in the world." Cook stated.

"Yep, that's true. He has a total of 50 pirate ships under his helm. He's a monster." Second cook revealed.

"So what?" Patty asked not really seeing a problem in that.

"He's got more than 5000 people under his command… What if that guy… Tells him what happened here at this restaurant just now? It'd be like an elephant stepping on an ant. He'd blow this restaurant to smithereens." The same cook stated.

"Uuuh. So you are saying I should have let him eat for free? That'd be unfair to other guests." Patty stated then gulped down some wine and pressed his thumb against his chest. "That'd bring disgrace on the Baratie's name. And it'd also bring shame to all us 'warrior cooks'. How many pirates do you think we've beaten up until now? If you are so scared then you are better off quitting!"

"What did you say?! Your attitude is the reason why we lost all our waiters! Patty! It's all your fault we are so understaffed!" The cook yelled making other cooks grin at them.

"Well, they were all cowards! We don't need them anyway." Patty argued, the two were ready to fight each other.

"Come on! Let's get it on! Kick his ass! Fight!" Cooks encouraged the two.

"You morons!" Zeff's voice boomed through the kitchen. "Get back to work." He ordered them and as one all cooks turned back to work.

"Right away, Owner." They said as one.

-Outside-

Gin has gotten himself a small boat and was ready to leave.

"Later then." He said.

"I'm still going to the Grand Line." Luffy told him.

"Yeah, do what you want. We are strangers so I have no right to stop you. I just thought I should warn you. Oh, and Sanji-san. Thank you very much. You saved my life. That fried rice was the best. Can I come again?" Gin asked. There was a grin on his face.

"Sanji replied with a smirk. "Anytime." He replied.

"So here you are." They heard Zeff saying from higher deck. The older cook glanced at the empty plate.

"Get going, Gin." Sanji told the pirate.

Gin had an apologetic look on his face as he placed his palm over part of it. "I'm sorry. You are gonna get in trouble for letting me eat for free." He apologized.

"Whatever." Sanji said and walked up to the empty plate and the glass. Zeff watched him as he picked them up and threw them in the ocean. "Now they don't have any proof, do they?" Sanji asked casually.

Gin looked ready to cry again but held the tears in. Luffy and Vergil grinned at this.

"Don't get caught again, Gin." Sanji reminded him.

Gin was on his knees bowing down to Sanji. "Thank you, Sanji-san. I won't forget this. " He told them.

Trio watched the boat disappear into the distance.

"Sanji, get back to work." Zeff urged him.

"Let's go back to Merry, others are waiting for us." Vergil said.

"Shishishi. We'll get Sanji later." Luffy agreed and the two went back to Merry while Sanji went back to work.

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_**That's it for this chapter. Well it's a known fact that Vergil is blunt, even rude, but two things he does have are loyalty and morals as you have seen in this chapter when it comes to morals.**_

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_**Next Chapter – Pirate Fleet Of Don Krieg**_


	34. Pirate Fleet Of Don Krieg

_**Answers on reviews:**_

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_**20th CBoys' fan – Thanks for the review. I'm glad you agree with me on that.**_

_**Guest – Thanks for the review.**_

_**Blazeinferno – Thanks for the review, glad you liked the chapter.**_

_**Guest – And here is the update, don't expect too much, or anything when that is concerned at this point.**_

_**OPFan37 – Thanks for the review. Yeah, Vergil is harsh, all the bluntness, rudeness and most of his current character will be explained in the backstory and while it will take a long time to get there. I try to be as detailed as I feel it's needed. I'm glad we agree on that and I'm happy to hear that you think I've been doing that with Vergil. Until the end of Baratie there are about 8 chapters left, counting this one and the chapter after Baratie that's ten chapters and in that tenth(or now ninth) chapter Krim will appear for the first time along with Arlong.**_

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_**Chapter 34 – Pirate Fleet Of Don Krieg**_

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-In the kitchen-

Cooks continued working in the kitchen.

"Table 3's ready!"

"Isn't table 6's ready yet?" Another cook came in asking.

"Who's in charge of it?" Second one asked.

"Wasn't it you?" The brown haired cook said pointing at the shorter cook who asked the question.

"I'm busy as it is!" The tallest one of the three said.

"Yeah, 'cause you didn't pay any attention!" The brown haired one seemed to be ready to fight.

"What did ya say? You wanna fight?!" The tallest one snapped.

After a bit of time a new conversation has began and it concerned none other than Sanji.

"Where is that Sanji bastard?"

"He's out there entertaining the guests."

"Again?" Patty asked. "It pisses me off that he is the Assistant Head Chef."

"What can we do about that? He's been here longer than anybody else. Do you know why Sanji stays even though he doesn't get along with the boss?" The cook that began conversation asked.

"'Cause he want to be a Head Chef?" The second one guessed.

"So, you knew."

-With the crew-

The crew was back in Baratie having a rather rich lunch.

Well they would probably enjoy it even more if Luffy wasn't eating everything he got his hands on, again.

"Cut it out Luffy!" Zoro had enough stabbed Luffy's hand with a fork.

"Why did you do that?! You bastard!" Luffy demanded.

"Because you are eating all our food!" Zoro argued with him then smirked in satisfaction as he saw Luffy rubbing his now free hand.

While the swordsman wasn't looking the rubber captain picked at his nose and dropped the booger into Zoro's water. "Take that." He muttered.

Nami and Usopp struggled not to laugh while Vergil grinned at the immature act of the captain.

Zoro brought the glass to his mouth and then forced the water down Luffy's throat. "You drink it!" He snapped at him.

Sanji was pouring the wine into the glass of one of the lady customers.

"Why did you do that?!" Luffy asked while Nami and Usopp laughed, even Vergil had to chuckle a bit.

Luffy was trashing on the ground clenching at his throat while Zoro stood in front of him "You too. What are you trying to pull?" Swordsman questioned.

"My stomach's aching!" Luffy complained, the laughter was yet to cease.

Most of the restaurant was watching the laughing crew and of course it got Sanji's attention as well.

"Men they are noisy. Are they the crew of those two?" He asked himself while ignoring the growling man at the table. His eye fell on Nami and he was left stunned. He gave the bottle to the customer. "Pour it yourself."

Well all of a sudden a rose appeared next to Nami along with its holder, none other than now kneeling Sanji. "O' Mother Ocean! Thank you for arranging this encounter today!" Sanji exclaimed making the laughter stop and Nami back away a bit. "Oh, my love!" He dramatically buried his face in his palm and shook his head slightly. "Go on, laugh at me! I, who can't bear the torture! As long as I'm with you it matters not if I am a pirate or a demon…" He removed his hand to reveal a bright heart instead of his eye. "My heart's as ready as can be!" He exclaimed loudly.

Luffy was grinning in a bit of an uneasy way while Zoro looked annoyed, not because Sanji was flirting with Nami, but because he deemed this kind of behavior annoying. Vergil on the other hand followed the barely noticed flinch Nami gave away when Sanji said 'demon'.

Sanji stood up, his arms spread in a dramatic manner. "But this is horrible!" He pressed one fist against his chest while the other one remained half raised at his side. "There's such a great obstacle between us!"

Peg leg tapped the floor. "The obstacle is me, right? Sanji." Zeff said, his arms were folded across his chest and Sanji's flirty demeanor ceased.

"The old fart." He muttered.

"This is great. Why don't you just run off with them and become a pirate?" Zeff suggested making Sanji turn to him. "We don't need you here anymore." Zeff told him, the blond cook gritted his teeth.

-Somewhere else-

Gin had finally found his way back to his crew. He told Krieg about what happened…

"I see. So that cook saved your life. And you were able to return. Isn't that so, Gin?" Man, most likely Krieg asked.

"Yes, Capt'. But I… I never would've thought that this would happen to our ship. Don Krieg!" Gin called.

"What?" Krieg asked.

"Let me lead the way, to the Floating Restaurant, Baratie." Gin requested with a smirk on his face.

-Back at Baratie-

Sanji turned his full attention to Zeff. "Hey, old fart! Ain't I the Assistant Head Chef? What's that crap about not needing me here?" Sanji demanded.

"You always fight with our customers. You flirt with any beautiful woman in sight. And you make lousy food. You are nothing more than a burden to this restaurant! That's what I mean." Zeff told him.

"What the…?!" Sanji hissed and then looked up to see other cooks laughing at him.

"The other cooks don't like you anyway. Why don't you just become a pirate or whatever you please. Why don't you just get the hell outta here?!" Zeff questioned.

"What's that crap?" Sanji was on the edge of his nerves while the Straw Hats watched the scene in front of them. "I didn't do shit and now you're blowing your head off, old fart?" Sanji began walking toward Zeff. "I don't care about your other excuses but I will not allow my cooking to be insulted. I don't care what you are going to say. I'm going to stay here and work as a chef! If you don't like it it's your problem!"

"How dare you hit your own boss…! You stupid eggplant!" Zeff threw Sanji and he crashed into the table the Straw Hats were sitting at, luckily the four pirates took the plates before Sanji could ruin the food along with the table.

"Damn it…" Sanji muttered. "Are you kidding?! No matter how hard you may try… I'm gonna stay right here as a chef! 'Till the day you go to hell!" Sanji declared.

"I won't die. I'll live another 100 years!" Zeff said as he slowly walked away.

"What a stubborn old man." Sanji muttered.

"Isn't it great that he gave you his blessing! Now you can come with us and…" Luffy happily exclaimed.

"Like hell!" Sanji snapped.

Soon enough the table was set once again and Sanji placed a colorful fruit salad in a glass in front of Nami while pouring juice at the same time.

"Please pardon me for what has happened. As an apology I've ordered you a Fruit Macedonia, my Princess." Sanji said, he was back to flirting…

"Why, thank you." Nami thanked him happily. "You are so kind."

"It's nothing." Sanji sweetly told her.

Usopp jumped to them angrily. "What's this? You're not apologizing to us! I'll sue you, you love cook!" Usopp threatened.

"I've brought you some tea, isn't that enough? You should thank me, long nose." Sanji stated as they stood rather close to each other.

"Huh? Wanna fight? I won't go easy on you." Usopp declared then turned to Zoro. "Get him! Zoro!"

"Do it yourself." Zoro said.

"Please don't fight over me!" Nami pleaded them innocently.

"Very well madam, I'll stop." Sanji swooned.

"Who's fighting over you?!" Usopp yelled.

"By the way…" Nami began, she was starting to get flirty as well, though for a reason vastly different from Sanji's…

"Huh?" Sanji was listening to her every single word.

"The food here is great, but… It's a bit expensive for me." She said as she caressed his chin.

"Of course, it's free for you." Sanji easily fell into her trap.

"She has him wrapped around her little finger…" Vergil muttered.

"Thank you!" Nami thanked him and hugged the blond cook.

Sanji gasped out of pure happiness. "You guys have to." He said completely serious to the four males.

"I already saw that coming…" Zoro muttered.

"Shishishi. That's our cook!" Luffy exclaimed only to get kicked by Sanji.

"How many times do I have to refuse until you get it?!" Sanji snapped at him.

-Couple of days later-

The crew was still at Baratie after countless of useless attempts to get Sanji to join Usopp was getting tired of the place.

"It's already been four days. I'm getting fed up with this place. How soon do you think we can leave?" Usopp asked.

"Once Luffy gets Sanji to join." Vergil stated, he and Zoro were sitting on the deck while Nami and Usopp stood albeit while the three males stood at one place, Nami was kind of avoiding them. As for the captain, well he was still trying to get Sanji to join.

"Why hurry. We've got good food and a cozy atmosphere." Nami commented.

"You're the only one!" Zoro snapped at her.

At that moment Luffy came out to take a breath. "Hey Luffy, just give it up!" Usopp told him.

"Can you wait just a bit longer?" Luffy asked but then his and Vergil's attention got occupied by something.

"I'll join Luffy." Vergil said and went to the restaurant.

The captain and the first mate watched into the distance.

Inside the restaurant one of the females that was sitting next to the window began panicking.

"Hey what's wrong?" Her companion asked her, he looked through the window and fear overcame him.

The large pirate ship was approaching…

"The flag that turns brave men into chickens…! That flag is…. There is no doubt… That flag is… The King of the East Blue… It's Don Krieg!" One of the customers screamed. The ship, much bigger than Baratie came forward, towering over the restaurant, the thick fog around didn't help and now the mighty ship looked like a ghost ship.

Zeff and Sanji watched the ship not feeling a bit scared.

"Why? What's Krieg's ship doing here" Another customer asked.

Patty was looking terrified as he held the sides of his head.

"Look well, Patty. They really came!" Carne yelled at the cook. "You'll help us drive them away now, won't you?!"

"Couldn't you be mistaken? He's leader of a 5000 pirate ship fleet. Why is he coming all the way here to avenge a single man?!" Patty honestly hoped that they would tell him that it's a mistake, he was starting to panic.

"There's no mistake! He's actually here!" The third cook yelled at him.

Luffy and Vergil stepped forward.

"Hey, we oughta get outta here ourselves!" Usopp panicked.

"That ship's huge!" Nami wasn't feeling much better.

"That's what I call a big ship. You think that Gin guy is here to pay you back?" Luffy asked as he and Vergil stood by Sanji.

"I doubt it. But it's strange…" Sanji commented.

"Huh?"

"He's talking about all that damage." Vergil explained it to Luffy.

It was true, the large ship was pretty much torn down, its sails were torn, masts were broken, the ship itself was severely damaged.

"What?" Patty asked, he wasn't the only one surprised by the state f the ship.

Zeff narrowed his eyes as well at the now clear sight of the ship.

"That ship looks like it pretty much had it." Luffy commented.

"It doesn't look like he was attacked by a gunboat or anything similar." Sanji pointed out.

"A sword." Vergil said.

"Sword?" Sanji asked finding it a bit too hard to believe in.

"Yeah. He came across a powerful swordsman or more of them from what I can see. While it may sound unbelievable it certainly is a damage caused by a sword or cutting type of weapon or power. If it was a demon I'd put my bet on a wind based demon to do this kind of damage." Vergil explained.

"It's probably a demon, it doesn't look like something a human could do." Sanji said.

"That's where you are wrong, in this world there are humans who can rival demons." Vergil countered.

"Here he comes." Sanji said as they saw Krieg.

The restaurant fell into a fearful whimpering as Krieg approached the doors. Sanji, Luffy and Vergil stood at the stairs along with lying cooks…

Doors finally opened to reveal Gin supporting the large man known as Don Krieg. The tall muscular man, with short cut gray hair and rather long sideburns. He had a gauze wrapped around his head. He was wearing a regal attire consisting of a fur lined coat over a yellow vest with black spots. He also had a big golden chain around his thick neck and was wearing light purple pants and black shoes.

"Please." Came a rather weak voice from the supposed to be terrifying man. "Can you give me water and something to eat? If it's money, I've got it. As much as you ask for. I don't know how long has it been since I've last eaten. Please. Give me water and something to eat. Please." Krieg pleaded, Gin on the other hand looked like he was fighting his own emotions as he closed his eyes and turned his head to the side.

"W-What's with him?" Carne asked in disbelief.

"He doesn't look very dreadful to me. Is this really the most dreadful pirate, Don Krieg?" Patty asked.

"He looks hungry." Luffy said.

"Well, that's an understatement." Vergil agreed, the two pirates glanced at Sanji who went up to the kitchen.

Krieg on the other hand lost his remaining strength and fell down even though Gin was supporting him.

"C-Captain! Don Krieg!" Gin called out to the fallen man. He turned to the cooks. "Please! Please help my captain! He's starving to death! He hasn't eaten for days… If he doesn't get food soon he'll die!" Gin pleaded but the looks on customers' faces was clearly asking 'And that's bad how?'.

Patty on the other hand began laughing. "This is great. So this is the notorious bully, Don Krieg." Patty mocked.

"We've got money this time! Aren't we customers here?!" Gin demanded.

"Not in your life!" Patty exclaimed.

"Hey, call the marines, hurry. He was weakened, they won't get another chance like this. No food for him! Get him out of here!" Patty ordered.

"That's it! If he gets better there's no telling what he'll do next." One of the customers agreed.

"He's done so many awful things." Another one added.

"He deserves to be caught even if he's starving!" The first one said.

"He's never done one good thing in his life." The second one said.

"If he gets better he might even attack the boat. We shouldn't even give him a glass of water." One of the cooks resolved.

"Humans…" Vergil muttered. "Well most of them…" He corrected himself.

Krieg slowly got on his knees. "I won't… do anything… I won't do anything. I promise. I'll leave after I eat. So please, h-help me." He was begging, his head was bowed down to them.

"Don Krieg. Please stop. Don't bow down to them! How can you do such a humble act?! Please stop it!" Gin pleaded him.

"I promise. Please, anything. Even your leftovers! Anything!" Krieg begged.

"Don…" Gin muttered, tears began forming in his eyes.

At that moment Sanji came down the stairs with food.

"Heh, you think I'm sympathetic?" Patty asked.

"Hey, outta the way. Patty." Sanji said and kicked the man's face thus making him fall down.

"Sa… Sanji-san…" Gin muttered as Sanji placed a large bowl of food in front of the two pirates.

"Here, Gin. Let him have it." Sanji said.

"Sanji-san…" Gin mumbled once again. He just looked at the man in front of him.

"Thanks!" Krieg thanked him and began eating.

Carne ran down. "Hey, Sanji! Take away the food right away!" He ordered. "Don't you know what kind of person he is? He is the king of the East Blue, the sneakiest pirate of them all! It all began in the prison, this guy pretended to be one of the marines. He killed the captain of his ship. And took over that ship to become a pirate. Sometimes he'd raise a marine flag and enter a harbor. Then he'd attack the city and other docked ships. Or he'd pretend to surrender, and then make a surprise attack. He'll do anything to win! That's how he got to where he is now!" Carne told them.

"What? He's a snake, eh?" Luffy said.

"Nah, even snake has more morals then he does." Vergil commented.

"Yeah, you're right." Luffy agreed.

"He shouldn't be underestimated, even now. Eat and leave? How can we believe what he is saying? We'd be doing a favor to the world if we gave this wretch up!" Carne said.

Vergil's eyes widened for a moment as Krieg stood up and slammed his arm against Sanji's neck thus sending the cook flying. Sanji landed on the floor then bounced back and skidded across it a bit further away from Krieg, he wasn't getting up and the cigarette he had in his mouth dropped down as well.

"S-Sanji!" Carne shouted, customers screamed and Luffy looked surprised.

"Aren't you acting different from what you promised, Don Krieg?!" Gin asked. "You promised that you'd never hurt these people so I took you here! Plus that man saved our lives!" Gin shouted at Krieg however the larger man grabbed him by the shoulder.

"Yeah, it was good." Krieg said in a much different tone as he began crushing the bones of Gin's shoulder. "I feel re-energized now." He stated and dropped Gin to the floor.

Customers began running out as quickly as they could.

"Hey, what's going on in that restaurant?" Usopp asked as he, Nami and Zoro watched from aboard Merry.

"Let's go check it out." Zoro decided.

"What?! Are you serious?!" Usopp asked frantically.

"What's wrong? You scared?" Zoro asked.

"Huh? Don't be silly." Usopp lied, obviously.

Zoro grinned at this, he could see that the sniper was lying but chose to go along with it. "_Strange. I can't see anybody on that ship._" He though, his smirk faded and he became serious once again.

-Back inside Baratie-

Krieg was watching the cooks with a rather mad look in his eyes… While the other cooks remained frozen Sanji was yet to move.

"Isn't this a nice restaurant? I'll take it." Krieg declared.

Sanji slowly began sitting up. He had a smirk on his face, there was no way he would allow Krieg to take the restaurant. "So… That's why you came." He breathed out.

Patty regained his consciousness and when he saw Krieg all fine and healthy let's just say he began panicking.

"My ship is ruined. I want a new one. Leave after you've gotten your things." Krieg told them.

"W-What?" Carne asked unsure whether to feel angry or afraid, well it was a combination but the question was which one to show.

"Don Krieg… That's not what you promised." Gin reminded him, but for someone who was a part of Krieg's crew he should have known better…

Krieg pointed back with his thumb. He was pointing at his ruined galleon. "Right now there are still about 100 men alive on that ship. All of them starving and injured. First prepare food and water for 100 men. Some of them have already… Starved to death." Krieg said.

For once his words were true, his men were lying on the deck. One of them fell down, asking for water that they didn't have…

"Right away!" Krieg ordered.

"We'd know better that those pirates will be attacking us later on! We won't aid them! We refuse!" Carne bravely refused.

"Refuse? Don't misunderstand. I'm not ordering food. I'm giving you an order. Nobody… Ever… DISOBEYS ME!" Krieg yelled and breathed out so hard that the puffs of smoke came out of his mouth.

"Sanji-san… Sanji-san I'm sorry. I didn't mean for this to happen" Gin apologized.

"You bastard! Look at what you've done!" Patty yelled at Sanji.

The blond cook simply watched Gin for a couple of moments before he finally stood up and began walking towards the stairs.

"Hey Sanji! Where are you off to?!" Patty demanded to know.

"The kitchen." Sanji replied and removed the blood that was on his chin with his finger. "I've gotta prepare food for 100 men." Sanji declared.

"What?" Patty and Carne asked.

"Sanji-san!" Gin exclaimed.

"Sanji!" Luffy was also surprised.

"Heh, as expected." Vergil muttered.

"WHAT?!" Other cooks asked.

"Yes. That's how it shoul." Krieg began.

"Don't misunderstand idiot. That's just the way Sanji is. This has nothing to do with your so called order." Vergil cut him off.

"How did you call me you little demon?" Krieg hissed.

"Idiot. What you are also deaf?" Vergil mocked, their conversation was cut short when cooks pointer various sharp objects at Sanji.

"You are being Kreig's puppet. Sanji!" One of the cooks yelled at him.

"I'll never let you get into the kitchen!" Another one declared. "I've had enough of your nonsense!"

Sanji spread his arms. "Do it." Those two words were enough to crumble the showcasing of confidence that cooks displayed. "If you are gonna do it do it." He told them. Luffy and Vergil looked at him. "I'm aware. I know that he's a hopeless bully. But that's none of my business. I don't care. I don't care what happens after they've had their meal. Not a care in the world. I'm a cook. Nothing more. When people are hungry I offer them food. That's all there is to it. For a cook, isn't that enough?" He challenged them.

However out of blue Patty punched him in the back thus knocking him down.

"Patty!" Carne shouted.

"Hey, take him outta here! Sanji. You've often given food to the customers I drove away haven't you? I don't care who's right or wrong, but I can't allow this to happen." Sanji was glaring at him while he said that. "I can't let you do as you please anymore. I'll protect this restaurant. Luckily… There is only one enemy." Patty said, he knelt down under the stairs and opened some kind of small doors. "What can lone Don Krieg do to all of us? Pirates come to this floating restaurant every day. I'm always prepared for anything." Patty said and pulled something out.

"Luffy… This will get bad so we should get ready, don't you think?" Vergil muttered to his captain.

"Yeah. Sanji is going to be our cook. That's the only reason we need to fight." Luffy agreed, Vergil noticed that the rubber boy was ready.

"Did you enjoy your meal, Krieg-san? How about it? Since you finished your meal.. How about some metal for dessert?!" Patty pulled out something that looked like a huge red bazooka, or a hand cannon. "**Syrup Meatball**!"

Cannonball hit Krieg dead on and the smoke engulfed them all.

"Don!" Gin called out.

"I think I broke the doors. The boos will be mad at me again for that." Patty commented casually, he was completely sure that he defeated Krieg.

"It's okay, we are protecting this place. It's no major damage." Carne assured him.

"What are we gonna do about those people on Krieg's ship?" Sanji asked.

"I dunno. Why don't we just put some butter on their ship and cook it up." Patty suggested, any further speaking was however halted when Luffy and Vergil stepped out in front of them.

"That sounds…" They heard Krieg saying. "Delicious. Stupid Cook." Krieg said making Patty and Carne scream in fear. "Giving me such an awful dessert. This restaurant is despicable!" He yelled revealing a countless firearms appearing from his golden armor. The armor itself was fur lined like the rest of his attire and it consisted of a chest plate, shoulder guards and elbow guards. "DESPICABLE!" He yelled and began shooting.

"That armor! It can shoot!" Sanji exclaimed.

"**Gomu Gomu no… Balloon**!" Luffy exclaimed as his body turned into a balloon to cover more space and the bullets bounced off.

"**Devil Arms: Dark Edge**…" Vergil's Devil Arm appeared and he swung it with both of his hands thus creating an air wave that stopped the bullets that came to his side.

"You are just prolonging your suffering! Just do as I say!" Krieg ordered, he took of his gloves to reveal golden gloves decorated with diamonds. "I'm the strongest man there is! These arms are stronger than anybody's! My super-alloy armor is tougher than anything! And I've got a diamond punch which can destroy everything! An army of 5000 men! I've never lost a battle in my life! I'm the perfect person to claim the title of 'Don'!" Krieg yelled.

"Out of the way, boys." Zeff said and Luffy and Vergil moved a bit to the side to allow the older man to pass.

"I ordered you to get the food ready! Now hurry up and do it! Nobody disobeys me!" Krieg yelled and that's when Zeff placed a large sack with food in front of the pirate.

"Here's food for 100 men. Help him get it on the ship." Zeff ordered.

"Owner Zeff!" Cooks chorused as one.

"What's that old man doing? Isn't that a bit risky?" Luffy asked.

"It doesn't matter if something is risky if not doing that will go against your morals." Vergil said.

"Z-Zeff is it…?" Krieg asked.

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_**That's it. About 8 maybe 7 chapters to go until this arc ends and then Arlong Park! I'll try to keep the daily updates for as long as I can.**_

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_**Next Chapter – Red Leg Zeff**_


	35. Red Leg Zeff

_**Answers on reviews:**_

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_**OPFan37 – Thanks for the review, I have more free time now since the school is finished, for now. So updates will come faster. Yeah, Sanji is a good character and for some reason I find being perv to be somewhat good, every Straw Hat was their flaws, Sanji is a perv, Nami is greedy and manipulative, Usopp is a coward and so on, to me that speaks of a balanced character that we can love even with the flaws. So Vergil being rude and too blunt is kinda that part. Well you could say that Vergil is to some extent analytic, as the story goes you'll see that Vergil is not even c lose to how analytic some demons can get, but that's another story. Out of the Straw Hats I think Robin is the most analytic one, well she is also the smartest so yeah.**_

_**On the other hand Vergil has a bit more experience in close combat and outright battle situations so one could say that he is better than Robin at war strategies for example. Krieg is a bastard, one that I can't kill which is bad. Luffy doesn't kill his opponents and Vergil will not go around killing people that Luffy defeated… As for wind demons, yeah they can. In most anime with element based powers you can see that wind has the affinity toward cutting and wind itself, in real life is potentially dangerous as we've seen multiple times when hurricanes or any other wind based disasters strike us.**_

_**Guest – Thanks for the review, no problem, I'm glad you like them.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review. The battle will be in the next chapter.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**cedezbenz – Thanks for the review, wait just a bit longer, I should start it before the end of June.**_

_**20th CBoys' fan – Thanks for the review.**_

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_**Chapter 35 – Red Leg Zeff**_

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"Here's food for 100 men. Help him get it on the ship." Zeff ordered.

"Owner Zeff!" Cooks chorused as one.

"What's that old man doing? Isn't that a bit risky?" Luffy asked.

"It doesn't matter if something is risky if not doing that will go against your morals." Vergil said.

"Z-Zeff is it…?" Krieg asked.

Zeff turned around and began walking away.

"What's the meaning of this? What are you thinking? If his crew gets better, they'll take over the restaurant!" One of the cooks told him.

"Only if they've got the guts. Isn't that right? Mr. Couldn't-Get-Through-The-Grand-Line?" Zeff said.

"So much for the Mr. I-Never-Lost-A-Battle." Vergil said with a smirk on his face.

"No way…" One of the cooks mumbled.

"Even Don Krieg couldn't get through…?" The second one asked.

"Even the King of the East Blue… With his 50 ship fleet couldn't get through?!" Carne asked.

Gin looked defeated at the statement…

"The Grand Line?" Luffy asked.

Krieg's eyes were still wide as plates. "You… You are the 'Red Leg' Zeff! So you are still alive, eh?" He asked, he calmed down from the shock. "The cook-come-captain, one of the greatest pirates in history."

"I'm alive, so what? It's not your concern. As you can see. I make my living as a cook." Zeff simply told him.

Krieg laughed as if there was something funny. "That's a nice way of saying it. But from the looks of things, it's not that you chose to be a cook. But it's the only thing you are able to do. I've heard about the Red Leg Zeff. He's an expert at fighting without his hands. His legs are so strong they can break rocks, or leave a footprint on iron. He earned the name 'Red Leg' from his shoes, dyed red with the blood of his enemies." Krieg said what he knew about Zeff. "But, it looks like you've lost that ever-so-precious leg of yours. I heard a rumor that you had an accident while sailing…" The smirk appeared on his face. "To you, losing a leg means you can no longer do battle."

"Why would I need to fight? I don't need my feet to cook, as long as i have a pair of hands. Just cough out what you really want to say." Zeff told him.

Once again the large pirate smirked. "Red Leg, Zeff. I know that you are the only man that came alive from the Grand Line." At those words most of the cooks listened with their mouth wide open. "You must have kept a journal of that voyage… Hand it over!" Krieg ordered while pointing at his chest.

Zeff narrowed his eyes for a single moment.

"Eh. Not bad old man! So you've been to the Grand Line too?" Luffy exclaimed.

"Kinda… Indeed I have the journal, but I'm not going to give it to you." Zeff refused calmly making Krieg's smirk fade away. "That journal isn't just mine, it's the pride of my entire crew. It's far too valuable for the likes of you.

"Then, I'll have to seize it from you." Krieg declared and clenched his fist. "True, I couldn't get through the Grand Line. But behold, for I am Don Krieg, the greatest! I was strong enough to make it through. I had enough men, enough ambition… The only thing I lacked was information. That's the only reason I failed. I must have that journal. And organize another fleet to get that One Piece! Then I'll become the Pirate King!" Krieg declared arrogantly.

Luffy stepped out and pointed his finger at Krieg. "Hold on there" The one to become the Pirate King, will be me!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Deal with it idiot. Failure is a failure and it's all your fault, you are not the strongest, or the greatest, hell you are way too far from the average outside the East Blue standards. Luffy will become the Pirate King. If the likes of you could do it I'd side with Mundus to destroy this world." Vergil said.

The cooks and Sanji along with them just looked at the two pirates.

"Hey get out of here! You are no match for him!" Patty warned Luffy.

"I can't do that. Leaving things as they are." Luffy refused to listen and there was no need to listen either.

"What did you say, boys?" Krieg asked. "I'll pretend that I didn't hear that."

"You don't have to. I'm just announcing the truth." Luffy honestly said, there was no trace of worry in his voice.

"This isn't a game." Krieg pointed out.

"Of course it isn't. I'll be the one to get to the Grand Line!" Luffy replied.

Krieg was certainly someone who easily got angry as showcased many times up until now. "Don't think it's funny! Kid! It may have only been a lack of information but even a fleet of 5000 men was defeated in seven days!" Krieg snapped, next to him Gin trembled at the memories. "What makes you think you can make it?!"

"Sev… Seven days?" Patty asked.

"Krieg's men only lasted seven days?" Carne asked in utter disbelief.

"What could have happened to them?" Another cook questioned.

"You seem to fail to realize what I told you before. You were too weak. Face it Krieg. The likes of you can never conquer the Grand Line." Vergil said blankly.

"Sorry but your humor is the kind I hate the most. If you insist shall I kill you off right now?" Krieg suggested.

"Sure, if you think you're up to it." Luffy challenged.

"Very well then. You want to be sent to the next world." Krieg said and pointed guns that were position at his shoulders on Luffy.

"He's deaf, he's arrogant and I knew he was stupid but retarded… That I didn't know." Vergil said.

Krieg's attention was however taken by Zoro who partly unsheathed his sword and trembling Usopp, both were standing at the stairs.

"Starting a brawl, Luffy, Vergil?" Zoro asked with a smirk on his face. "Need a hand?"

"We don't h-have to, y-you know?" Usopp added.

Vergil smirked at them.

"Zoro! Usopp! you dropped by! It's fine. Just sit and watch." Luffy told them, well there was only one enemy, he could take him on himself. "You too Vergil." He turned to the first mate.

"Captain's orders I guess. Take him down." Vergil said and walked up to Zoro and Usopp.

"Oh, I see. That's too bad. If you don't need us there's nothing we can do about that." Usopp said, both his legs and voice were still trembling. "I'll help ya if you still need it!" He added trying to sound as brave as possible. "Good luck."

Well at this point both Zoro and Vergil were looking at him kinda annoyed by the coward behaviour. Zoro simply tripped Usopp down and made him fall to the stairs.

"Seriously, how would you act if you actually had to fight…" Vergil muttered.

"What the hell was that for Zoro! Vergil!" Usopp asked angrily.

"Shut up and stay still." Zoro told him.

Krieg first grinned and then began laughing. "Are those your men? Are they all you've got with you?!" Krieg mocked.

"What are you talking about? There's two more!" Luffy declared clearly referring to Sanji and Nami.

"Hey, why do you keep counting me in?!" Sanji snapped at him.

"Because you are part of the crew now." Vergil answered.

"I'm telling you that I'm not!" Sanji yelled at him.

"And I keep telling you that 'Be my nakama' is the very first order you get." Vergil argued back.

Krieg and Zeff glared at each other and finally Krieg halted his attacking. "I'll take care of you guys later. Right now I need to feed my men." He took the sack and held it over his shoulder. "For those of you who don't wish to die, you'd better not be here when I get back. The only thing that I want are the journal and this ship." He began walking out. "However if you really want to throw your lives away… I'll have to go out of my way but I'll be happy to send you to the bottom of the ocean! Keep that in mind." With the warning being said Krieg finally left the Baratie, for now.

-On the Merry-

Johnny and Yosaku were peeking from the safe distance at what was going on.

"It's gotten kinda quiet." Yosaku pointed out.

"Zoro-aniki went to check things out. You think something happened?" Johnny asked. "Hmm. You really think everything will be okay?"

"How would I know?" Yosaku questioned.

"Hey, Nami-aneki! Should we go check it out too?" Johnny asked, this time directing his question at Nami.

The orange haired navigator was lost in thought as she once again looked at two bounty posters.

"Big sis?" Johnny called.

Suddenly with a loud yelp Yosaku fell down initiating a kiss between himself and Johnny… Two hunters quickly sat up and began spiting and clenching their throat.

"Nami-aneki?!" Johnny called her once again and finally the girl heard him.

Nami turned her head to the side so she could look at them. Then she quickly turned around and hid the bounties behind her back while trying to act as normal as possible. She grinned widely at them. "Oh, what's up? Anything the matter?" She asked.

Johnny and Yosaku looked at each other once they realized that she was hiding bounties.

-In the Baratie-

Gin was kneeling down, still clenching his shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Sanji-san I never would've imagined things to turn out this way…" He apologized and he meant it…

"I don't need an apology from the likes of you, fool!" Zeff stated making not only Gin but many other cooks look at him. "We are but cooks in this establishment. We'll feed anybody that comes along." He stated, now it seemed partly revealed why Sanji had the mentality he had.

"Owner! Why are you siding with Sanji? What's going on here?" Patty shouted.

"That's right! This is all his fault! He is going to destroy your precious restaurant!" One of the cooks blamed the situation on Sanji.

"Shut up you stupid eggplants!" Zeff yelled at them. "Have you ever had the experience of starving to death? Can you imagine how horrible it is? Having no food or water in this vast ocean?" Zeff asked them, Sanji lit up another cigarette while he said that.

"W-What do you mean, Owner?" Patty asked.

"The difference between all of you and Sanji is that he knows that feeling." Zeff revealed.

The cook in question turned his eyes toward him.

"What does he mean?" One of the cooks asked.

"What does Sanji know about?" Another one asked.

For a couple of moments everything was silent.

Zeff grinned. "Rather than just standing idle with petty talk you'd better all leave this place now." Zeff told them. Cooks watched him for a moment.

The first one of them to react was patty who clenched his hand around the wooden hold of his 'weapon'. "I'm staying right here to fight! I can't let them simply trample over me!"

He wasn't the only one who thought that. Carne was ready to fight as well and so were other cooks. "Me too! This is where I work!" Another cook exclaimed.

"I have no place to go to anyway." The third one added.

The confidence seemed to glow out of everyone as they stood there ready to fight.

Gin looked around and then slammed his palms on the floor. "What are you all doing?! Didn't you see how strong our leader is?!" Gin tried to persuade them into leaving, if for nothing else then to prevent the bloodshed.

"Hey, Gin!" Sanji stopped his attempt and turned the pirate's attention to himself. "Feeding the hungry is what being a cook is all about. However…" He placed his feet on the table leg and in one swift motion made it stand as it should, he then partly sat on it. "Now that your captain is all filled up he's nothing more than a plunderer. Whatever I do to your pals, don't come bitching at me. I'll kill anybody who tries to take this restaurant! Even you! Got that?" At the rather clear threat Gin gulped.

"Heh. You saved his life just so you could kill him off. You are so thoughtful, Sanji." Patty commented.

"Shut up, you shitty cook."Sanji told him.

"See? Didn't I tell you that he was something?" Luffy asked Zoro and Usopp as he pointed at Sanji.

"Who cares about him now? Let's just get the hell out of here!" Usopp panicked.

"Calm down! Even though he's Krieg he's all battered up." Zoro assured the sniper.

"Furthermore that kind of guy can't defeat Luffy." Vergil added.

"Hm? Gin! You said once before that you knew nothing about the Grand Line, right? But you0ve been there, haven't you?" Luffy asked.

Once again the combat commander gulped. "The truth is I don't know anything. What happened at the Grand Line on the seventh day… Was it a dream…? Or reality…? It's still fresh in my eyes… It was unbelievable… Just one man… Destroyed a whole fleet of 50 ships!" Gin revealed.

Patty and Carne yelped.

Sanji gritted his teeth in shock.

Usopp screamed.

Zoro looked surprised.

So did Luffy.

Vergil had a grin on his face. "Impressive."

"WHAT?!" Cooks yelled.

Krieg was climbing up the rope ladder to his galleon.

"It all happened so suddenly. He showed up out of nowhere and started sinking our ships one after another. If a storm hadn't come along, our maiden ship would've been destroyed too. I have no idea how many of my mate's ships survived. But it was too scary for me to accept it all. I don't want to even think about what had happened!" Everyone was watching Gin as he told them the details. "That man! His stare pierces through you, like the eyes of a hawk!" This got Zoro's attention to a whole new level.

"What?" He asked. Usopp looked at him. "What did you say?"

"That guy… He must be the man known as 'Hawk Eyes'. The fact that you noticed his eyes, leads me to believe that it was him. It all sounds like something he would do." Zeff said.

"The Hawk Eyes Man!" Zoro breathed out.

"Eh, you know that guy, Zoro?" Luffy asked when he noticed the state his swordsman was in.

At Luffy's words Zoro calmed down. "Ah. That's the man I've been looking for. I sailed across the ocean in search of him." Zoro told him.

"Maybe he had some kind of grudge to settle with you guys." Sanji suggested.

"Not that I know of." Gin replied.

"Perhaps you disturbed his nap." A rather silly but most likely the good guess came from Zeff.

"Stop the bullshit! Why in the world would he destroy our fleet just for that?!" Gin demanded.

"So your captain can attack cities for no reason but he can't destroy your fleet if you disturb his nap? If you ask me 'You disturbed my nap' is much stronger reason for an attack then attacking for no reason at all." Vergil pointed out.

Zeff on the other hand grinned. "Don't get so worked up. I'm just making assumptions. Stuff like that happens at the Grand Line."

"Just what kind of place is that?" Usopp asked, he was getting a bit scared of the Grand Line.

"A place where anything can happen." Zoro replied.

"hey Luffy! Stop this right now! We can't go there!" Usopp yelled only to get bonked on the head by Vergil.

"You cut it out and man up. We are going there end of story." Vergil told him.

"Luffy?" Zoro called out to the trembling captain.

"Gah! I'm so pumped up! I was hoping that Grand Line would have all this!" Luffy exclaimed happily.

"Can't you be a bit more concerned about your safety?!" Usopp demanded.

"I'm not even going to comment any longer…" Vergil muttered.

"But with all this talk my destination will really be the Grand Line. That man…" Zoro said as he leaned against the wall. "I can definitely meet him there!"

"Are you morons?" Sanji asked. "You must be those who are eager to die." Sanji commented.

"That's right. But that's none of your business. When I decided to become the World's Greatest Swordsman, I threw away the rest of my life. I'm the only one who can say that I'm an idiot." Zoro told him.

"Ain't it better to live without regrets than to live your life thinking 'I could have at the very least tried'. I don't know what's the deal with you but don't make me lose my respect for you. Such words are not fitting for someone who goes against the will of entire restaurant just to follow his morals." Vergil commented. "We aren't eager to die, we just want to live our life the way we want to and we want to make our dreams come true."

"Me too! Me too!" Luffy agreed happily.

"As a man of the sea, same here!" Usopp said.

Zoro bonked him lightly with the tip of his sheath. "Cut the lying." He told the sniper.

"Fools." Sanji said but one could easily see that he was having a debate with himself.

Zeff smiled at this.

"Hey, hey. Do you bastards realize what's going on here? Don Krieg's ship is right in front of the restaurant! Do all the talking after we are all out of this mess!" Patty told them.

-On Krieg's galleon-

Pirates just finished eating and let's just say they were happy.

"Yahoo!" They all cheered.

"We're alive!" One of them yelled.

"It's like a dream!" The second one added.

"We've finally escaped from that nightmare!" The third one exclaimed.

"We are back from the pirate graveyard safe and sound!" Another one shouted.

Krieg smirked. "That's right. Now that we've recuperated we can head back to the Grand Line." He said and the cheers and happiness, perished… When he noticed the looks on his men's faces he asked. "What's with that look?"

"We… We are going back there again?" One of the pirates dared to question.

Krieg was having none of that, he shot the pirate and killed him. "Anyone else objecting?" He asked.

Pirates forced a loud cheer.

They were unaware of a small boat with candles that were lit in a green fire approaching them.

"First we are dumping this battered ship. Then we attack the restaurant. Our opponents are bunch of punk cooks. They shouldn't be of any threat." Krieg said.

The boat was getting closer and closer.

"ATTACK!" Krieg ordered, the pirates took their weapons and began their attack.

-In Baratie-

Cooks and most of the Straw Hats could hear Krieg's pirates.

"Here they come! I can hear them." One of them exclaimed.

"We won't let them through!" The second one resolved. "'Coz this ship is our restaurant!"

-Outside-

Pirates were approaching closer and closer.

"Run in fear, you cooks!" They yelled.

Out of blue the ship was cut in half…

Pirates tried to hold on but they some of them were falling into the sea.

Usopp let out a small scream while others looked surprised. Some by the turn of events, some by the destructive force…

"What?!" Luffy asked.

Even Zeff looked surprised.

"What the hell happened?!" Krieg demanded.

"Don Krieg! The ship! Has split in half!" One of the pirates screamed.

The look of horror came across Krieg's face. "Split in half?! 'Split in half' you say?! My biggest ship! No way! That's impossible!" Krieg yelled.

The Baratie wasn't getting out of this without any troubles, the ship rocked back and forth and cooks could barely stand.

"Go hoist the anchor! Or our ship will get pulled under like them!" Zeff quickly ordered.

"Yes!" The cook he was pointing at exclaimed and ran off to do what he was ordered.

Luffy began running toward the doors.

"This is bad. Nami, Johnny and Yosaku are still on our ship!" He said and jumped over after Luffy.

"Damn it! We might already be too late!" Usopp added.

"Well this is kinda nostalgic." Vergil muttered as he joined the two.

"In what way?!" Usopp yelled at him.

"It's nostalgic in nostalgic way." Vergil dead panned only to earn himself a slap on the back of his head by Usopp.

They came out just in time to see galleon sinking down.

"Big bro! Big bro!" They suddenly heard Johnny and Yosaku from the water.

The four ran up to the other side where Johnny and Yosaku came.

"Yosaku! Johnny! Are you guys all right?" Luffy asked.

"Where is the ship? What happened to Nami?" Zoro asked.

"She's… I'm sorry big bro… She's left!" Yosaku told them.

"Bye-bye. Tell them that I'm leaving." Memory Nami told them as she stuck her tongue out, winked at them and waved.

"Nami-aneki…" Johnny began.

"If we are meant to meet again then we will in due time" Once again the memory Nami said in their minds.

"She took off with all the treasure!" Yosaku finished for Johnny.

"What did you say?!" The four pirates asked.

"_Damn it Princess! Why can't you just trust us?!_" Vergil thought feeling more and more irritated with every passing moment.

The cooks and other pirates had a bigger issue so to speak when 'Hawk Eyes' finally joined in. Dracule 'Hawk Eyes' Mihawk, the World's Greatest Swordsman… He was a tall lean man with black hair, a short beard, mustache and side burns that point upwards. His eyes heavily resembled those of a hawk and were only a bit darker than Vergil's yellow eyes. He had a crucifix pendant. He also had a wide-brimmed black hat decorated with a large plume and a long open black coat with no shirt underneath, with red, flower patterned sleeves and collar. His pants were light purple pants held up by a decorated bell and tucked inside overly large boots. His sword was on his back.

Zeff's eyes widened. "It's him." He said, Zoro turned to him and then toward Mihawk, once his eyes fell on the man his heartbeat became quicker and his eyes widened.

"That son of a bitch… He followed us!" Krieg exclaimed.

"It can't be… He is… The man with the Hawk Eyes?!" Zoro breathed out.

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_**That's it.**_

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_**Next Chapter – Zoro VS Mihawk, Zoro Falls**_


	36. Zoro VS Mihawk, Zoro Falls

_**Answers on reviews:**_

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_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks for the review.**_

_**OPFan37 – Thank you for the review. Yeah, Mihawk is such a badass. Uh about that… yeah… I think I fixed it… That's what was written in translation… yeah… I should have thought about it a bit more… Thanks for pointing that out, really, a lot.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 36 – Zoro VS Mihawk, Zoro Falls**_

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Zeff's eyes widened. "It's him." He said, Zoro turned to him and then toward Mihawk, once his eyes fell on the man his heartbeat became quicker and his eyes widened.

"That son of a bitch… He followed us!" Krieg exclaimed.

"It can't be… He is… The man with the Hawk Eyes?!" Zoro breathed out.

As Zoro overcame his shock Johnny and Yosaku were pulled out of the water and were now panting on the Baratie's deck.

"What did you say?!" Usopp yelled.

"Nami ran off with the Going Merry?!" Luffy asked.

"What exactly happened?" Zoro asked the trio was leaning forward to two swordsmen.

"Everything happened so suddenly." Yosaku began, he was crying though for a reason one could debate over.

-Flashback-

Nami was leaning against the railing, she was looking at the bounties… Once again.

"What's up, Nami-aneki?" Yosaku asked as he and Johnny appeared by her side. "You've been staring at that bounty list for a while now." He pointed out, the grin never faded off of his face.

"Oh, it's nothing." Nami quickly denied that anything was wrong.

Johnny looked at the poster she was looking at. "Oh. That's our Nami-aneki! You've chosen the most valued pirate. But I'd best not target Arlong alone. Not only is he fierce and strong but he also has a demon first mate who also has a bounty. There was a time when he remained quiet." Johnny explained as if Nami didn't already know that.

"But I've heard that he's been moving about lately. The 20 million beri reward sure is tempting." Yosaku commented.

"But he is so strong that even the two of us might lose. Though it would be hair thin." Johnny said.

The two males turned around to see Nami placing a shirt on the railing.

"Nami-aneki?" Johnny questioned.

Well the female thief turned back to flirty tactics as she blushed a bit and pulled at the collar of her shirt. "Excuse me, but I would like to change a sec, so could you two turn around?" She asked in a sultry voice.

"W-Wait…" Yosaku managed to say as he and Johnny blushed.

"Here? Right now?" Johnny asked.

"Can't I?" She asked in a slightly more sultry voice then before. She also winked at them making the two spin around as quickly as humans possible.

"Please! By all means!" They exclaimed as one.

"She's quite daring." Johnny said.

"Just a little peek won't hurt, right?" Yosaku suggested.

"Yeah!" Johnny agreed.

They both turned around and before they could react Nami pushed them into the ocean. They failed to see the utterly devastated look on her face.

When they finally emerged back up they saw Nami had her back turned on them and that she was leaning against the railing.

"W-What are you doing?" Johnny demanded.

Nami seemed to regain her composure as she turned around with a grin on her face. "'What' you ask? Business of course! I'm a thief that steals from the pirates. So I'll be taking this ship." Johnny and Yosaku just looked at her with their mouth wide open. "I don't recall ever saying that I was one of them. I was merely cooperating. Although it was rather short relationship with Luffy and the gang, I enjoyed it. Tell them that for me. And tell Vergil that he can never hope to do it. If we are meant to be together, we'll meet again." She told them and then walked away.

"Nami-aneki!" Yosaku yelled after her.

The ship set sail and the two couldn't do a single thing about it.

"Th-This is a problem!" Johnny realized.

"We were asked to take care of the ship!" Yosaku yelled, at that moment Mihawk sliced Krieg's galleon in half and it was only luck that allowed the two to survive.

-Flashback ends-

"And that's how we lost the ship!" Johnny finished.

"Forgive us!" Yosaku pleaded.

Zoro was one of the more frustrated ones as he punched the wall. "Damn! She took advantage of us!" He shouted.

"That ship was given by Kaya!" Usopp shouted, Vergil's eyes widened for a moment.

"That's the first thing that comes to your mind?" Vergil asked.

"What else should?!" Usopp snapped at him.

"Wait! I still see the ship! It's Merry!" Luffy stopped all the potential fights. "Where is your ship?" He asked the two bounty hunters.

"We still have it, but…" Yosaku said.

"Zoro, Usopp, Vergil, leave right away. Fetch Nami using their ship!" Luffy ordered.

"Never mind. Let it go. There's no need to chase that woman." Zoro told him.

"I can't be without her as my navigator!" Luffy declared, Zoro and Usopp looked at him.

"Fine! What a pain-in-the-ass captain…" Zoro finally relented after a couple of moments of eye contact with Luffy.

"Let's go." Vergil said.

It took Johnny and Yosaku about ten or so minutes but their ship was finally ready.

"Zoro-aniki, the ship is ready!" Both hunters said at the same time.

"Luffy what about you?" Zoro asked.

"I still have to get Sanji to be our nakama, I'll join you later." Luffy said.

"Then I'll have to stay as well." Vergil said.

"Why?" Usopp asked.

"I don't know much but I know that the place where Nami is heading is somehow, either directly or indirectly connected with some demon. We can assume that there will be battle, even though Nami doesn't want that, however under assumption that I go here with you my presence alone could trigger multiple casualties. Demons can feel each other and if it can put Nami in danger it's safer for me to come with Luffy." Vergil stated.

"Works for me." Zoro said.

"Mystery reasons." Luffy said.

Vergil sighed. "Luffy, you've got two large pieces of meat. You want to eat both of them while they are hot so you won't cook both of them at the same time. You'll cook one and then eat it while the other one is cooked, right?" Vergil somehow explained, Zoro, Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku face-faulted at this.

"Shishishi! Vergil, Sanji and I are the second piece of meat and Zoro and Usopp are the first one." Luffy said with a grin on his face. If the previous statement caused the four to face-fault this one made them fall onto their backs…

"Works for me." Vergil said.

"Anyway, be careful. Things here are abnormal." Zoro warned them.

Luffy nodded. "Yeah, I know." He replied.

-With Krieg's pirates-

Pirates that still somehow remained on the board of their ship were slowly starting to panic.

"W-What? What's going on here?!" One of the pirates asked.

"The ship's been split in two!" Another one screamed as Mihawk's coffin boat approached.

"Look! Over there!" The third pirate pointed his finger toward Mihawk.

"It's him!" One of them dared to say what was on everyone's mind. The fear gave some of the pirates a new kind of strength as they held themselves above the surface by holding onto pipes.

"Don Krieg! It's that man! The man who destroyed our fleet!" Another pirate yelled.

Zoro looked like everything else was forgotten to him, his eyes wavered as he looked at Mihawk. "That man is…" He gulped down as his heart started picking up the speed again. "That man is…"

Krieg placed his foot on the railing as he looked down toward Mihawk. "_That scum_…" He thought.

"He came all this way to kill us!" A pirate yelled in fear. "We're doomed!"

Luffy noticed the way Zoro was reacting to Mihawk. "Zoro, who the heck is he?" He asked as he also looked at Mihawk.

"The man I've been searching for, Hawk Eyes Mihawk." Zoro told him.

"Hawk Eyes Mihawk?" Luffy repeated.

Zoro's eyes narrowed slightly as he watched the ever so calm swordsman. "The strongest swordsman in the world."

"That's the guy who instantly sank Krieg's fleet of 50 ships that were supposed to withstand the Grand Line!" Patty exclaimed as he and other cooks watched.

"And he just destroyed another one!" Carne added.

"But he looks no different than any other normal person. And he doesn't seem to be armed with anything special." One of the cooks said, he found it hard to believe that someone so normal looking could be so strong.

"His weapon is on his back." Zeff informed him.

"No way! You can't mean? He destroyed that huge ship with that sword?!" Carne asked.

"He's the great swordsman, Hawk Eyes Mihawk. The swordsman above all of the world's swordsmen." Zeff said. Finally Mihawk lifted his head up a bit and revealed the yellow hawk like eyes.

"_I never thought I'd be able to meet him this soon_." Zoro gulped down the lump that formed in his throat. "_The destined time has finally come._" He gripped the Wado Ichimonji.

"Bastard!" One of the pirates yelled at Mihawk. "Why did you attack us?!" He demanded.

Mihawk turned a bit to the side to glance at the pirate. "To kill time." He simply stated.

The pirate was downright enraged as he pulled out two guns and pointed them at Mihawk. "Bullshit!" He yelled and fired.

Mihawk took his sword, pointed it toward the pirate and just as the bullets reached the sword he slightly changed its angle making the bullets miss.

"What?! I'm sure I was right on target!" Pirate yelled.

"It deviated." Zoro said making the pirate yelp and look at him. "He redirected it with the tip of his sword."

"That's ridiculous!" Pirate argued but Zoro just walked past him. "Hey! Who the hell are you?!"

"Swords, three of them! Could it be…?" One of the pirates realized as Zoro smirked at Mihawk.

"I've never seen such graceful skill." Zoro commented, Mihawk looked toward him.

"A sword with power alone is not powerful." Mihawk told him.

"So this ship was cut apart with that sword too?" Zoro asked.

"Of course." The reply was short but had all it needed.

"It's clear now! You're the strongest!" Zoro said, his smirk widened and the excitement ran through his veins. "I've been sailing the seas to face you."

"What are you aiming for?" Mihawk asked.

"To be the best!" Zoro declared as he tied his bandanna around his head.

Mihawk smirked. "Fool."

Zoro ignored the comment and unsheathed Wado Ichimonji before pointing it at Mihawk "You've got time to spare, don't you? Let's duel, shall we?" He challenged.

"T-This guy is…" Pirate that short realized as well. "Zoro! The 'Three Swords Style' Roronoa Zoro!"

"What?!" Another pirate asked.

"Oh? Pirate Hunter eh?" Krieg commented.

"That guy?" Sanji asked while Zeff simply watched.

"Hey! Things are getting worse! Luffy, Vergil! Going Merry is about to be gone from our sights! Hey! Luffy! Vergil!" Usopp yelled at the two, however two pirates just watched the scene in front of them.

"Duel? Hm. Such a pitiful weakling." At the comment Zoro just glared at Mihawk. The world's strongest swordsman appeared on the same part of the broken deck as Zoro in a moment. "If you really were a fine swordsman, you should've been able to judge the difference in strengths without drawing your sword. Challenging me? Are you that brave? Or simply reckless?" Mihawk asked.

"This is for my own ambition!" Zoro replied and then placed Wado Ichimonji in his mouth, he also unsheathed his other swords. "And, for a promise to my fallen friend!"

"The world's greatest swordsman, Hawk Eyes Mihawk vs Pirate Hunter Zoro. What kind of battle will this turn out to be?" Patty wondered.

"No one can win against big bro." Yosaku confidently said.

"Big bro is the best!" Johnny agreed.

"Dead wrong." Vergil commented.

"What was that?!" Two of them yelled at him.

"Shut up and watch." Vergil simply told them.

Mihawk pulled at the crucifix necklace to reveal a small blade.

"Hey now, what's the meaning of this?" Zoro asked.

"I'm unlike those idiots who use their all to hunt rabbits. Though you are famous enough to be called a swordsman, this is the weakest of the four oceans, East Blue. Unfortunately I'm carrying nothing smaller than this." Mihawk stated, he honestly seemed sorry for not having a smaller blade and well that would irritate pretty much anyone…

"Quit mocking me!" He said and clenched his teeth against the handle of the sword so strong that his teeth chipped a bit. "Just don't regret it when you die!" He yelled as he rushed toward Mihawk.

"You are but someone who's yet to experience the real world." Mihawk stated the truth.

"**Demon Slice**!" Zoro's signature technique was pretty much useless as Mihawk stopped it with his little knife.

"W-What?!" Zoro gasped, he couldn't move…

Two swordsmen remained frozen in that position…

"Zoro!" Luffy breathed out.

"Big Bro's **Demon Slice** was broken!" Johnny gasped.

"But that has worked 100% all the time." Yosaku exclaimed. "What in the world happened?!"

"_I knew it… he is completely outclassed_…" Vergil thought as he gritted his teeth, the outcome of the battle was painfully clear to him.

"_I can't move! What just happened? No one could avoid this technique before but just with his toy, he… Is this happened? Is the strength like his really this far away? That can't be! I can't be this far away!_" Zoro thought, he rushed in recklessly. "World shouldn't be this far off!" He screamed, for all the slicing he did it was useless, Mihawk easily blocked the blades with his 'toy'…

The older swordsman easily pushed Zoro back and made him fall down.

"This can't be big bro! Please fight seriously!" Yosaku yelled.

"Big bro!" Johnny called as well.

"Shut it you two!" Vergil snapped at them.

"It can't possibly be this far away!" Zoro tried to assure himself as he attacked Mihawk once again.

He sliced again and again but Mihawk either stepped back into the safety or blocked the sword. He reached the railing and jumped on it only for Zoro to cut it, but the world's greatest swordsman jumped over him and landed a couple of meters away. Zoro was already there and tried cutting the man but if one was being honest he would say that Zoro never had a single chance of cutting, or even scratching Mihawk who effortlessly evaded his attacks.

"Such unrestrained skill." Mihawk said as he blocked the sword. Zoro attacked with Wado Ichimonji and the sword clashed with the knife producing a small shockwave.

"Just with that thing he is taking on all of Zoro's three swords. That's a monster superior to monsters!" One of the pirates exclaimed.

"_I didn't come all this way to lose to this toy-like thing!_" Zoro thought as he restlessly attacked again and again.

Suddenly he heard Kuina calling him and saw her in front of his eyes. He slashed from above but missed and allowed Mihawk to hit the back of his neck with the side of his hand. Zoro gasped as memories engulfed him.

-Flashback-

For the first time Kuina was the one to charge first taking Zoro by surprise. He tried to block but with a powerful swing she made him lose grip on his blades and fall to the ground with his swords falling behind him. She towered over him and stabbed her blade into the ground right by the left side of his head.

"This is my, 2001st win." She said with a satisfied smile on her face. Zoro's swords landed, stabbing the ground slightly and getting stuck in it.

Kuina stood up and wiped the sweat off of her forehead while also throwing her hair back a bit.

"Damn…" She heard Zoro crying, he was actually crying, covering his eyes with his hands and finally crying… "Shit. I can't accept this…" He sobbed.

"I'm the one who wants to cry because I can't accept it." She said, making him look at her, his crying stopped. "Girls… When we grow up we become weaker then men." Zoro just looked at her. "I will probably be overtaken by you soon." She lifted her head up. "You always say that you'd become the world's best swordsman. My father told me… It's not possible for a girl… I know, I already know about this." Her voice was starting to get overpowered by her emotions, it wavered slightly as she raised her tone just a tiny little bit, yet it was noticeable for Kuina who was always so stoic and arrogant. "But, but… I can't accept it!" She said louder than before. "Zoro it must be nice to be a man." She said envious of Zoro's gender, her voice however regain the calm demeanor. Zoro stood up. "I also want to become the world's greatest swordsman! My chest is starting to grow out." She admitted as she placed her hand on her chest, Zoro looked at her slightly red in the cheeks. "If… If I was born a boy!" She started crying…

Zoro gritted his teeth and growled a bit. "How can you say such weak words after beating me?!" He demanded. "That's despicable! You've been my goal all this time!" Zoro told her. It was true that he wanted to become the world's greatest swordsman but right now Kuina was his goal.

"Zoro…" She muttered.

"Whether you're a man or a woman. Is that what you're going to say when I beat you one day?! As if it wasn't because of my own skills?! It makes me who's training hard a complete fool!" Kuina just watched him, she was seeing him in a new light. "Don't say thing like that!" He walked up to her and looked her in the eyes. "Promise me. One day either you or I will be the world's greatest swordsman! We can compete to see who does it!" He declared and they looked at each other for some time before she closed her eyes and smiled.

"Stupid, saying that even though you are weak…" She said

Zoro held out his hand and she took it. "It's a promise." They both said.

-Flashback ends-

Image of the funeral flashed in front of his eyes as he turned toward Mihawk again. "_To become the greatest in the world…_" The way he trained flashed in front of him...

-Flashback-

"I will… Take her share of training and become even stronger! I'll become so strong that my name will reach the heavens! I'll become the world's greatest swordsman!" He announced with as much determination as he could muster. "We promised… I… I…"

Koshiro smiled and picked up the katana.

"That's fine." He said making Zoro look up. "Kuina's soul and dreams…" He said as he held the katana in front of him in a manner that clearly said he was passing it down. "I leave them to you." He said, his eyes were for once opened. Zoro let out a loud cry…

-Flashback ends-

Zoro breathed hard, he was clearly tired and Mihawk was just standing there. "If I could just defeat this man…" He stepped forward, his footsteps were shaky and his slash was sloppy and slow, Mihawk just had to step out of the way and Zoro fell down, panting.

"Why do you seek ultimate power, you weakling?" Mihawk asked.

"Big bro's a weakling you say?! You damn bastard!" Yosaku was ready to attack.

"I'll teach you a thing or two!" Johnny yelled as well. They were however pulled back to Baratie by Luffy.

"Stop! Yosaku! Johnny! Don't interfere!" He yelled at them but one could easily see that he was fighting not to interfere as well. "Just Hang on…!"

"Luffy…?" Usopp questioned.

Zoro somehow managed to stand up. "I… Can't afford to lose!" Zoro announced, everything around him became white to him, the only thing he saw was Mihawk. "**Tiger**…"

"The world's greatest swordsman? That's nice! As the Pirate King's comrade I wouldn't expect anything less from you!" He remembered Luffy telling him.

"**Hunt**!" He attacked but Mihawk stabbed his knife into Zoro's chest, rather close to the heart as well…

Blood dripped down as the crew, Johnny and Yosaku watched in horror. "Do you wish to have this to go through your heart? Why won't you step back?"Mihawk asked.

"I don't know. I'm not sure why myself. But if I were to take even a one step back. I believe that all those important oaths, promises and many deals 'til now, will all go to waste and I will never be able to return before you, ever again." Zoro explained.

"Yes. And that's called 'losing'." Mihawk stated.

Zoro let out a short laughter. "That's why I can't step back."

"Even if it means death?" Hawk Eyes asked him.

"Death may be better!" Zoro announced without a single moment of hesitation.

"_What strong will! Preferring death over defeat._" Mihawk thought and pulled the knife out. "Kid, state your name." Mihawk demanded.

"Roronoa Zoro." Zoro said and held his two swords at an angle just a bit bigger than 90 degrees.

"I'll remember that!" Mihawk exclaimed as he took out his bigger sword… "It's been a while since I've seen such strong will. As a reward, a gesture to the fellow swordsman. I will wield this 'Black Sword', the most powerful sword in the world, to end your life."

"I appreciate your offer." Zoro thanked him.

"It's out." One of the pirates shouted.

"The sword that cut our ship!" Another one exclaimed.

"This is my last chance! The world's best, or the death…?" Zoro thought as he preapared for Mihawk's attack.

Luffy and Vergil fought hard not to interfere.

"Big bro please stop!" Yosaku and Johnny pleaded.

"**Three-Sword Style Secret Technique:**" He began spinning his swords rapidly. Mihawk dashed forward for the first time in the battle. "**Three Thousand Worlds**!" Mihawk went past Zoro and stopped. They remained still until Zoro's two swords cracked and shattered. Blood gushed out of the newly formed wound on Zoro's chest.

He dropped to one knee. "_I lost_." He admitted to himself and sheathed Wado Ichimonji the only sword that remained in one piece. "_Losing wasn't something I'd ever imagine possible. So this is what it is to possess the greatest power in the world._" He stood up, turned to face Mihawk and spread his arms leaving himself wide open.

"What now?" Mihawk asked.

Zoro smirked. "A wound on the back is a shame to the swordsman's pride." He stated making Mihawk smirk as well.

"Well said." Mihawk praised and slashed…

"ZORO!" Both Luffy and Vergil screamed as huge gash appeared on swordsman's upper body.

"Don't rush your death, young lad."

"Zoro!" Usopp screamed.

"Big bro!" Johnny and Yosaku screamed as well.

Luffy screamed as tear began forming in his eye.

Zoro was falling down…

"_Why?_" Sanji thought.

"When I decided to become the World's Greatest Swordsman, I threw away the rest of my life." Zoro's words repeated in his mind.

"_That idiot and his stupid ideas! His opponent was the true world's greatest! The result was obvious! Why didn't you give up your ambitions realizing inventible death?_" Sanji wondered. "It's simple! To abandon your ambitions!" Sanji cried out as Zoro fell into the water.

"This is Grand Line's power? The world's power?" One of the pirates asked.

"Even the Pirate Hunter Zoro didn't stand a chance!" Another one said.

Luffy was trembling and Vergil wasn't taking it much better. "Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT!" Luffy stretched his arm out and grabbed onto the deck.

"Big bro!" Johnny and Yosaku jumped into the water after Zoro. Luffy flew forward toward Mihawk with clear attention of attacking him.

"Bastard!" Luffy yelled but Mihawk stepped to the side and dodged the rubber man that was now stuck in the wood.

"You're the young swordsman's comrade? Thank you for watching over his so far." Mihawk thanked the rubber captain.

Well Luffy wasn't the only one attacking Mihawk right now.

Vergil jumped and using the Demon Slide he reached the deck.

Dark Edge appeared in his hand without him even calling out the summoning of the weapon.

Mihawk watched as enraged demon's turned completely yellow, the color spread through the sclera leaving the normally white part completely yellow.

"Half-Awakened demon?" Mihawk asked as Vergil growled.

"Damn it!" Vergil yelled as darkness engulfed him and he raised his broadsword. Darkness quickly began forming around the sword as wood underneath him cracked a bit. "**Hell**…" Vergil gripped his sword even tighter and prepared to slash toward Mihawk when Johnny and Yosaku emerged with Zoro.

"Rest assured, that man is still alive." Mihawk stated, Vergil's anger faded only a bit, as if not believing the words Mihawk just told him.

"Big bro! Big bro! Say something!" Yosaku urged the fallen swordsman.

"Zoro!" Luffy yelled.

Zoro coughed up blood and while that wasn't a good thing he was alive. Vergil's eyes widened and the energy faded, the technique was stopped just before it could be used… Energy retracted back into Vergil's body before Dark Edge disappeared and he turned all of his attention to Zoro. His eyes turned back to their normal state.

"Zoro!" Luffy screamed out the name of his nakama.

"Hey, quickly, get him onto the ship." Usopp urged them as he held his hands out to help them.

Mihawk also turned his attention toward Zoro.

"Quickly, here's some medicine, apply it quickly!" Usopp urged as he placed the medicine down.

"It's still too early for you to die. My name is Dracule Mihawk! Find your true self, true world, become stronger! No matter how long it will take I will await you in my strongest form! Surpass this sword! Surpass me! Roronoa Zoro!" Mihawk told him showcasing the respect he had grown to have for Zoro during their battle.

"Big bro! Big bro! Say something!" Yosaku pleaded.

"Big bro!" Johnny cried.

"For Hawk Eyes Mihawk to declare such words…" Zeff muttered.

"Kids, what are your missions?" Mihawk asked as he turned to Luffy and Vergil.

"Pirate King!" Luffy said with no hesitation whatsoever.

"Killing the Demon King!" Vergil replied with same amount of confidence.

Mihawk smirked. "Those are difficult paths, even harder than surpassing me." He told them.

"Like I care. I'm going to become one anyway." Luffy said and stuck his tongue out.

"It's what I have to do." Vergil stated.

"He's alive!" They heard Usopp saying. Duo turned to the boat. "He just lost consciousness!" Usopp said, Johnny and Yosaku were crying out of happiness.

"Big bro!" Yosaku exclaimed.

"Big bro! Say something!" Johnny cried out.

"Zoro!" Luffy called.

"Big bro!" Johnny repeated as Zoro raised his sword up.

"Luffy, can you hear me?" Zoro asked, his voice was hoarse but he was conscious.

"Yeah!" Luffy assured him.

"Sorry for worrying you. If I don't become the world's greatest swordsman you'd be in dilemma now, right?" Zoro asked, Luffy just watched toward the boat, his mouth were a bit opened and his eyes showcased disbelief.

Zoro coughed up blood. "Big bro! Don't speak anymore!" Johnny and Yosaku tried to stop him.

All the eyes were turned toward Zoro. "I will… I will never… LOSE AGAIN!" Zoro was crying. "Until I defeat him and become the greatest swordsman, I will never be defeated anymore!" Zoro declared, at this Mihawk smirked while Luffy and Vergil grinned. "Any problem with that? PIRATE KING?" Zoro cried out.

"Shishishishi! None!" Luffy told him.

"Good team. I hope we meet again." Mihawk stated and began leaving.

* * *

_**That's it. I know the episode didn't end like this but this seems like a more fitting ending, at least to me.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Sanji VS Iron Wall Pearl**_


	37. Sanji VS Iron Wall Pearl

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**cedezbenz – Thanks for the review. I'm glad you think that.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks for the review.**_

_**OPFan37 – Thanks for the review. Zoro VS Mihawk is to me one of the better fight because of what you pointed out, the character development. Action wise, yeah, it's not that good so we agree completely about that. There is one scene with Nami during the Syrup village arc in which he got a bit more emotional after she got hurt, but you are right, that was the first time Vergil actually showed real worry for one of his nakama. That was actually the first time in the series that he needed to worry because at that point it wasn't clear if Zoro was alive or not.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review, I'm glad you like it.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 37 – Sanji VS Iron Wall Pearl**_

* * *

"Luffy, can you hear me?" Zoro asked, his voice was hoarse but he was conscious.

"Yeah!" Luffy assured him.

"Sorry for worrying you. If I don't become the world's greatest swordsman you'd be in dilemma now, right?" Zoro asked, Luffy just watched toward the boat, his mouth were a bit opened and his eyes showcased disbelief.

Zoro coughed up blood. "Big bro! Don't speak anymore!" Johnny and Yosaku tried to stop him.

All the eyes were turned toward Zoro. "I will… I will never… LOSE AGAIN!" Zoro was crying. "Until I defeat him and become the greatest swordsman, I will never be defeated anymore!" Zoro declared, at this Mihawk smirked while Luffy and Vergil grinned. "Any problem with that? PIRATE KING?" Zoro cried out.

"Shishishishi! None!" Luffy told him.

"Good team. I hope we meet again." Mihawk stated and began leaving.

Well Mihawk's leaving was interrupted when Krieg landed on the deck. "Hold on there, Hawk Eyes! Didn't you come for my head? East Blue's greatest, Don Krieg's head?" Krieg challenged.

"That was my initial intention. But, I've had more than enough fun. I'm headed back to sleep." Mihawk simply replied, he had no interest whatsoever in Krieg right now.

Krieg smirked and cracked his neck a bit. "It may have been enough fun for you, but I haven't done my bit yet."

"D-Don?!" One of the pirates whimpered.

"Why is he intentionally stopping him?" Another one cried out.

Krieg revealed all of his weapons. "Die before you go!" He yelled at Mihawk and fired.

"A true fool." Mihawk commented.

Large explosion formed destroying another portion of the ship, the smoke cleared to reveal Krieg standing unharmed. "He got away." Krieg grumbled.

Luffy and Vergil reached the railing of Baratie and jumped onto the deck to the cooks.

"Usopp!" Luffy called out to the sniper.

"Luffy!" Usopp responded.

"Get going! Take care of Nami!" He ordered with a grin on his face.

"Gotcha! Me and Zoro will definitely get Nami back! You just make that cook one of us! Then we'll make a party of six and head to the Grand Line!" Usopp shouted.

"Well said." Vergil said with a smirk on his face.

"Yeah! Now go!" Luffy told him.

"Men! With the interruptions gone the real battle begins now! Let's get that ship!" Krieg ordered.

"Yeah!" Pirates agreed.

"Ha! They wanna fight too!" Luffy exclaimed. "This is so exciting."

"Becoming the Pirate King? Are you serious about that?" Zeff suddenly asked.

"Yeah, of course! I WILL become the Pirate King!" Luffy replied confidently.

Zeff grinned. "I see a lot of people who talk beyond their strength. But I rarely see someone who says it so confidently."

"People can get stronger, Luffy will without a doubt become the Pirate King." Vergil stated.

"I heard that you were once a very strong pirate. You also wanted to become the Pirate King, right?" Luffy asked.

"I have forgotten about the past. I am a head chef of a restaurant now. This is enough." Zeff replied, for some reason Sanji had a guilty look on his face.

"Men!" Krieg yelled as he pointed toward Baratie. "As long as we have that ship we have no need to fear the Grand Line! This is better than disguised as a marine ship or giving up a raised white flag! That ship will make it easier to approach the enemy and make a raid!" Krieg declared.

"I don't know, if this ship was approaching me in the middle of nowhere I'd have hell of a guard up…" Vergil commented.

"The hell is that supposed to mean you shitty demon?!" Sanji snapped at him.

"Well think about it. If you are in the middle of an ocean you'd be vary of any ship that you aren't familiar with. If this restaurant is something then it's distinctive, I'd be more careful because of it then I would if I outright saw marine or pirate ship, if for no other reason than for not knowing who or what is on this ship." Vergil explained.

"He makes sense captain." One of the pirates said to Krieg.

"Don't disagree with me!" Krieg snapped and shot the unfortunate and somewhat brave pirate…

"B-But Don. What if we meet someone like Hawk Eyes Mihawk on the Grand Line?" One of the pirates bravely asked and once again due to anger the gun was fired and the pirate was killed.

"What are you still afraid of?!" Krieg demanded, almost challenging his crew to disagree with him again.

"No-Nothing!" They quickly agreed fearing for their lives.

"Do you think a normal person can split a ship in one stroke? That is the power of a devil fruit. According to a legend there are many people in the Grand Line who possess the power of the devil fruit like Mihawk, who must have used a special power to cut the ship apart. That straw hat guy won't be anything special once he enters the Grand Line." Krieg clenched his fist as he glared at Luffy who was still grinning and then at Zeff. "However, Red Leg Zeff was there for a whole year. I can only guess that Zeff used some kind of strategy against those monsters. A strategy he should have written down in that journal he possesses. Also information about One Piece might be included!" Krieg declared.

"I see! You are so great Don Krieg!" One of the pirates praised.

"With that ship and the journal, we will have the opportunity to get One Piece." Another one added.

"Do you understand now, men? Let's go and steal the ship!" Krieg ordered.

Patty and Carne jumped into a certain type of weapon intending to defend the restaurant.

"That ship belongs to us!" Patty declared.

"We absolutely can't hand it to you! No matter what the cost!" Carne said and then they found a problem. "How do you move this?" They didn't know how to use the weapon…

"Hurry up!" Patty urged though he didn't know what to do either.

-Back with Luffy-

"The restaurant will become battlefield…" Sanji said, in his head he could clearly see images of a ship caught in a storm and the small boy, most likely himself, falling overboard due to a wave.

"I was thinking about a restaurant on the sea. If I can survive and leave here, I will bet the rest of my life on a huge restaurant." He remembered Zeff saying.

"Go to the control room and open the 'Fin'." He ordered one of the cooks.

"Eh! That? Open the 'Fin'… We are gonna give the enemy a place to fight?" Cook asked.

"Who cares? We can't let the inner part of the restaurant become a battlefield. If we fight inside, the old fart will never shut up." Sanji said as he tapped the wall a couple of times.

"Did you say something you little shit?" Zeff asked.

"Yeah, I said you never shut up." Sanji bluntly replied. "Go." He urged the cook. The cook ran off to do as he was told.

Pirates on the other hand weren't going to wait they ran forward ready to attack.

"They are finally here! Here they come!" Luffy exclaimed excitedly. "And here I go! **Gomu Gomu no**…" He stepped back a bit as he held on the railing thus he ended up stretching his arms. "**Rocket**!"

"That guy is flying toward here!" One of the pirates panicked.

"And!" Luffy spread his arms. "**Gomu Gomu no Scythe**!" The pirates fell into the water after getting hit and Luffy grabbed onto a half broken mast and began holding onto it like a sloth, though he wasn't upside down and he wasn't exactly hugging the mast…

"Way to go!" One of the cooks cheered.

"What… What the hell is he?" One of the pirates asked.

"In the Grand Line there are many of these kinds of people…" Sanji muttered.

"Sanji." Zeff got the younger cook's attention. "Watch carefully how he fights. Watch him until the battle is finished." Zeff told him, this made Sanji a bit confused as he raised his eyebrow.

"They gave you food to eat, but instead you attacked them. You don't even know how to be grateful! I'll kick your ass.

Krieg laughed. "You've chosen to fight on the sea where there is nowhere to stand. I know people who possess the power of a devil fruit are afraid of the sea. Hammer-boy!" Krieg mocked.

"But I can stretch instead!" Luffy being Luffy always found the brighter side of the coin and this wasn't an exception.

"Sanji! The 'Fin' is going to open!" The cook that Sanji sent to open the 'Fin' yelled.

"What is this?" Luffy asked when they heard something moving.

The 'Fin' was a platform which was hidden under the restaurant and it was addition to the deck, a big one at that. With it one could fight without damaging the restaurant.

"What was that? A platform just appeared out of nowhere!" One of the pirates exclaimed.

"Wow! That's so cool!" Luffy marveled at the platform with a wide grin on his face.

"Heh, this'll make things more interesting." Vergil commented.

Sanji stepped onto the platform. "Why don't we fight to our hearts content, pirates?" He challenged them.

"Oh, so I see. The restaurant won't be harmed. How convenient for us since we are going to take it. Now I want this ship even more." Krieg told them.

"Don't you ever think about having this restaurant!" One of the cooks warned him.

"That's right! Don't underestimate us!" Another one said.

"We are fighting cooks!" Third one proclaimed.

All of a sudden the fish head figure detached from the restaurant to reveal a sea weapon with three cannons.

"Let's go! Baratie's sea weapon Sabagashira #1!" Patty yelled as he and Carne moved the weapon.

"Those who are afraid to die grab your shoes and run!" Carne warned.

"What is that?" Krieg asked.

"Cool! I want one too!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Pedal faster!" Patty urged.

"I'm trying to!" Carne snapped at him.

"Fire!" Patty yelled and three cannons fired.

"It's going to sink!" Luffy exclaimed as he felt the mast lower down a bit more due to the explosions.

"That's right! Great! Patty, Carne! Finish them!" Cooks cheered as Patty and Carne kept firing.

"Not bad." Luffy complimented them.

Patty was laughing. "Don't look at the other side! Target them directly!" Carne yelled at him. The duo pedaled even faster and headed right for Krieg.

"Krieg! Take this! I'll show you the power of Baratie's sea weapon!" Patty declared and fired, cannon blasts hit Krieg but he was not affected by them, he simply held his hand out and stopped the Sabagashira #1 without any strain whatsoever.

"He's much stronger than an average human, I'll give him that." Vergil commented.

"Did it hit something?" Patty asked as he and Carne realized that they weren't moving.

"It doesn't move!" Carne exclaimed.

"I am Don Krieg! The man who will conquer the world's sea!" Krieg announced yet again.

"I told you before that I'm the one who'll do that!" Luffy reminded him.

"I don't have time to play these games!" With that he gripped the cannon and slowly but surely lifted the Sabagashira #1.

"What strength is this?!" Patty asked in disbelief.

Krieg threw the weapon toward Baratie. "It's flying over here!" One of the cooks panicked. "The restaurant is going to be destroyed!"

Sanji jumped up rather high and before Sabagashira could hit Baratie he kicked it away surprising Luffy, Vergil, Krieg and his pirates.

"Sanji!" Cooks cheered.

"Leg…" Krieg breathed out.

Sanji easily landed on the platform while Sabagashira crashed not too far away from him.

"What a kick!" One of the pirates commented.

"He just kicked away that strange ship thing!" Another one added.

"Was that kick technique…?" Krieg wondered.

"So he's not just any cook." Vergil said with a grin on his face.

"It appeared! Sanji's kick!" One of the cooks said.

"Not bad!" Luffy said.

Patty and Carne jumped through the platform.

"Sanji! You bastard!" Patty yelled.

"Are you trying to kill your own people?!" Carne snapped at him.

"Yeah." Sanji simply stated.

"What do you mean 'Yeah'?! I'll cook you like an octopus!" Patty snapped angrily.

"You nearly lost us a powerful weapon! You Italian Spaghetti!" Carne accused.

"The two of you nearly cost us all of our lives. Be thankful to him, if he hadn't kicked you away I would have blown you up into smithereens." Vergil bluntly stated.

"What was that?!" Carne demanded.

"This is no time to go babbling around! Cooks…" One of the pirates said, the pirates finally reached the platform.

"Let's go!" One of the cooks urged them.

The fighting cooks attacked the pirates but without much problem they were defeated.

"Even though you carry weapons a cook is a cook. There's a large difference compared to us! Go do your cooking in some kitchen on the mainland." Pirate told them.

"Why are you losing so easily!" Carne demanded.

"And you call yourselves fighting cooks!" Patty yelled.

"They are strong! Completely different from other pirates we've fought before!" Cook said.

"Don't compare us to those useless pirates. We are Krieg's Pirates, the king of East Blue's pirates!" The Krieg pirate said.

"Announce it! Tell everybody that this ship belongs to Krieg Pirates!" Krieg ordered.

"Forget it!" Sanji told him while smirking. "You won't set one foot in this restaurant."

"Right!" Zeff agreed.

"We've been cooks for ten years! And we've been in 300 restaurants. During those days we'd be fired every time we started a fight." Patty said.

"Then finally we arrived at this place" Carne exclaimed.

-Flashback-

Patty and Carne, much different than they were now barged through the doors into a kitchen.

"Is anyone here?!" Patty asked. "Is Red Leg Zeff's restaurant here?!"

"Is it true that damned cooks are welcome?" Carne asked, the only ones in the kitchen were Zeff and Sanji.

Zeff had his back turned to them and was currently peeling the potato while Sanji glanced at them, the boy was cooking something and was rather young.

"Yeah, it's true. It doesn't matter if they are evil or if they are an escaped criminal. Whenever someone comes here hungry I'll let them be full. Both of you are you ready for this?" Zeff asked and turned to look at them.

"Aye!" Both of them agreed as they saluted to Zeff.

Patty and Carne began preparing the food and now it was Zeff's turn to taste it. "How can you serve this disgusting soup to our customers?!" Zeff asked.

All of a sudden Patty punched Carne.

"Why did you hit me?!" Carne demanded.

Patty grabbed him by the collar. "This represents my determination! Don't complain!"

-Flashback ends-

"Here we can fight and cook as much as we want." Patty said.

"There isn't another great restaurant like this for us!" Carne added.

"That's right. Understand, Krieg?" Sanji asked.

"Every day preparing meals is like a battle. These guys are nothing compared to those days!" Patty encouraged the cooks.

"Right!" One of the cooks agreed.

"Let's fight!" Another one added.

"Nah, you've done your part. I'm taking it from here." Vergil suddenly said.

"What for?" Sanji asked as other cooks halted for a moment.

"Well I'll admit, I'm itching for a fight and I'm still frustrated over what happened to Zoro. So leave them to me." Vergil said as he stepped in between cooks and pirates.

"You alone against all of us? Don't underestimate us!" One of the pirates yelled at him.

"These cooks are willing to protect this restaurant with their lives, one would say that it's a force no one can destroy. As the situation is I am well aware that even with that mindset they'll just die in vain. You can't protect something just by wanting to protect it, or just by being willing to die for it…" Vergil said, his eyes were closed and a bloody white haired girl on the verge of death was all he could see. He took a deep breath in and opened his eyes. "That's why, I'll make sure to stop you here and now!" He declared.

Pirates attacked as a group but it's sometimes strength isn't in numbers. Vergil's fist became engulfed in electricity as he punched one after another, he easily knocked them out due to electrocuting them.

"Like hell if I'll lose to the weaklings like you." Vergil said as he ducked under a blade and threw an uppercut directly toward pirate's chin.

In a split second he deflected an incoming attack from a rather strange man.

A towering man, Pearl came out of water, to say that he was strange would be an understatement… His ensemble included two large iron plates covering his front and backside as well as two small plates with large pearls embedded in them. The same plates could be seen on his elbows and knees as well and he had a large pearl on his head…

"What are you doing?" Pearl asked the fallen pirates.

"Who is he?" Luffy asked.

"Iron Wall! Also known as Krieg Pirates' Invincible Iron Wall Shield Man. It is I, Pearl-san!" Pearl introduced himself.

"Fitting name." Vergil commented.

"Pearl-san…" One of the barely conscious pirates muttered.

"You, how could you defend from my killing punch **Pearl Present**?" Pearl asked.

"Because it was too weak?" Vergil supplied.

Another bunch of pirates reached the platform and attacked.

"It'd put shame on Baratie's name if we allowed you to defend us all on your own." Sanji said as he came up to Vergil.

"Do as you please." Vergil stated.

In a split second Sanji appeared in the middle of the pirates and supported himself on his arms. He spun his legs around kicking the pirates away. He kicked the last one away and stood there with one leg still up in the air.

"I don't need you permission, shitty demon." Sanji stated.

"Are you so arrogant that you only kick them? Is this your principle?" Pearl asked.

"A cook's hands are his life. He cannot injure them in battle." He shot this foot up and pointed it toward Pearl. "So I'll finish you with these feet."

"Finish me? Impossible. In my last sixty-one battles, I have won them all completely unharmed. I have never even spilled a single drop of blood in a battle. Not a single drop. This justifies how strong I am." He tapped the pearls together twice. "I am the strongest of the strongest! I'm strong, huh?"

"Is he joking? It's not very funny!" Luffy complained at the stupidity of Pearl's statement.

"Hey, straw hat guy! If you look somewhere else you'll get hurt!" Krieg mocked as he swung around the enormous spike ball. He threw it toward Luffy and broke the mast making the rubber man yelp. He swung it once again, hit the part of the mast that Luffy was holding onto and sent Luffy flying…

"Even the marine cannons can't hurt me. No attack can harm me!" Pearl boasted and then got hit in the back of the head by none other than Luffy.

Luffy dusted off his shorts.

"Welcome back." Vergil greeted him casually as if his own captain falling right in front of him did nothing to surprise him.

"Ah, I'm back. He sure scared me. I nearly fell into the sea." Luffy said and then they noticed that Pearl had a nosebleed.

"It counts. You've just spilled more than a single drop of blood." Vergil mocked.

"Oh no…" Krieg muttered.

"Oh no, blood!" One of the Krieg pirates shouted.

"Pearl-san, everything is alright!" Another one assured him.

"It's just a little nose bleed!" Another one exclaimed.

"Not an injury caused by battle!" Fourth one added.

"Pearl-san, don't worry about it!" Fifth one pretty much pleaded.

"What happened?" One of the cooks wondered.

"This – this – this is dangerous!" Pearl cried out.

"He looks strange, what happened to him?" Sanji asked.

"Something about the nose bleeding?" Luffy guessed and picked his own nose.

"He is in denial of never getting hurt, you could say that he's having sort of a panic attack. By the way Sanji, he looked strange from the very beginning." Vergil pointed out.

"Shut it, shitty demon." Sanji said but he had a smirk on his face indicating that he wasn't angry.

Pearl on the other hand began slamming the pearls together.

"Stop it, Pearl! Don't get mad over a nose bleed!" Krieg tried to stop him but Pearl was at the point of no return.

"What is he doing?" Sanji asked.

"Harming our eardrums, as if his voice alone wasn't annoying…" Vergil said and tried to ignore the noise.

"Bodily harm! Bodily harm! Bodily harm!" Pearl shouted.

"Great now he's shouting…" The white haired demon complained and groaned.

Suddenly Pearl burst into flames.

"Stop it, shit!" One of the pirates yelled.

"When Pearl-san is threatened he sets himself on fire!" Another one yelled.

"What did you say?" Luffy asked.

"**Fire Pearl Huge Favor**!" Pearl exclaimed.

"Ah it's hot!" Luffy exclaimed as he, Sanji and Vergil jumped out of the fire's way.

"Shit! Those bastards are unconscious!" Vergil exclaimed.

"Who cares!" Sanji yelled at him as Vergil ran toward the pirates he previously defeated.

"There's no honor in letting someone who can't defend themselves just die!" Vergil snapped and threw unconscious pirates to the wrecks of Krieg's galleon.

"Vergil you'll get burned!" Luffy called out to his first mate.

"All done." Vergil said and jumped back into the safety.

"You are one crazy bastard aren't you?" Sanji asked as he looked at the demon who was now wearing slightly charred clothes.

"You wouldn't be the first one to tell me that." The demon in question replied.

Other pirates however weren't as lucky as they began getting caught by the fire.

"Pearl-san! Don't be like this!" One of them yelled, hoping that Pearl would listen to him.

"Hey you guys! With these shields of fire I'm indestructible!" Pearl exclaimed.

"Idiot! Are you trying to burn down the ship that we are going to steal?!" Krieg demanded.

Luffy was also slightly on fire and he ran around the platform. "Hot, hot, hot!" He shouted before Vergil grabbed him by the neck of his vest used **Air Hike** to jump over the fire and half dipped Luffy into the water.

"And you were telling me that I will get burnt…" Vergil complained to his half soaked captain who was once again on the platform.

"Shishishishi! Thanks Vergil!" Luffy just grinned at him.

"Shit!" Sanji cursed as flames spread on the platform.

"We can't jump into the sea with this fire!" One of the pirates cried out.

"Oh no, the restaurant will get burnt!" One of the cooks panicked.

"_He really wants to burn this restaurant!_" Sanji realized as he watched the flames.

"Burn! Burn!" Pearl exclaimed.

"Bastard!" Sanji jumped through the fire.

"Idiot! You're gonna get fired!" Patty yelled at him. "Sanji!"

"Don't you dare burn this restaurant!" Sanji yelled as he reached Pearl, he was upside down in the air ready to kick the shielded pirate. He spun around and kicked Pearl, though his kick clashed with one of the burning shields.

"How come he's so impudent!" One of the pirates wondered.

"Isn't he afraid of becoming a fire ball?!" Another one asked.

"He even attacks Fire Pearl, someone who is feared even by beasts!" Third one added.

Sanji held his hand out, he was holding his cigarette. "Idiot. If I'm afraid of fire, how can I call myself a cook?"

"Argh! What an annoying guy!" Pearl exclaimed.

"Take this!" Sanji found support in his hands as he kicked Pearl from above. Pearl fell down and skidded across the platform a bit.

"That must have hurt!" One of the pirates yelled.

"Pearl-san's Iron Wall was broken?!" Another one shouted.

Pirates that were still on the platform were still burning.

Pearl stood up holding his bloody face. "What kind of cook is he? This isn't good! Damn! Damn! Damn it! Fire! Fire! **Fire Pearl** keeps burning!" Pearl shouted, pearls set on flames shot toward the restaurant from above.

"The restaurant is going to be set on fire!" One of the cooks panicked.

"If those fire balls get into the kitchen the restaurant is done for!" Another one yelled.

"Owner run away! Owner!" They warned Zeff who was calmly standing in front of his restaurant.

Suddenly Zeff sent a kick toward the balls and the blast of wind put out the fire thus making only the little harmless pearls fall down.

"EEH?!" Even cooks were downright surprised by this.

"My **Fire Pearl**…" Pearl cried.

"This is nothing." Zeff stated.

"He blew out the fire with the wind of his kick?!" One of the cooks cheered, though he was just as surprised by this as pirates.

"How can that be? Is it that Red Leg Zeff still has his skills?!" One of the pirates asked.

"The old man is strong!" Luffy said as he looked at Zeff.

"If this is how it is then I'll sink you and your 'fin' into the sea before the fire burns the restaurant!" Krieg said and threw the spiked ball toward Sanji and Pearl.

"Sanji watch out!" One of the cooks warned him.

"Oh no! He's surrounded by fire!" Another one realized.

Sanji and Pearl could only watch as weapon approached them. At the very last moment Vergil **Air Hiked** over the fire with Luffy who reacted right away.

"**Gomu Gomu no Bazooka**!" He sent the weapon back.

"He shot back that spiked ball?!" Sanji exclaimed.

The spike ball hit the bottom of the mast next to Krieg and made it fall down toward them.

Vergil grabbed Sanji and Luffy and once again **Air Hiked** over fire into the safety, thus leaving Pearl to get hit by the mast directly on the head.

"Damn I don't like jumping around this much if I'm not fighting…" Vergil complained, this was the third time he had used **Air Hike**...

Pearl's face became purple and he fell down unconscious.

"Pearl-san is defeated!" One of the pirates said.

"Pearl-san!" Many pirates cried out.

"What was he doing?" Sanji asked.

"This guy is stupid." Luffy said.

Krieg cracked his neck a bit. "Every single time, I have to do it by myself in the end." Krieg said.

They then heard Zeff grunting and falling down. Sanji and Luffy turned around.

"This time you can end it, right?" Gin asked as he set his foot on Zeff's back. He had a gun pointed at Zeff's head…

"Yes! Shoot him! The Red Leg Zeff! You only need to kill him and the restaurant is ours!" Krieg encouraged him.

* * *

_**That's it. All right, another five or four chapters to go until this arc ends and then we are getting into the Arlong Park Arc. Well I'm sorry for breaking my daily updating, I couldn't decide on what to do with the chapter after this one so yeah, sorry.**_

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_**Next Chapter – Vergil VS Gin**_


	38. Vergil VS Gin

_**Answers on reviews:**_

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_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks for the review, you are right she will be important to Vergil's backstory.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review. Uh why Usopp by the way?**_

_**OPFan37 – Thank you for the review. I can't reveal who exactly she is but I'm happy that it was noticed. Currently I'm doing more of a foreshadowing then revealing, but I plan on taking it slowly with Vergil's backstory. Well I agree about Pearl but I think most people think that as well.**_

_**Guest – Thanks, I'm glad you like it.**_

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_**Chapter 38 – Vergil VS Gin**_

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"This time you can end it, right?" Gin asked as he set his foot on Zeff's back. He had a gun pointed at Zeff's head…

"Yes! Shoot him! The Red Leg Zeff! You only need to kill him and the restaurant is ours!" Krieg encouraged him.

"Gin!" Luffy shouted.

"Regardless of how great of a man he was before, now he's just an ordinary chef! Blasting off his head is no problem now. You want to save this man, don't you Sanji-san?" Gin asked. "So just heed my word and get off this ship, I don't wanna have to kill you!" Gin requested, both cooks and pirates watched him carefully.

"Leave this ship? Not a chance!" Sanji refused making Gin's eyes widen. "You look pathetic, old fart. In that state, you can't order the cooks around to fight, can you?" He said to Zeff.

"I don't want to hear all this crap from a small eggplant." Zeff said, even with gun at the back of his head he remained calm.

"Who are you calling small, asshole! Stop treating me like a kid!" Sanji yelled at him angrily.

"That damn Sanji!" One of the cooks breathed out.

"He isn't going to abandon owner is he?!" Another one asked.

"Gin, aim that pistol at me." Sanji requested.

Both Gin and Zeff looked at him.

"Are you a moron? You'll get killed!" Luffy yelled at him.

"_Just a bit more, stall for just a bit more…_" Vergil thought.

"Maybe." Sanji said.

"Sanji-san… Why?" Gin asked.

"If you are so eager to die, let me do the honors. I owe you one for my nose. Don't you dare move now." Pearl said as he stood up. His glare was clearly fixed at Sanji. "If you don't want to get your boss' head blasted." Pearl threatened, Gin's eyes widened a bit for a moment as Pearl went to attack Sanji. "**Ultra Natural Pearl Present**!" He hit Sanji directly on the face thus making the cook slam against the platform them bounce off it and then hit the railing.

"Sanji! Why didn't you dodge that?!" Luffy demanded.

"If I did that he'd pull a trigger…" Sanji said, Vergil frowned knowing that in this situation he needed just another half a minute or so and the time was clearly something they didn't have now..

"Why are you doing all this? If you'd just abandon this restaurant everyone will be saved! It's that simple!" Gin told him.

"This restaurant is that old man's treasure!" Sanji yelled. Gin and surprisingly cooks were surprised at this. "I'm the one who took everything from that old fart…" Once again he could clearly see the rocky island and then a knife. "His power…" He saw Zeff swimming… "And his dreams." He said, his voice showed the sustained tears as he stood up. "That's why, now… I don't want that old fart to lose anything, anymore!" He declared.

"Sanji watch out!" Patty yelled and Sanji's eyes widened.

"**Pearl Cross**!" pearl yelled and was about to hit Sanji when Vergil slammed into him thus pushing him to the side.

"Vergil! What are you doing?!" Sanji yelled at the demon.

"Thanks for buying time Sanji. I'm destroying that gun now… **Zeher**!" Vergil yelled.

Gin's eyes widened as sparks appeared around his gun and then turned into lightning blast that completely destroyed it.

"So cool!" Luffy exclaimed happily as Sanji, cooks, pirates, Gin and Krieg looked at the falling remains of the gun.

Vergil fell to his knees, panting heavily as he tried to catch his breath. "Barely made it." He said with a grin.

"Another futile attempt. The restaurant will still be out of business no matter how much you try it will become a pirate ship!" Pearl yelled.

Seeing the situation much better than most people if not all people around him Luffy gritted his teeth and was about to shoot his leg up.

"Luffy, give me five minutes to make sure the only one left is Krieg. If I don't manage to do that go ahead and destroy the restaurant." Vergil said and the captain and the first mate looked at each others' eyes.

"Destroy the restaurant?! Are you for real you shits?!" Sanji snapped at them as he grabbed Vergil's collar.

"But if we destroy the ship they can't get what they want." Luffy argued.

Zeff grinned at this as Patty and Carne ran up to him.

"Are you all right owner?" Patty asked as they helped Zeff sit up.

"Owner, get a grip of yourself!" Carne urged him.

"And what the hell do you know about this?! What do you know about the immensity of my debt to this place?!" Sanji demanded.

"Nothing and I don't care." Vergil bluntly said.

"So you are going to die for it? Are you stupid?" Luffy asked.

"What did you say?!" Sanji snapped.

"It's not about paying it back! Death won't pay it back! You want to die even though he saved you so you could live?! Only a weak person can think like that!" Luffy snapped at him.

"Then what do you suggest!" Sanji yelled.

"It's settled, if I can't take Gin down in the next five minutes this 'Fin' is going down. You can finish your battle with Pearl if you are so frustrated. Zeff isn't in danger any longer." Vergil stated and turned to Gin.

"Oh the three of you, stop arguing. Fighting amongst yourself at a moment like this is just laughable. But you can't do anything regardless of us having a hostage or not. How unfortunate for you to have come to face us, the Don Krieg Pirates. Now let my **Fire Pearl** burn you down!" Pearl's pearls were set on fire and he ran forward to the trio.

"Does he really think we'll just sit here and let him hit us?" Vergil asked as he prepared to defend, however Gin went past them and hit Pearl's front shield with his tonfa.

"Gin!" Sanji exclaimed surprised at the man's action.

"Why? Gin-san…" Pearl gasped as he fell down.

"Sorry Pearl. Just stand aside." Gin told him.

"Gin. Are you betraying me?" Krieg demanded.

"Forgive me, Don Krieg. This person saved us. I don't want him to die like this. At least… At least let me finish him off with my own hands!" Gin requested and turned to Sanji.

"Have you lost your mind? My pirate fleet Combat Commanding officer?" Krieg asked revealing to everyone who exactly Gin was.

"Combat commanding officer?" Sanji asked.

"So he's not a regular crewman." Patty realized.

"He broke the iron shield of the Iron Wall Man. What a frightening power!" Carne said.

"Sanji-san! I wanted you to get off this ship so that I wouldn't have to hurt you. But it doesn't look like that's going to happen." Gin stated.

"Yeah. I won't go. This restaurant, I won't give it to you even if it costs me my life." Sanji declared.

"Then at least let me kill you with my own hands." Gin requested.

"Hey now, I've already picked a fight with you. You can go over and fight Sanji once you defeat me, of course if you can." Vergil stated.

"I have no need to kill you either. Just leave this ship while you still can't. Same goes to you, Straw hat boy." Gin warned them.

"Not necessary. Because I and Vergil won't lose to bunch of weaklings like you." Luffy bluntly stated.

"Furthermore I refuse to listen to anyone other than Luffy. Are you that afraid to face real pirates that you are even trying to get us to leave?" Vergil taunted.

Gin's eyes widened at their words and the pirates behind him weren't taking it well. It seemed like they hit the right spot as pirates growled at them.

"You bastards! How dare you talk to our commander like that?" One of them demanded.

"Calling him weak right in his face!" Another one yelled.

"We are the Don Krieg Pirates! The strongest in East Blue!" Third one declared.

"Don't you mean, the one with the most people?" Luffy asked.

"Looks like you hit 'em where it hurts." Sanji commented as he watched the downright frustrated and angry pirates.

"Yeah definitely." Luffy agreed.

"We'll kill these guys ourselves!" One of the pirates yelled as they climbed onto the platform.

"Back off!" Krieg suddenly ordered.

Pirates halted right away. "Don Krieg! But…" One of them tried to argue.

"When a guy gets frustrated when someone calls him weak that proves that he recognizes himself as weak." Krieg said and sat down.

"Well would you look at that, he actually said something smart." Vergil commented. All this time he was keeping a casual eye contact with Gin, the two were fighting a small mental battle.

"Let the outcome determine the weak and the strong. I am still here. So don't make a fuss!" Krieg ordered them.

"Aye!" Pirates said as one.

"Gin!" Krieg called making the said pirate turn to face him. "You are responsible for killing that cook and that demon. That insolent Hammerboy, leave him to me." Krieg told him.

"I understand, Don Krieg." Gin replied.

"Hey kid." Krieg got Luffy's attention. "I'll show you the power that conquered the East Blue. I don't care if you've eaten a devil fruit. You will come to see that such thing is meaningless." Krieg bragged.

Luffy's eyes were overshadowed by his hat and he turned his head slightly to the side but still held a glare right onto Krieg. "You never shut up. I want to kick your ass, that's it." Luffy stated and then grinned. "Shall we start now? You just wait right there for me!" Luffy told him confidently.

"You arrogant…" Krieg hissed.

The five pirates were at a standstill for now.

Suddenly one of the other pirates laughed a bit. "Those guys can't tell strong from weak." One of them said.

"This time that cook and that demon are finished. If Gin-san takes out that weapon he's serious!" Another one commented.

"I'll go first as I said. I'm still a bit weak from using **Zeher** but I can take him on. Don't interfere you two." Vergil said as he stepped forward.

Luffy just nodded, confident that his first mate could beat anyone.

"Fine then. I'll kill you first." Gin agreed and began spinning his tonfa around.

"Now that's more like it." Vergil said with a smirk, however unlike in some of his previous battle this time there wasn't even a spark to surround him.

"He is called the Devil-man…" One of the pirates said.

"No matter how much his opponents plead for mercy, he would always kill them without any hesitation. A Devil-man, a human with no emotion." Another one stated.

"Devil-man, huh? We'll see how it fares against a real demon." Vergil said with a smirk on his face.

Gin ran forward while still spinning his tonfa. He was smirking as he swung it toward Vergil's side, the white haired demon blocked the tonfa with his left forearm and paid the price for it as he felt the force behind the swing, the only thing that saved his arm from breaking was the small layer of darkness that served as a cushion.

"Heh, not bad." Vergil praised and threw a punch toward Gin who ducked under it and attempted to hit Vergil's head with his tonfa.

Vergil stepped to the side and while Gin was still in the lower position he shot his leg upwards to kick Gin's stomach. Combat Commander blocked the kick with his second tonfa but his eyes widened when Vergil slammed his elbow against Gin's back forcing him into the platform.

Gin was lying on the platform and his crew feared the worst.

"The demon defeated Gin-san with only one hit?" One of the pirates asked in utter disbelief.

"Even Gin-san can't defeat him?!" Another one asked.

"Get up, you can do better than this." Vergil told him, he wasn't moving away from his spot and was still waiting for Gin to move again.

"Idiots. What have you seen until now with those eyes? Gin is the Devil-man I praised! That's why I gave him the position of the combat commander." As Krieg said that Gin stood back up, Vergil was yet to move or make an attempt to stop him. "Soon he will show his abilities."

"You are too soft." Gin stated.

"The one who gets a favor done to him because of that doesn't get to complain or lecture me." Vergil stated. "Anyway is this all you've got? If I can bring you down with only one hit you aren't even deserving to have a serious fight with me." He added.

Gin smirked and licked the blood that was on his lips.

Luffy watched the battle intently but then turned to Krieg. "Why is he looking over there?" Luffy asked himself. Suddenly he tapped his open palm with the side of his fist and grinned. "Ok! I'm gonna use this opportunity to kick his ass!" Luffy decided.

Krieg's attention went from battle to the fallen mast that Luffy was using to try and get to his wreckage.

"Don't be so zealous." Krieg told him and tossed a small bomb into the ocean. It exploded a bit after the impact creating a large wave of water that made Luffy stop in his tracks. A gun appeared from Krieg's armor and shot toward Luffy. Now the bullets didn't work on Luffy but this one was strong enough to make Luffy fly back to the platform, albeit he was taken by surprise.

Krieg laughed as Luffy slammed his hand, in which he was holding his hat, against the platform.

"You bastard! Are you going to fight me or not?!" Luffy demanded angrily.

"Fight with you? Is it necessary? I use methods to kill people. It is a human's power. Remember that, stinky monkey." Krieg insulted.

"What?!" Luffy exclaimed and pulled his lips spread wide. "You better be careful messing with monkey!" Luffy said, it seemed like he wasn't too affected by the insult.

His attention was brought back to the battle behind him when he heard tonfa hitting and breaking a bit of the platform while Vergil stepped to the side.

The two pirates that were fighting however were going at it in a rather close combat. Vergil ducked under the tonfa and attempted to punch Gin's face, as expected the black haired man blocked Vergil's fist with the second tonfa. Vergil grinned and shot his knee toward Gin's guts only to get it slammed down by Gin's tonfa. Once again the major damage was stopped by small layer of darkness.

And that's when Vergil had enough, he dropped all the guard down and went for an all out completely reckless attack. He ignored the tonfa that slammed into the side of his abdomen and punched the surprised pirate's face thus making him skid back. Gin remained on his feet and spun his tonfa in order to block another punch, Vergil's fist however stopped directly in front of the spinning tonfa and as soon as Tonfa passed in front of it Vergil shot his fist forward and connected it with Gin's chin. The full damage of the punch was however stopped when Gin's tonfa hit his forearm, albeit the hit was weaker than it should have been Vergil's arm sustained massive damage. One that under normal circumstances would be too much of a payment for a single hit.

Gin wasn't backing away he regained his footing and swung the tonfa right toward Vergil's head, as careless and reckless as Vergil could get he wasn't stupid, he knew that taking that hit would throw him off too much. He jumped up and attempted to land a descent kick on Gin's shoulder. Combat commander stepped to the side and as Vergil began falling back down he swung his tonfa once again.

Neither one of them stopped smirking when Vergil spun around in mid air and grabbed the tonfa, he used the momentum behind it to land a powerful punch across Gin's chest. Vergil let go of the tonfa and flipped in mid air before landing not too far away from Gin whoso body skidded across the platform. Gin once again stood up and as it was now it was still uncertain about the winner of this showdown.

They attacked at the same time, the tonfa and fist clashed against each other and Gin was pretty much expecting to hear bones cracking, instead he heard and saw lightning crackling around Vergil's fist and slowly getting stronger and stronger. The white haired demon threw a direst toward Gin's face and lightning surrounded his fist. Gin waved to the side to dodge the incoming punch and hit Vergil's abdomen with his tonfa. Vergil coughed up blood but then swung his arms in an arc and managed to hit Gin's neck with his forearm.

Gin coughed up blood as well and gasped for breath. Vergil moved forward and punched him in the guts making him double over, Vergil kicked him and sent him flying to the side. Gin gripped his tonfa even harder and then in a desperate motion threw it at Vergil. The speed of the weapon that was lunging toward Vergil was something he normally could dodge but the knee that Gin previously hit reacted in that very moment. Vergil could only create a Darkness Wall, albeit a weak one to try and stop the attack. Tonfa easily went through the shield and crashed into Vergil's crossed forearms, the only remaining protector of demon's chest.

"Vergil!" Luffy yelled but held himself back from interfering.

"Demon!" Cooks and Sanji called out to Vergil.

Vergil dropped to the ground and once again coughed up blood. Both pirates panted as they pushed themselves back into a sitting position.

"Amazing, even Gin-san is having troubles to defeat him." One of the pirates gulped.

"You are really strong Gin, I'll give you that. But this isn't over." Vergil said as he pushed himself back up and began walking up to Gin but not before he picked up the pirate's tonfa.

"What? You are going to try and finish me off with my own weapon?" Gin asked.

Vergil tossed the tonfa in front of Gin whose eyes widened.

"Pick it up. I can't take pride in taking you down unless you are at your best." Vergil stated and Gin took the tonfa.

"You are an idiot…" He stated, his voice however wasn't even close to the voice a cold hearted devil-man would have.

"Let's end this." Vergil said and lightning engulfed his fists.

Gin forced himself up to his feet and they ran toward each other.

In the last moment Gin hesitated and Vergil's eyes widened, his punch landed and he made Gin stumble backwards but the punch that landed was in no way powered up by lightning or Vergil's demonic powers.

"You are calling me idiot? What's with that hesitation?" Vergil asked.

"I… Don Krieg…" Gin was on verge of tears. "I can't! I CAN'T kill Sanji-san or these people here!" Gin exclaimed as tears streamed down his face.

Vergil grinned after he overcame his shock. "Humans and their stupid hearts…" He muttered.

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_**That's it. As you probably guessed my profile picture is Vergil so now you can put face and character together in case you couldn't before. Anyway I had hell of a lot of trouble writing this chapter, I was torn between keeping things same to some extent and really using Vergil to the max in the end I used Vergil to the max. To add the problem I needed to find a way for Sanji to finish the battle with Pearl in the most natural way I could write and then begin the Vergil VS Gin in a natural way so I ended up going with anime scene of Gin finishing Pearl off and then made a battle between him and Vergil. I'll have to admit, so far Baratie proves to be the hardest arc to write and I can see that other arcs will be harder because I'll have to take more material into consideration when I make a change which will make things both fun and complicating (until I get used to making changes) to write.**_

_**On the other hand Vergil VS Gin is so far Vergil's best battle in my opinion. Tell me what you think though.**_

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_**Next Chapter – Gin's Tears, MH5**_


	39. Gin's Tears, MH5

_**Answers on reviews:**_

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_**Guest – Thank you for the review, I'm glad you like the battle.**_

_**loveless – Thanks for the review, yeah, it took me awhile but there it is, Vergil's drawing.**_

_**OPFan37 – Thank you very much for the review. I'm happy to hear, well read, that you love the profile pic and the compliment really does mean a lot to me. To be honest Vergil had a couple of designs before I came up with the decided one, some of them were, as you said yourself, rugged. In the end I went with the one you can see. I'm also happy that you like the battle. Personally I think more characters will ease things up a bit for me, though I can't say for sure, time will tell, though I think it will get more difficult to write original arcs with more characters for they all need some part they will play. Thank you for having faith in me.**_

_**KP360 – Thanks for the review, well I won't judge your imagination, but to be frank I've never imagined Vergil as Ulquiorra lookalike-**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks for the review, I'm happy you liked the battle.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review. As for Usopp, I understand the logic behind your statement. I suppose he will affect Usopp to a certain extent.**_

_**Ryujin – Thanks.**_

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_**Chapter 39 – Gin's Tears, MH5**_

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"I… Don Krieg…" Gin was on verge of tears. "I can't! I CAN'T kill Sanji-san or these people here!" Gin exclaimed as tears streamed down his face.

Vergil grinned after he overcame his shock. "Humans and their stupid hearts…" He muttered.

"Gin…" Luffy muttered the pirate's name.

"I can't kill that man… Don Krieg!" Gin said through tears.

This of course enraged Krieg. "What the hell did you say?!"

"Because… I… I am…" Gin tried to form a sentence as he began remembering what Sanji did for him. "For the first time…"

-Flashback-

"Eat it." He simply told the starving pirate who gulped.

"Shut up! Go away! This is worse! I won't accept charity! Take it away!" The pride was talking out of Gin.

"Don't be so tough. Just eat it already." Sanji told him. "To me, any hungry person is a customer."

Gin looked away. "I, I can't pay for it."

Sanji sighed and looked up. "The vast ocean can be very cruel. It's awful to not have any food or water. Just awful… I understand starving people more than anyone. I don't care if you want to die with dignity. But if you eat up, you'd be able to look forward to a new tomorrow, won't you?" Sanji lectured him.

Gin gasped, then gulped and finally relented. He dug in and began eating while crying. "This is so delicious. So delicious. It's too delicious. I thought I was going to die! I thought I was a goner." He continued eating. After a few moments he stopped again. "Delicious, so delicious. I've never had such a good meal in my whole life."

Sanji smirked at the words. "It's shitty delicious, eh?"

* * *

"Get going, Gin." Sanji told the pirate.

Gin had an apologetic look on his face as he placed his palm over part of it. "I'm sorry. You are gonna get in trouble for letting me eat for free." He apologized.

"Whatever." Sanji said and walked up to the empty plate and the glass. Zeff watched him as he picked them up and threw them in the ocean. "Now they don't have any proof, do they?" Sanji asked casually.

Gin looked ready to cry again but held the tears in. Luffy and Vergil grinned at this.

"Don't get caught again, Gin." Sanji reminded him.

Gin was on his knees bowing down to Sanji. "Thank you, Sanji-san. I won't forget this. " He told them.

-Flashbacks end-

"This is the first time anyone has ever been kind to me… That's why… Even if I win this battle! I can't kill Sanji-san!" Gin exclaimed through tears as Sanji telling him that he could come anytime came flashing in front of his eyes. "I know. I don't plan on ever betraying you. I don't think anything we've done so far is wrong. I respect your strength and I'm grateful to you. And I'm very happy that you praise my strength and let me be the commander. That's why I do whatever you say and I'll still do it in the future. But… I simply cannot continue fighting this battle!" A couple of moments passed in silence. Sanji and Luffy looked at Gin and Vergil shook his head slightly. "Don Krieg… I beg of you, couldn't we just leave this restaurant alone?" Gin begged as he looked at Krieg, there was no hint of betrayal, or disobeying, the tears and his tone only spoke of his loyalty to Krieg… But Krieg couldn't see it…

Krieg clenched his jaw and fists as he stood up. He was furious at Gin, way too furious. "You bastard! Not only are you disobeying my orders, but then you tell me what to do!" Gin was silently crying. "Do you wish to die so much? I am very disappointed with you." Krieg stated, now a bit calmer but his words were hitting Gin where it hurt the most, one person that he was respecting so much was just telling him that he was disappointed in him. "Didn't I always say that I detest those feelings of principle?!" He took one of the large shoulder plates and held it in front of himself. "The rest of you move aside." He ordered his crew.

Gin realized what was going on. "Don! That…" He gasped.

Pirates weren't easy going about this either. "MH5!" One of them exclaimed.

"The poisonous gas?!" Another one panicked.

"What?" Sanji exclaimed.

"Poisonous gas?!" Luffy asked.

"Luffy! Back away!" Vergil yelled at the captain.

"Masks!" One of the pirates shouted.

"Put on your masks right away!" Another one urged.

"Or else we'll be killed too!" Third one realized.

"What the hell kind of a weapon are you going to use?! Using that weapon! You bastard!" Krieg's own crew insulted him.

"Don't you know the consequences of using it?!" Another one demanded.

"Well you know it's bad when those scaredy-cats turn to insult the very cause of their fear." Vergil commented.

"Stop babbling over there. This is a battle!" Krieg grinned. "The purpose is to win. Treacherous? Despicable? Don't you agree that this is acceptable?" Krieg asked.

Luffy and Vergil glared at him.

"Winning is the goal! The method doesn't matter, only the goal is important!" Krieg's crew for the most part had their masks on. "I don't care about the consequences that the poisonous gas will bring. As long as I win! That is strength!" Krieg said with a crazy grin on his face.

"Strength? Seems like a coward and weakling's kind of business." Vergil commented.

"Damn bastard…" Sanji cursed.

Gin pulled out his own mask. "Throw away that gas mask! You aren't one of mine anymore!" The horror was written all over Gin's face. "You must die." Krieg stated.

Luffy wasn't going to just sit around and let Krieg do as he pleased, he once again tried to use the mast as a bridge to cross and get to Krieg.

Krieg glanced at the running pirate. "I won't let you shoot that poisonous gas!" Luffy declared.

"Stop interfering, Hammer boy." Krieg said and with a single slam of his fist down onto the mast he made it break. Mast fell a bit lower and Luffy lost his balance. The straw hat wearing pirate fell down just as Krieg prepared to shoot at him again.

Krieg fired his needle machine gun at Luffy who quickly ran back, on all fours, to the platform.

"Damn it…" Luffy muttered. "Gin! I've never heard such cowardly words. I'm gonna destroy him." Luffy declared.

"Don't you dare mock Don Krieg! He's the strongest man alive! And it's impossible for you to win." Gin stated, even after everything he defended Krieg's reputation and so called honor and Krieg threw all of that away…

"You idiot! Open your eyes!" Sanji yelled at him. "That guy's trying to kill you!" He ran forward to try and stop Gin but it was too late.

"Idiot don't rush in!" Vergil snapped at him.

"Of course! For me to talk about my feelings, is to betray the role I have. That's why... This is an obvious consequence!" Gin exclaimed and tried to throw away the mask into the water and he did throw it but it never reached water as Vergil caught it.

"You realize at that end, eh?" Krieg mocked. "But it's too late. Die with those weaklings. **Deadly** **Poison Gas MH5**!" Krieg fired his poison bomb.

"Dive into the sea!" One of the cooks instructed the obvious and pretty much only possible solution.

"Owner get inside quickly!" Patty urged Zeff as he and Carne pulled him inside.

"I'm borrowing this." Luffy suddenly said as he took two masks. "Sanji, Gin! Use these!" Luffy threw the masks toward Gin and Sanji.

"Luffy!" Sanji called out to him.

"Now for mine! What?! Everyone's submerged!" Luffy realized. "What am I going to do?! What am I going to do?!" Luffy panicked, he couldn't jump into the water, he couldn't find anyone with the mask and well he wasn't poison resistant. Suddenly a mask fell near him.

"This is strength." Krieg who had his own mask on stated as poison bomb exploded.

"I'm saved… Thank god this suddenly appeared…" Luffy thought as he held the mask to his face.

Vergil was smirking for some reason as he held masks to Gin and Sanji's faces. He completely ignored the shocked look in Sanji's eyes.

"W-What kinda guy…" One of the cooks said as they emerged on the surface away from the Baratie. "To fight using a poisonous gas…"

"That guy is a devil!" Another one exclaimed.

"That's not how humans fight!" Another one agreed.

Patty and Carne gritted their teeth unable to do anything, Zeff simply watched but the hard expression on his face said more than enough.

A bird flew over the poisoned area and dropped dead right away.

"Are Sanji and those two pirates okay?" One of the cooks asked.

"Who knows… Look! The gas is lifting!" The second cook pointed out.

The gas was indeed lifting up. Krieg removed the mask off of his face to reveal a large smirk.

"Vergil… Move your hand away!" Sanji breathed out.

This got Lufy's attention as the horrified rubber boy turned quickly to Vergil who was sill smirking.

"Vergil! Your mask!" Luffy panicked, after Zoro almost dying he didn't want another one of his nakama to go through a near death experience.

"It won't work. The poison." Vergil revealed with a wide smirk on his face.

Luffy ran up to him. "The mask… Did you?" He asked still scared for Vergil's safety.

"It wasn't mine. I'm not sure if it's Gin or Sanji's. I don't care to be frank. Don't worry Luffy. A demon can't be affected by this kind of poison, it's not strong enough." Vergil assured him. "_I say that but I am feeling a bit sick at the moment, damn, I can't go against my own blood…_" Vergil thought but grinned either way. "Thanks for being worried though. I appreciate it." He stated, his grin was for one quite friendly.

"So you survived Gin? The consequence will be the same, you must die. That's what you'll get for making such a fuss over a bit of food." Krieg stated.

"Don Krieg…" Gin muttered.

"Gin. You… Chose a wrong man to follow." Sanji said as he glared at Krieg.

Krieg on the other hand laughed, he kept adding the salt to Gin's injury… "Are you sympathizing with my little scumbag?" Krieg asked mockingly.

"'Your little scumbag'?!" Vergil roared cutting off any and all laughter.

"Exactly. An idiot who refuses to follow my orders without thought of consequences is no god for anything. Isn't killing him before he makes the same mistake the sign of my love? Or is a demon capable of lecturing me?" Krieg challenged.

Vergil remained silent as he fought back the rage that built up inside him… This was after all the opponent that Luffy would take down.

"No way. To think Don would kill his combat commander…" One of the pirates was surprised by this as well and he wasn't the only one.

"No way… No matter how much… no way! Gin-san is Don's right hand!" The second one said.

"That's right, up until now no one has worked for Don as hard as Gin-san! Even at that time, when we had just escaped the Grand Line and Fullbody's marines were after us!" The first one reminded them.

"At that time when the commander became a decoy for Don" He abandoned everything and fought for Don! To think he'd really want to kill him!" The second one said and that did it for Vergil, if fighting wasn't what he could do he would damn well give Krieg his piece of mind if for no other reason than to piss Krieg off and hopefully make Gin snap out of it.

"So just because I'm a demon you think I am unable to have honor and morals, or to respect and repay the loyalty that someone offers me? You are downright pathetic Krieg. Gin was willing to sacrifice everything for you, he believes in you and is loyal to you like no one else will ever be and you are throwing that away? Well that aside how dare a low life piece of scum who knows nothing about honor, loyalty and respect treat him like a thing you can throw away whenever you feel like it?!" Vergil slowly began raising his voice. "Don't you dare refer to Gin as an object!" Rage was clearly visible in Vergil's eyes and if looks could kill Krieg would be dying again and again for awhile now…

"Don't die Gin! Don't die for a guy like him!" Luffy said to Gin who. "I am going to destroy him!" Luffy declared.

"You can't!" Gin tried to stop him.

"You cut it out as well you idiot! What the hell do you think your life is?! To throw away your life for someone like him is one of the most retarded ways to die! Open your eyes already you are wasting your time following him." Vergil snapped at Gin as well.

"Calm down!" Sanji said as he grabbed onto Luffy's wrist. "If you go straight at him you'll fall right into his trap! You'll die!" He yelled at him.

"I won't die." Luffy said, he was completely serious and Sanji gasped at his words.

"If you want to shoot me, then take your best shot!" Luffy challenged as he ran forward.

"Hey!" Sanji called after him.

"It'll be fine." Vergil assured the cook.

"But he…" Sanji tried to argue.

"Is the man who'll become the Pirate King! He can't possibly lose to a low life like Krieg." Vergil said with complete confidence in Luffy's strength. "He is one of those people that those like you should follow, not scum like Krieg."

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_**That's it a bit short but I want a complete Luffy VS Krieg battle in one chapter. As of the last chapter you can see how Vergil looks, on my profile there is a name of my DeviantArt account on which you will be able to see drawing for my stories, I plan on drawing some moments, maybe some covers and designs. Of course I won't be doing that as frequently as writing chapters but from time to time there will be a new drawing. Black and white though with slight color here and there in minor details depending on how I feel.**_

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_**Next Chapter – Luffy VS Krieg, Spear Inside!**_


	40. Luffy VS Krieg, Spear Inside

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**OPFan37 – Thanks for the review. I feel like I'm going to have to give a lot of characterization to Vergil in the next arc and I know that I will have to reveal some a bit more important things and I plan on doing that, all the scenes up until now were giving the readers a sense of who Vergil is, but Arlong Park Arc is overall a very important arc for many reasons. It gave us the sense of what is going to come later on in the story and exactly what we can expect. It gave us one on one battles more than previous arcs, it pushed Luffy's character further by revealing a side of him that we all love. As for Gin and Krieg, yeah, they are kinda idiotic, especially Krieg. If it wasn't for that aspect of Gin's personality I probably would have considered making him a part of the crew but that won't happen. Finally for Robin and Brook, you are right, well Robin is somehow a bit more of a passive character which makes it easier for her to be pushed to the side by both Oda and fanfiction writers which really is sad fact**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review.**_

_**alexc123 – I doubt many people like Krieg to be honest. As for Vergil's seal, well it will take a while to learn all about it but some information will be revealed in the next arc or in Logue Town Arc.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 40 – Luffy VS Krieg, Spear Inside**_

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"Calm down!" Sanji said as he grabbed onto Luffy's wrist. "If you go straight at him you'll fall right into his trap! You'll die!" He yelled at him.

"I won't die." Luffy said, he was completely serious and Sanji gasped at his words.

"If you want to shoot me, then take your best shot!" Luffy challenged as he ran forward.

"Hey!" Sanji called after him.

"It'll be fine." Vergil assured the cook.

"But he…" Sanji tried to argue.

"Is the man who'll become the Pirate King! He can't possibly lose to a low life like Krieg." Vergil said with complete confidence in Luffy's strength. "He is one of those people that those like you should follow, not scum like Krieg." His words were clearly directed at Gin this time.

The straw hat was safely lying on the platform as Luffy rushed in.

"Fool! Still trying even though you know you are going to die." Krieg mocked, his mocking was however ignored by Luffy who kept rushing toward him. "The sea is your hell, Hammer boy. In front of you lies…" He threw a couple of small bombs.

"It's here." One of the pirates realized.

"Bombs!" Another one voiced out the obvious.

"Your grave!" Krieg exclaimed a bit louder.

"My grave?" Luffy asked and even though bombs exploded and made the large wave splash in front of Luffy he kept running.

Krieg began firing his needle machine gun.

"Crap! Run away! Straw Hat!" One of the cooks warned him.

Needles hit Luffy, one cut his side, the other one at his shoulder and the third one at his leg.

"He's hit!" Sanji realized.

"Killed, eh?" One of the pirates said, he was confident that Luffy was dead.

"Straw Hat…" Cook muttered.

"No way." Vergil said with a smirk as Luffy emerged.

Krieg's smirk faded as his eyes widened.

"**Gomu Gomu no**…" Luffy jumped up and stretched his arm.

Krieg pulled a cape like shield with multiple spikes all over it. "Fool come on then!" He challenged.

"It's out!" One of the pirates cheered.

"Come on!" Krieg urged Luffy.

"That's low!" Sanji said.

"Low is too high for him." Vergil stated.

"**Pistol**!" Against the beliefs of most people Luffy slammed his fist right into the spikes and punched the side of Krieg's face kind of indirectly.

"What?!" Pirates yelled.

Sanji, Zeff and Gin watched in utter shock.

"What were you expecting? Something like that won't stop Luffy." Vergil said.

Krieg fell face first on the floor and Luffy stood there, panting a bit. Everything fell into silence as pirates tried to comprehend just what happened to their captain.

"Don Krieg got hit!" One of them yelled.

"What is that guy?" Another one asked.

"He punched right into frickin' spikes!" Cook exclaimed as he and some other cooks held onto their hands, almost as if they themselves were experiencing the pain.

"This can't be…" Pirate muttered.

"I've never seen this before. Don Krieg getting beaten like this." The second pirate said.

"He actually punched Don, though his Sword Mountain Mantle! Can you believe it?" First one asked.

Blood dripped down from Luffy's fist. He lifted his bloody fist and pulled out a large needle from his shoulder with a small grunt. "So this is my grave?" He asked and pulled out the one in his waist. "Your grave?" The needles were clearly stained with enough blood to leave stains on anything they hit. "My…" He struggled to pull the one at his left knee. "Grave?" He pulled the last one out and threw it. He breathed hard, clearly in pain from the wounds, yet he remained standing. "Like hell." Cooks watched him, it was clear that a lot of his blood was spilled, the needles, the spikes on the cape that he punched, they were stained with blood. "Don't decide my grave…" He raised his head and grinned a bit. "I am not meant to die here." He declared, all the eyes were on him and Krieg was yet to even move, let alone stand up.

Sanji, Gin and Vergil joined Zeff at the entrance to the restaurant.

"He's too reckless." Sanji said, he and Gin sat on the floor.

Zeff glanced at him for a moment and then turned back to Luffy. "Sometimes you see idiots like him. People that fight till death once they've chosen their target." Zeff stated.

"I wouldn't exactly call that idiot." Vergil argued.

"And what would you call it then?" Older cook asked.

"I wouldn't exactly name it, I've never been good at finding the title for something specific, or something a bit more unique. But to say that people like Luffy are idiots, that's a stretched out theory, first of all idiot is a large group of people, both Gin and Krieg can fit into that group but are they like Luffy? No. It's true that Luffy will fight to death once he decides to do something, but that's not what makes him an idiot. To make a clear borderline between things that are worth dying for and things that are not, that's not something an idiot can do. Also don't you think that a person who is willing to die for something is even more willing to live for that as well. A person, a dream, to be willing to die for it you first have to live for it and because of that the will to live that people like Luffy have is stronger than any other kind of people." Vergil explained.

"Either way we can agree that to have that sort of person as your enemy is bad. This fight will end. Whether he wins or loses, I like those kinds of guys." Zeff stated.

Sanji was looking at Luffy, still completely struck by words that Zeff and Vergil said.

"Don Krieg…" Gin called.

"And now you are really starting to sound like a whiny bitch." Vergil bluntly said.

"What – What's going to happen with this fight?" One of the pirates wondered.

"Idiot! That was just luck! There's no way Don will lose to such a guy! Don't worry!" The second one assured him.

Finally Krieg moved. Luffy's complete concentration was on the larger male. "You say you're not meant to die here?" He slowly got to his knees. "If this isn't your grave, then whose can it be?" He asked, he slammed one of the plates of his shield into Luffy, well seemingly anyway, and the front of it caused a small explosion. "Yours isn't it?!" However Luffy jumped over Krieg and kicked the man's shoulder thus pulling him to the ground.

"No it's yours!" Luffy exclaimed, for the second time Krieg hit the ground and Luffy's leg snapped back into its normal state.

Pirates weren't hiding shock. "He got beaten again! What the hell is happening here?!" One of them yelled.

"Normally the enemy dies without touching Don Krieg, the Don's supposed to be invincible! That guy…" The pirate gulped. "WHAT IS THAT GUY?!" He screamed.

Wind blew across the battlefield adding to the impact of the scene.

"That guy… is actually strong." Patty commented.

"Yeah, truly…" Carne agreed.

"That guy is amazing!" One of the cooks exclaimed.

"Just beat Krieg already!" Another one added.

"It's possible, if it's that guy!" The first one confidently said.

"That kid, he's a match for Don!" The first pirate exclaimed.

"This isn't a dream is it? To that guy… Don will…" The second one realized exactly what was going to happen.

"Don is supposed to be invincible! At this rate the legend of Don Krieg will…" The third one was about to say when Krieg interrupted him. Though with blood dripping down from his nose he wasn't exactly looking invincible…

"Don't be ridiculous!" Krieg yelled as he slammed two shields together and then in a couple of swift moves formed a gigantic spear, his crew welcomed this turn of events as they believed it would be the end of Luffy.

Krieg swung the spear but Luffy jumped up and evaded it. The true purpose of the spear was revealed at that moment though as it created an explosion upon impact.

"What the?" Sanji muttered.

"it's finally out! Don Krieg's ultimate weapon, the Great Battle Spear!" One of the pirates said.

"What's that? It exploded." Luffy wondered as he held onto the bottom of the mast.

"Now then…" Krieg began. "How long are you gonna run for?" He threw away his cape. "Let's see. Hammer boy. This spear is totally different from those tiny ones earlier. After two or three hits with this, you won't survive. If it hits you you're finished!" Krieg slammed the spear down and another explosion forced Luffy to unwillingly bounce off the wreckage.

"What's with that weapon?!" One of the cooks asked.

Luffy grabbed onto the railing of another wreckage and his arm stretched out. He managed to get control over his body and retract the body to its normal state thus he successfully landed on a small wreck. "What is that thing? It explodes every time it hits." Luffy tried to stand up but his knees buckled down… "Eh? What the? My legs…" He said a bit slowly.

"The fight's lasted for too long." Sanji realized, he wasn't the only one who looked a bit worried. Vergil gritted his teeth a bit. "He's lost too much blood. He's not gonna make it."

"He will." Vergil said.

"Can't you see what state he is in?!" Sanji snapped at him.

"If as his first mate I don't believe he can do it… Then who the hell will?" Vergil asked.

"Nothing you do will work. It's about time for your strength to reach its limit." Krieg mocked.

"Shit. Since the floor is in so many pieces I can't fight the way I want to. What a pain." Luffy complained.

"No matter how many times I see it that Great battle Spear is amazing." One of the pirates said.

"Yeah, the harder you hit with that the greater the explosion. It's something that can only be used by someone like Don!" Another one added.

Speaking of Krieg, he attempted to stab Luffy with his spear however the rubber man evaded the stab by arching backwards, Krieg wasn't done though as he began swinging the large spear around, Luffy jumped from side to side.

"But that's some strength. Two shields and one spear should weigh about one ton, but he's using that heavy weapon so easily! That's the reason Don is the greatest!" As the pirate revealed that Krieg and Luffy continued to attack and dodge respectively.

Luffy lost his balance as he stepped on the edge of the wreckage, he stumbled backward onto the lower part, but he still managed to jump up and evade the spear. Krieg grabbed the spear with both hands. "DIE!" He yelled and swung toward Luffy.

"Straw Hat!" Cooks called.

Much t the surprise of pretty much everyone present Luffy was holding onto the handle of the spear.

He let out a sigh of relief. "That was close." He breathed out.

He however only made Krieg even angrier.

"You… Weak insect!" Krieg yelled as he slammed the spear down in front of him. The new explosion made Luffy fly up.

"Uwa!" Luffy gasped as he reached the highest point of his flight and began falling down. Krieg was just waiting for this as he went to stab Luffy.

Luffy punched the spear on both sides with his fists, but the spear exploded once again thus engulfing the rubber man.

"Straw Hat!" Sanji yelled.

Charred from the explosion and still smoking as well Luffy fell down on the wreckage. Krieg grinned as he believed that Luffy was finished. Well he couldn't have been more wrong as Luffy slowly but surely sat up.

"Just a bit more." Vergil muttered.

"Don…" Gin breathed out.

"Not yet. You've pissed me off. I won't let you die so easily." Krieg began laughing yet again.

"Shit. That Krieg… he just brings weapons one after another. This way there's no chance to…" Sanji said, expressing that way his belief that Luffy wouldn't be able to win.

"Even if he was equipped with a thousand weapons. He may not be able to defeat the one 'spear' that kid has." Zeff stated, Sanji glanced at him along with Gin. Vergil just grinned again.

Krieg swung toward Luffy and hit him, another explosion engulfed him but what the smirking pirates failed to see was a punch that Luffy landed on the spear.

"_A bit more and it'll be over_." Vergil thought.

Luffy landed on the floor once again and Krieg turned around.

"Nothing special." He commented. He stopped when he heard Luffy slowly getting up again. "You should realize who is the strongest one here." Krieg stated.

"Life or death." Zeff began getting the attention of the trio back to him. "In a pirate's fight the one who hesitates even for a split second thinking about death can get crushed." He stated.

"What are you talking about?" Sanji asked.

"At least." As Zeff said that Luffy punched the spear again thus inducing another explosion. "At least…" Luffy slowly got out of the rubble again. "That kid… has no hesitation." Luffy was grinning at Krieg, even with all the damage he received, all the injuries he had and all the blood that he lost he still never hesitated.

Krieg swung once again and another explosion struck Luffy. Finally as Luffy fell on the floor Vergil allowed himself a satisfied smirk. It was over, for Krieg.

"Is it that he has what it takes to survive? Or does his conviction mean he simply refuses to die." Zeff offered a question that would push Sanji into making a very first step toward rethinking certain things.

"Conviction?" He repeated.

Albeit a bit shaky Luffy stood up yet again. The pirates and cooks all watched the battle, the silence they offered was a clear sign of what they thought about this battle.

"You… You damned…" Krieg hissed.

Luffy just lifted his gaze and then grinned.

Cooks suddenly began cheering.

"Amazing!" one of them yelled.

"Keep at it!" The second one encouraged.

Krieg rushed toward Luffy. "Like I said! This is your grave!" Planning to make his statement true Krieg swung once again and spear exploded again. "I am the strongest man alive!"

"Yeah if all the stronger ones died all of a sudden you would be. Right now, you are weak." Vergil stated.

"If Krieg's massive fleet is strength. And his thousands of spears and poison are strength. Then that kid's 'spear' is equal to that." Zeff stated.

Much to Krieg's annoyance Luffy's leg, which was up high in the air twitched a couple of times.

"No way in hell that Luffy's 'spear' is that weak." Vergil argued.

"Heh, you sure believe in him." Zeff commented. "That same spear… I know someone like that. Someone who would get attached to that 'spear' for his own stupid reasons."

Sanji's eyes widened as he looked at Zeff.

"Finally." Vergil said.

Luffy stood up and the spear broke down.

Horror was written all over Krieg's face as he looked at his broken weapon. "The Great Battle Spear! What did you do?!" Krieg demanded.

"I just punched it five times in a row. Your spear won't work anymore." Luffy revealed. His eyes narrowed. "Prepare yourself."

Krieg growled in frustration.

"Why that bastard's not that bad at all." One of the cooks commented.

"Maybe we can pull this one off." The second done added.

Pirates one the other hand were panicking.

"This isn't good." One of them said as he clutched the sides of his head.

"He broke the Great Battle Spear!" The second one said.

"But, being hit by those huge blasts, his body won't be able to take much more." Sanji said.

"You get the picture now?" Luffy asked. "This much space should be plenty for me." He stated. Indeed the wreck they were on this time was a rather big one. Luffy stood up. "This much space should be enough to pulverize you!" He declared.

"What?!" Krieg asked.

"That thing of yours. That spear is all broken. It's nothing but a bomb-on-a-stick now. Its power has halved." Luffy stated.

"You think so?" Krieg questioned.

"Yeah." With no reason to hesitate Luffy simply stated the answer.

Krieg smirked. "Bomb-on-a-stick, eh? That's not so bad. Its power is sufficient to blast you outta here. You are all battered up. Looks like you are barely making it." Krieg said.

"No I'm not." Luffy replied and slowly Krieg lifted the former spear now named Bomb-on-a-stick.

"Behold! Since you dared to defy the great Don Krieg. You are sentenced to death!" Krieg announced.

"I'm not gonna die. So there!" Luffy stuck his tongue out at Krieg.

"Really mature Luffy, really mature." Vergil said, he wasn't scolding the captain though as he had approving grin on his face,

Krieg slammed the bomb-on-a-stick onto the floor and created another explosion, one that Luffy easily escaped from by jumping up, stretching his arms and grabbing onto the top of the mast.

"Hey! Over here!" He urged Krieg to attack again.

"You monkey… DIE!" Krieg slammed the bomb-on-a -stick onto the mast, it broke down and Luffy began falling.

"Stupid bastard." Krieg commented as Luffy held onto a broken piece of wood and threw it at Krieg. "It's no use!" Krieg shouted and burnt the mast down with the flamethrower.

"How many weapons does this guy have?!" Sanji exclaimed.

"**Gomu Gomu no Gatling Gun**!" Luffy began rapidly punching Krieg's armored chest.

"What in the world is that?" One of the pirates asked.

"His arms multiplied." Another one said.

"That a boy!" One of the cooks cheered.

Krieg on the other hand just smirked as Luffy kept punching him. With a battle cry Luffy slowly stopped punching and landed on the floor.

Krieg took a small step back and began laughing. "Useless! Against this metal armor, your punches are useless. It didn't even leave a scratch." Krieg mocked and Luffy ran forward.

"**Gomu Gomu no Pistol**!" Luffy punched Krieg on the guts with his signature attack. Krieg bent forward but the armor was intact and while Krieg probably felt that he wasn't that affected.

"Don!" Pirates yelled out.

"Cut the crap!" Krieg yelled and slammed the bomb-on-a-stick down to the floor. The explosion sent Luffy flying and the rubber man hit the small broken down wooden wall before falling to the floor. "Useless. Useless. This is absolutely useless! How could this armor possibly break with only a few hundred punches from this little monkey?" Krieg mocked for who knows what time.

"I think I'm almost there." Luffy said as he got back up. But when he looked in front of himself Krieg was no longer there. "He's gone." Luffy realized.

"Luffy above you." Vergil called out from the platform.

"Above?" Luffy asked and looked up to see Krieg standing there on top of the broken mast.

"Listen, with the best-crafted equipment, the greatest power and the most powerful weapons. You'll be acknowledged to be strong, a very powerful person!" Krieg once again bragged.

"_Does he ever shut up?_" Vergil thought as Luffy began running toward Krieg.

"And that'd be me! **Gomu Gomu no**…" Luffy threw his arms back.

"That's totally useless! You can't do much with persistence alone!" Krieg yelled as he created another explosion with his bomb-on-a-stick.

Luffy didn't stop much to Krieg's shock, in fact he continued his attack. "**Bazooka**!"

"Don Krieg!" Gin yelled as Krieg began falling to the sea.

The explosion took its toll on Luffy as the rubber man barely remained conscious and it wasn't over yet. Krieg threw bombs down to the ocean and laughed. "It's no use! This is the limit of your strength!" Finally the armor cracked making Krieg's eyes widen. "What?! My invincible armor is cracking?" He muttered to himself.

Luffy's eyes remained completely white…

Smirk found its way back onto Krieg's face. "But it's too late. You are done for, Hammer boy!"

Bombs hit the surface of the ocean.

"It's a trap! Run!" Sanji tried to warn Luffy.

"Come on…" Vergil hissed to himself.

Explosions engulfed the area, destroyed the wreckage and made the waves rock the pirates and cooks back and forth.

"Luffy!" Sanji yelled.

"_Having what it takes to survive… Refusing to die…_" Zeff thought.

"_Come on Luffy. This isn't your limit!_" Vergil thought.

Luffy emerged from the smoke completely wiping off the smirk on Krieg's face. "Gomu Gomu no…"

"WHAT?!" Krieg yelled.

"Bazooka!" Luffy's attack broke down the armor completely and seemingly made Krieg lose consciousness.

Sanji looked at him, shocked at the fact that he pulled through even after all that.

Pirates gasped at the sight of their captain falling down.

Cooks began cheering.

"Yeah! Great! Way to go Straw Hat!" One of them cheered.

"Don Krieg!" Gin shouted.

"I win!" Luffy exclaimed.

These words seemed to wake Krieg up as his eyes snapped open. "You wish, damn brat!" Krieg shouted.

"He's still alive!" Luffy realized but the iron net caught him before he could react and even if he had time to react due to being in the mid air there wouldn't be many things that he could do. "Oh no." Luffy mumbled.

Krieg's laugh got a sick tone to it. "You can't run from this iron net?" He asked.

Sanji's eyes widened as he watched Luffy trying to get free.

"The sea is right below you! It's clear who the winner is, Hammer boy!" Krieg yelled. "I'm always the one who has the last laugh!"

"That's out Don for ya!" One of the pirates cheered.

"Get rid of him!" Another one requested.

Finally Luffy managed to stick his arms and legs out of th net. "No problem cause my hands and feet are still free!" Luffy exclaimed

"_Why don't you just stand down? Why all this?_" Sanji wondered.

Luffy wrapped his legs together and with his feet grabbed onto Krieg.

"What?!" Krieg exclaimed.

"This time! It's really over!" Luffy declared and pulled Krieg with his feet. His legs spun around making Krieg dizzy as he began falling toward the platform.

"Gomu Gomu no…" Krieg neared the platform and then finally slammed against it. "Big Hammer!" Unconscious, bloody and most importantly defeated Krieg was lying on the broken down platform.

Vergil grinned and began running toward the sea.

"Where are you going?" Sanji asked.

"Devil Fruit users are unable to swim!" Vergil explained and jumped in.

"What did you say?!" Sanji asked as he lunged into the water as well, though he did take off his shoes and suit jacket first. The cook and demon were swimming to the place that Luffy was going to hit even before the rubber captain hit the surface.

* * *

_**That's it, entire Luffy VS Krieg in one chapter, it's a bit disappointing battle for me, sure it had its moments but most of it was talking, either between Krieg and Luffy, Zeff and Sanji or unneeded comments from the cooks or pirates, but it was still a decent battle. Sorry for the cursing from Vergil, but from time to time you need to curse to make your point and Vergil isn't afraid to do so.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Sanji's Dream, All Blue**_


	41. Sanji's Dream, All Blue

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**alexc123 – Thanks for the review. I agree with what you said about the crew, although one could say that the arc in which everyone truly becomes loyal is Post Enies Lobby. On the other hand yeah, they do like to rip out your feelings with that arc.**_

_**Guest – Thanks, yeah, this chapter and the one after this one.**_

_**OPFan37 – Thanks for another review. You are right, that's what AMVs are for. I'm glad we agree about Arlong Park Arc, I won't tell you exactly what kind of development Vergil is going to get but it certainly will reveal, well maybe develop is a better word, a lot about him.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks for the review.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you for reviewing.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 41 – Sanji's Dream, All Blue**_

* * *

"Where are you going?" Sanji asked.

"Devil Fruit users are unable to swim!" Vergil explained and jumped in.

"What did you say?!" Sanji asked as he lunged into the water as well, though he did take off his shoes and suit jacket first. The cook and demon were swimming to the place that Luffy was going to hit even before the rubber captain hit the surface.

"Don Krieg's defeated!" One of the pirates finally realized.

"How can he be defeated?! How?!" Another one asked.

"Way to go rubber boy!" Cooks cheered.

"That guy did it!" Patty realized.

"Awesome!" Carne added. "Is this for real? But he was Don Krieg."

"He's just too powerful… He's something else!" Patty told him.

Gin on the other hand had hard time believing that Krieg was really defeated.

Vergil and Sanji reached Luffy who was already beginning to sink lower due to the net serving as a additional weight.

Vergil managed to get the net open and Sanji pulled Luffy to the safety of the surface. Luffy was however not waking up…

Angered by the fact that Luffy wasn't waking up Sanji snapped at him. "Aren't you the one who refuses to die?! Isn't that what you believe in?! Don't you dare die on me now!"

"Calm down." Vergil said as he resurfaced as well. "Take a better look." The white haired demon said and that's when Sanji heard a snore.

He looked surprised as steady snoring filled their ears. "Why you…" He lightly punched Luffy on the head.

"Let's take him back to the restaurant." Vergil said.

-Back on the platform-

Gin looked at his captain's fallen form. "Don Krieg lost… That can't be. He is East Blue's King. That man, that man, that man, that man. He is the only man I've ever admired. I always believed that he was the best…" He stood up and took off the band that was around his forehead.

"Your captain sure is a pain in the ass." Sanji commented, he was smiling though as he and Vergil climbed onto the platform with sleeping Luffy.

"Two things. First, our captain. Second, he isn't that much of a pain in the ass. Even if he was I take pride in being part of his crew, to be honest I am more proud of only two things in my life." Vergil admitted.

"You are still going on about that." Sanji said annoyed by the fact that the first mate seemed as set on that idea as the captain… "Which two things if I can ask?" Sanji asked.

"It doesn't really matter, but…" Vergil was about to reveal when…

"I'm the strongest!" Their little chat was interrupted when berserk Krieg stood up and screamed. "I'm the winner! No one can surpass my power!" Krieg yelled.

"What a whiny sore loser." Vergil commented and tried to stand up but he fell back down.

"What's wrong?" Sanji asked.

"**Zeher**… Using it leaves me way too weak right now. And then I went and fought once again even though I didn't use my powers that much I still pushed my body to its current limit." Vergil explained. "I'll be fine after I rest though."

"Don! Please stop!" One of his crew pleaded the captain.

"Hold him! He's unconscious!" Another one exclaimed.

"Please stop, Don! Pirates tried to hold the man down.

"I have to win with my own power!" Don yelled. He threw his crewmates off of himself without any problem whatsoever. "I must win! I'm the strongest man!"

At that moment he was stopped by none other than Gin. Combat Commander punched Krieg in the guts thus knocking him out for good this time.

"Don Krieg. We've lost." Gin told him as the man fell onto his shoulder.

"Commander!" Pirates exclaimed.

"Let's retreat and start all over again." Gin said.

"What, you are still going to be 'Yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir' kind of person?" Vergil asked, annoyed at Gin's attitude.

The combat commander ignored the snarky comment. "Thank you for everything, Sanji-san." He thanked him.

"Come here again, won't ya." Sanji said.

Gin turned around. "Sanji-san, Vergil-san. Give him this message when he gets up, tell him that we shall meet again at the Grand Line."

"But you…?" Sanji was honestly surprised by this statement.

"I've given much thought into it… It's the only thing I want to do. I'm not sure when Don Krieg's ambition became mine as well, but… This time I want to do what I want to do. Trusting my instincts, then I won't have anywhere to run anymore." Gin said, Vergil smiled a bit as he saw the look in Sanji's eyes, in his thoughts he gave Gin a silent 'Thank you.'…

Patty and Carne came down and ran to the platform.

"What loyalty do I have to Don Krieg? I've just been using Don Krieg's nam shield so I could run away. When your mind's made up you eventually pay less attention to things like being scared of a strong enemy, or how not to get yourself injured. That's what he taught me." Gin finished his little speech and Sanji smiled.

He turned his eye toward Patty and Carne. "Patty! Carne! Give him the ship we use to get supplies!" Sanji told them.

"What? Are you serious?" Patty argued.

"Why should we give pirates a ship?!" Carne demanded.

"Because your lives will once again be in danger if Krieg wakes up right here." Vergil coldly stated making the two cooks shiver and run off to get the boat…

"We are getting it! We are getting it!" They exclaimed.

"You are the bluntest demon I have ever met." Sanji commented.

"The hell if I care." Vergil replied and lied down. "I'm going to sleep." He murmured and quickly fell asleep.

-Later-

Krieg pirates were now looking like a pile of humans, well actually they were a pile of humans… Either way with all the weight that was put on the boat it threatened to sink.

"Hey it's sinking! It's gonna sink!" One of the pirates panicked.

The boat however didn't sink.

"In the past I used to worry about every little detail." Gin admitted. "I fell so dumb for doing so."

His and Sanji's attention was drawn by sound of snoring that came from Luffy. The rubber man was still sleeping and he wasn't the only one. Vergil was sleeping on the platform as well.

"See ya." Gin said as he stepped onto the bowsprit. "I'll be taking this. I don't have to return it, do I?" Gin asked.

"Nope. Try if you dare, bastard." Sanji told him.

"Hey, remember now! This is the fighting restaurant, Baratie!" Patty exclaimed.

"Hm, what an annoying restaurant." Gin commented as cooks lifted their knives.

The ship set sail and the pirates finally left the restaurant. Sanji was now left to his own thoughts.

-Somewhere else-

Nami leaned against the railing as she watched into the distance with a sad smile on her face.

"They are really nice people. Next time we meet, I wonder if they'll let me join them again?" Her clenched fists shook a bit as tears streamed down her face. "I don't know if I'll even get a chance to." She hugged herself as the tears she fought for so long continued flowing. "I want to be free soon. Bell-mere-san!" She cried out.

-About an hour later-

Luffy was lying on the bed in Sanji's room with Vergil sitting on the floor, awake. Sanji was leaning against the window next to him.

"Are you sure you don't want to sleep for a bit longer?" Sanji asked.

"I've recovered enough." Vergil said. Sanji nodded, he disliked the current silence it made him think about everything…

He began remembering events that occurred just a couple of hours ago.

-Flashbacks-

Blood dripped down from Luffy's fist. He lifted his bloody fist and pulled out a large needle from his shoulder with a small grunt. "So this is my grave?" He asked and pulled out the one in his waist. "Your grave?" The needles were clearly stained with enough blood to leave stains on anything they hit. "My…" He struggled to pull the one at his left knee. "Grave?" He pulled the last one out and threw it. He breathed hard, clearly in pain from the wounds, yet he remained standing. "Like hell." Cooks watched him, it was clear that a lot of his blood was spilled, the needles, the spikes on the cape that he punched, they were stained with blood. "Don't decide my grave…" He raised his head and grinned a bit. "I am not meant to die here." He declared, all the eyes were on him and Krieg was yet to even move, let alone stand up.

* * *

"Sometimes you see idiots like him. People that fight till death once they've chosen their target." Zeff stated.

"I wouldn't exactly call that idiot." Vergil argued.

"And what would you call it then?" Older cook asked.

"I wouldn't exactly name it, I've never been good at finding the title for something specific, or something a bit more unique. But to say that people like Luffy are idiots, that's a stretched out theory, first of all idiot is a large group of people, both Gin and Krieg can fit into that group but are they like Luffy? No. It's true that Luffy will fight to death once he decides to do something, but that's not what makes him an idiot. To make a clear borderline between things that are worth dying for and things that are not, that's not something an idiot can do. Also don't you think that a person who is willing to die for something is even more willing to live for that as well. A person, a dream, to be willing to die for it you first have to live for it and because of that the will to live that people like Luffy have is stronger than any other kind of people." Vergil explained.

"Either way we can agree that to have that sort of person as your enemy is bad. This fight will end. Whether he wins or loses, I like those kinds of guys." Zeff stated.

* * *

Zoro stood up, turned to face Mihawk and spread his arms leaving himself wide open.

"What now?" Mihawk asked.

Zoro smirked. "A wound on the back is a shame to the swordsman's pride." He stated making Mihawk smirk as well.

"Well said." Mihawk praised and slashed…

"ZORO!" Both Luffy and Vergil screamed as huge gash appeared on swordsman's upper body.

Zoro fell into the water…

-Flashbacks end-

Sanji glanced at the picture in his room, it was him and Zeff. The memories flooded into his brain and he closed his eyes.

-Flashback-

Back when Sanji was a child, even before he met Zeff he was working at the sea in a restaurant, although it wasn't like Baratie restaurant.

"Are you a fool or something?" One of the cooks asked him. "Of course that legend exists.

"True, as cooks of the sea, even we'd like to see that sea, at least once." The second one admitted, Sanji was in the company of three other cooks.

"Yeah! I will definitely find that sea one day!" Sanji declared.

"You'll find it, eh Sanji?" One of the cooks casually asked.

"First of all, do you know where All Blue is?" The second one asked him.

"Of course I know! Don't think I'm dumb! East Blue, West Blue, South Blue, North Blue. It's the sea in which the fish from all these seas swim in. That's the All Blue! For a cook of the sea it's an unattainable pleasure! It's my dream!" Sanji said, he really seemed happy as he said that.

"No kidding, 'cause you can get all the ingredient of the world in that sea! That's what our cooking skills are meant for." The second cook told him.

"Yeah! There are some that'd sacrifice their lives to find that sea!" The first one said.

"Too bad it doesn't exist." The second one said, his words wiped away the grin on Sanji's face and the blond boy looked at the cook.

"It can't possibly exist, a marvelous sea like All Blue." The first one said.

"If you stop to think about it you'll get it." The second one said as he pointed at his head.

"Only cooks who daydream all the time think of that nonsense." The third one said.

"Well now! That should be enough of this foolish talk! Go get the dishes, Sanji." He ordered and Sanji grumbled a bit.

-Later-

Sanji threw away a steak from one of the plates into the trash.

"Man what a waste." The second cook said as he and the other two ate the leftovers. "There's so many leftovers."

"They didn't even touch this plate, even though I put a lot of effort into it." The third one said.

"Customers these days sure don't have an appetite." The first one added.

Sanji turned to them. "Everyone oughtta stop eating those leftovers! I just got rid of some that was spoiled." Sanji said, the three munching cooks turned to look at their young companion.

"It's that kinda attitude that makes you only half a normal human size. Don't forget that we are cooks of the sea. You can never tell what will happen on the sea. You don't want to be caught off guard." The third cook said and then held out almost eaten fish. "How about some of this for ya?" He offered.

Sanji turned his head to the side. "No way!" He refused.

Unknowingly to them outside of their kitchen the disaster was approaching. The passengers ran around screaming.

"Everyone please calm down!" One of the ship's workers tried to calm them down.

The cooks and Sanji heard the commotion but before they could go and see what was going on one of the sailors rushed in with a horrified expression on his face. "Pirates!" He said.

"Pirates?" Sanji repeated.

Outside in the rain a pirate ship was approaching.

"That ship. They are pirates…" One of the sailors realized as Sanji began running toward the deck only to get stop by someone rushing by him.

"It's Red Leg Zeff's ship!" Sanji regained his footing and ran to the deck. "Has he returned from the Grand Line?"

Not too long after they realized the two groups formed on each half of the deck. One consisted of utterly scared cooks and the captain of the ship, while the other one was led by much younger Zeff, the pirates and Zeff were chuckling.

"Are you this pirate ship's captain, Red Leg Zeff…?" The captain asked. "What are your intentions?" Fear was clearly noticeable in the man's voice.

"Everyone! The loot grab it all!" Zeff ordered, the attack began and pirates plundered everything that could be plundered.

Sanji was holding onto the railing, seemingly hiding. "Shit! I can't let them kill me! I can't get killed by these goons!" Sanji thought.

Zeff's attention was turned to the other side of the deck when one of his pirates asked. "What's with this kid?" The kid in question was Sanji himself, he had knives in his hands.

"Hey brat, that thing is dangerous so don't go swinging it around." One of the pirates warned him.

"This is really dangerous!" The second one mocked.

"Shut up! You think I can let myself get killed by the likes of you?!" Sanji snapped at them.

The three cooks that were with him looked horrified.

"Sanji!" One of them called as he clutched the sides of his head.

"This looks bad! Don't annoy them!" The second one exclaimed.

"A kid that wants to die so badly, just kill him off already." Zeff said coldly.

"Like I'm gonna get killed! If I'm gonna be killed by you, I'll just kill you first!" Sanji declared.

He didn't even notice but when he turned around Zeff already kicked him, the boy went flying into the wall and made a large crack in it as he fell onto the deck.

"Sanji!" Cooks yelled.

"Good one, Captain!" One of the pirates said.

"No mercy whatsoever." The second one commented.

Sanji was still conscious as he began crawling out of the ruble much to the surprise of the pirates. He crawled toward Zeff who watched him with mild interest.

"Like I can die…" He reached Zeff and pressed his forehead against the pirate's foot. "I…" He bit on Zeff's ankle. "I have to get to All Blue someday." As he said that the silence fell upon the ship. Zeff's eyes wavered a bit as he watched Sanji.

The pirates on the other hand began laughing. "'All Blue' he says! What a stupid dream!" Pirate laughed.

"Captain tell him!" The second one requested as Sanji began crying. "Such a thing doesn't exist even in the Grand Line!"

"That idiot! He's still going on about that!" The second cook panicked.

Zeff lifted the leg Sanji was biting and then kicked, Sanji once again slammed into the wall.

The blond boy rolled onto his back. "In a place like this… In a place like this, I can't just get myself killed by these pirates…" Sanji muttered to himself. Zeff was still watching him.

"Captain we have to get outta here! There's a storm approaching, an even bigger one then the last time!" One of the pirates warned Zeff.

"Very well! You lot put the treasure you've looted onto the ship! We're leaving!" Zeff ordered and it seemed like Sanji would survive this after all.

All of a sudden a gigantic wave struck the ship, splashed all over the deck and swept Sanji off of the deck…

"Sanji!" One of the cooks called but none of them moved to do something, none but Zeff…

Zeff ran up, jumped onto the railing then jumped once again before kicking the mast and breaking it.

"Captain!" His crew called.

Zeff held onto the falling mast. "Damn kid." He cursed as he fell into the water.

"Captain!" The pirate yelled after him as they ran up to the railing. "Why all that trouble for just one brat?" He wondered but they had no time to think about that as gigantic tsunami struck the pirate ship and the passenger one thus sinking it down…

Zeff swam through the water trying to reach Sanji who was sinking further and further down. Both of them looked as the remaining of two ships became scattered around. Zeff however turned his attention back to Sanji and caught up with him. He grabbed onto the boy and began swimming toward the surface.

The morning after the storm Sanji woke up on the small rocky island, the rock was making it impossible to try and fish because one would have no way of returning back to the rock…

"So you came to, eh? Small fry? You are something else." Zeff commented, he was sitting at the edge of the rock.

"Pirat…" Sanji tried to say as he began sitting up, but he soon felt the pain in his stomach and clutched on it.

"There's no way you could move! Whose kick do you think you took earlier?" Zeff reminded him.

"Where's the ship?" Sanji asked

"Who knows? In that kind of storm I wouldn't be surprised if it got destroyed. We are the only ones who made it here." Zeff explained without any apparent emotion in his voice. "There's no vegetation or animals on this rocky island. You might think of catching fish, but if you go down once, there is no return. Dying like rats, makes you wanna cry, doesn't it?" Zeff asked.

"Hm. It's all your fault anyway! I'm gonna kill you!" Sanji accused Zeff even though the pirate had nothing to do with the storm, but it seemed like Zeff didn't mind his words.

"Stop barking. All we can do is wait until the help arrives. Otherwise you'll use up all your energy and simply turn into a skeleton." Zeff warned him.

"A skeleton"? Sanji asked as he imagined the skeleton version of himself. "Me?"

"That sack over there is your share." Zeff told him, he clearly referred to a small sack next to Sanji. Sanji looked around and finally saw the sack on his right. "If you eat like you normally would it should last you for five days. So use your head on how you go about it. Good thing we are both cooks, right?"

Sanji glared at him and then noticed the sack, almost as big as the sitting form of the pirate. "Wait! Is that your share? Isn't that a bit too big? Three times at least!" Sanji pointed his finger at Zeff.

After a short silence the pirate finally answered. "But of course. I'm a full sized adult, my stomach is much bigger." He turned to glance at Sanji. "Be grateful that I spared you any. Don't expect me to feel sorry for you." Zeff's eyes were as cold as ever.

Sanji gritted his teeth. "You old fart!"

-The sunset-

Sanji watched as the sunset began. He reached out for his bag but then remembered Zeff's words.

"If you eat like you normally would it should last you for five days. So use your head on how you go about it."

He pulled his hand back and hugged his knees.

-With Zeff-

"I don't want to die." Zeff admitted as he grabbed a big rock. "This is where my red legs will end their story." He slammed the rock against his leg, just below the knee thus cutting it off…

-With Sanji-

At the same time Sanji was thinking back to the Zeff's order.

"You wait on the other side. When you see a ship, let me know immediately. Until then we shouldn't contact each other. Because we can't afford to waste any energy. And keep praying."

"Why that old fart! If a ship comes like hell if I'd go tell him! I'm all set, I have food for five days. Within those five days one or two ships will have to come by. But there is still a chance that one won't come so maybe I should divide this into 20 day portions. If I give 20 days, a ship is bound to come. I'm all good! I'll definitely be saved! Piece of cake!" Well it wasn't going to be that much of a piece of cake…

Before the sun even rose to the sky Sanji's stomach grumbled. He was about to eat a piece of his bread but then returned it to the sack and went to a small pond of water. He drank from it desperately trying to ease the hunger for food with water.

He looked at the sack. "Maybe if I just took a bit to eat…" He muttered but then shook his head. "No way! Not even the first day went by!" He began drinking again. For all the water he drank it didn't do much as his stomach hurt from not eating. He punched it a couple of times. "Damn it! Stop it! Stop it!" He exclaimed.

He returned back to the edge of the rock and sat down watching the horizon. "None today, eh…? It's alright! They'll come in two or three days!" He tried desperately to maintain the positive outlook on the situation. "I don't want to die…" He muttered. Both he and Zeff watched into the distance.

-Day 5-

The rain was falling once again and the visibility was rather bad.

"It's raining, under these circumstances there is no way I can see a ship…" But as soon as Sanji said that he actually noticed a ship.

"Ship!" He exclaimed as he began waving his hands around. "HEEEY! HEEEEEY!" He shouted as he tried to get their attention but to his misfortune rain prevented anyone on the ship from hearing or noticing him.

Sanji quickly ran to a pile of small wooden boards and tried to lit fire. "Fire! If I can lit the fire they'll notice that as a signal. Shit! The wood is too wet to burn!" He realized and turned back to the ship that slowly sailed out of his sight. "Wait! Come back! I'm here!" He yelled.

The ship continued sailing away. "Wait please! Save me!" He pleaded. "HEEEEEY!" It was too late, they didn't notice him…

"Damn it…" He muttered as he fell onto his knees.

-Day 25-

Sanji was holding onto the last piece of food he had. "The last loaf of bread. Better take it in well." His voice betrayed the tiredness that he felt.

The images of cooks on the ship he was flooded his mind…

"Man what a waste." The second cook said as he and the other two ate the leftovers. "There's so many leftovers."

"Everyone oughtta stop eating those leftovers! I just got rid of some that was spoiled." Sanji said, the three munching cooks turned to look at their young companion.

The cook held out almost eaten fish. "How about some of this for ya?" He offered.

Sanji turned his head to the side. "No way!" He refused.

"No way! No way! No way! No way! No way!" The words repeated in his head, back then he would have thrown the loaf of bread he was currently eating without a second thought, most likely the second day after it was made, yet now he regretted throwing away anything with his entire being.

His tears soaked the bread and he went to wipe them away but in that motion he dropped the bread into the sea…

He gasped and tried to reach out for the bread but it was too late, he could only watch as the bread hit the surface and forever disappeared.

"My last bit of bread!" He muttered.

-Day 30-

"A bit more and they'll surely come…" He still tried to keep the positive outlook.

-Day 50-

The rain was falling again, but no one came…

-Day 70-

Sanji drank water from the pond, the water was the only thing that kept him alive as he became skin and bone thin… He was on the verge of dying after not having anything to eat for 45 days…

"That old fart… Wonder if he's dead…?"

With all of his remaining strength Sanji crawled to the peak of the island to check on Zeff.

His eyes widened and his mouth opened as he realized that Zeff was still alive.

"He's still alive! Moreover his ration… There's so much left of it!" Sanji realized but he was wrong, there wasn't 'so much left of it' it was untouched. "There's still much food left!" He happily exclaimed.

He took a knife and got to his feet. "No matter what I have to get my hands on it! It's his entire fault to begin with! I want to live on!" He decided.

Sanji slowly began approaching Zeff, he tried to remain as silent as possible.

"Why are you here, small eggplant?" Zeff asked. Sanji stopped his approach to take a breath. "Perhaps you saw a ship?"

"I came to take your food!" Sanji declared as he held his knife higher. "If you are gonna kill me, then go ahead and try. Without anything to eat, I'd die anyway." Zeff remained silent as Sanji ran up to the sack. "To save this much for your own self…!" He stabbed the knife into the sack and tore it apart but…

His eyes widened as all that was spilled out was gold and treasure…

Sanji dropped his knife and fell to his knees as he realized that there really was no food left.

"I thought that we were not to contact each other until one of us saw a ship." Zeff reminded him.

Sanji reached out for the treasure. "What's this…? It's all mere treasure?"

"Having money but nothing to eat. Funny story don't you think?" Zeff asked.

Sanji's breathing became quicker as he looked at Zeff. "Hey. This sack is just full of treasure?" He said, the short silence came upon them before Sanji ran up to Zeff and shook him. "What's this nonsense? What's going on here? What about the food? Didn't you eat anything till now?! Hey! Say something!" Sanji demanded as he stepped a bit more forward and finally saw it, Zeff's right leg, or well the remaining part of it.

Sanji fell down onto his ass as he looked at Zeff's leg. "You… You ate your own leg?" Sanji asked as he began crying.

"That's right." Zeff told him.

"The food you handed me, that was all of it wasn't it?" Sanji asked although the answer was pretty much obvious.

"Precisely." Zeff simply replied.

"Without that leg, you can no longer be a pirate, now can you?" He asked.

"Guess you are right." Zeff confirmed it.

"Why? You didn't have to! I don't remember asking you to treat me so kindly! Why? WHY?" Sanji asked.

"You… Have the same dream as I do." Zeff revealed.

"All Blue?" Sanji realized. He stood up. "But, even your own crew said that such a thing doesn't exist." Sanji said.

"But it does! When the time comes, travel to the Grand Line! All Blue is definitely there! I certainly can't be a pirate anymore. So this time you go there and find it." Zeff fell down onto his back, he was at his limit.

"Hey! Old man, don't die! Don't just lecture then die out on me!" Sanji pleaded.

Zeff opened his eyes. "This sea…" He muttered. "I wonder how many people have cursed the vastness of this sea and died. Up until now, whenever I've been in a drawn out starvation dilemma, I'd think to myself. 'Wouldn't it be nice if there was a restaurant somewhere on this vast sea?'" He said.

"Restaurant?" Sanji asked.

"Yeah. If I manage to escape this hitch, I'd bet everything into building my own restaurant!" Zeff revealed.

"Yosh! I'll help you out so don't die on me!" Sanji told him, he tried his best to keep the pirate's will to remain alive…

"Hm! For a weak small eggplant like you, that's be impossible!" Zeff countered.

"I'll get stronger! So… Don't die!" He begged as tears fell down his face.

-Day 85-

A ship finally came to the small rocky island.

"Look there are people here!" One of the sailors realized.

"The two of them! They are unconscious!" The second one said.

"They are still breathing!" The third one said as he checked Sanji and Zeff.

"I think I heard some voices from this rock two or three months ago when we sailed near it in that rain." The fourth one remembered, it was the same ship from back then, from the fifth day…

"Really?! Are you serious?!" The fifth one asked.

-Flashback ends-

Sanji sighed.

"That old fart gave everything up for me. I need to repay the favor." Sanji stated.

"Well you certainly have a wrong way to go about it. I don't know what happened but I don't think he wants you to spend his life here." Vergil replied.

"Am I supposed to repay by just leaving?!" Sanji asked.

"No. You are supposed to repay him by using the life he saved." Vergil said.

"And what do you know about being in debt to someone?! A demon like you, all the demons I met were selfish shitty bastards with no gratitude whatsoever!" Sanji snapped.

On the list of how fast Vergil snapped and how violently at that this would probably take the first spot as Vergil grabbed Sanji's collar and slammed his back against the wall.

"I do know that kind of feeling. I gathered that he gave his leg up for you, that he gave up being a pirate for you well you know what? He is still alive and he is doing what he wants to. I don't know if you noticed but he is happy with what he is doing. Speaking of debts to those that saved my life, mine is bigger." Vergil hissed dangerously and then let go of Sanji. He walked out of the room, went outside and placed his hands on the railing.

The only thing the white haired demon could hear and see was the beginning and ending of two things, beginning of the Black Thunder's four year long killing spree and the final crumbling of his own soul…

-Flashback-

"Is there anyone alive?! First fort… Second fort… If anyone is alive answer me!" The thirteen years old Vergil desperately demanded.

No one responded…

"Damn it Grom! Wake up!" He screamed.

-Flashback ends-

Vergil's eyes snapped open as he struggled to control his breathing. He broke down in cold sweat and unclenched his fists. Small sparks circled around his hands before they disappeared and he bit the side of his lower lip hard enough to draw blood.

"Damn it…" He muttered, he didn't know that Sanji saw this through the window…

* * *

_**That's it. Next chapter will end the Baratie Arc. For those who don't know about the 'Yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir' phrase that Vergil used well it can be used in two occasions, when someone is over obsequies or as often indignant reply to someone being bossy but to whom one has to obey. Though not in a indignant way Vergil will probably say this line from time to time. As you can see I went with manga version of the Sanji's flashback. I find it to have much better impact then the anime one for many reasons. Zeff ate his leg, the time they spent on the rock was 85 days, the ship didn't come exactly when Sanji revealed Zeff lost his leg and all that and well the impact and feels are stronger in my opinion.**_

_**Most of the lines Sanji said during the flashback aren't from English version of the manga, but rather from Serbian one just translated by me so you will probably find differences in exact words Sanji or Zeff said, but either way the point is the same. Since I have a couple of volumes I find a bit more pride in using the actual volume as a source rather than the internet one. **_

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_**Next Chapter – Sanji's Departure**_


	42. Sanji's Departure

_**Answers on reviews:**_

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_**Guest – Thanks for the review, it's fine if you didn't read manga from the start and then began when you caught up with anime.**_

_**Curious – Thank you. Devil May Cry is a good game if you like hack 'n' slash type of games that require stylish gameplay. The DMC4: SE came out not too long ago, it has five games. DMC 1 and 2 were originally for PS 2 while any other can be found for PC. You can also find the games on PS3 platform and Xbox 360, and the latest ones are available on PS4. It's honestly my favorite game and it really is good game if you like that genre, I recommend watching some gameplays to see if you like it.**_

_**alexc123 – Next chapter it officially starts.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks for the review, I suppose you are right.**_

_**OPFan37 – Thanks for the review, sorry for the wait. 85 days is harsh but it presents the seriousness of the situation quite well. I am personally using anime material with small help from manga as I find it easier to describe anime moments.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 42 – Sanji's Departure**_

* * *

Vergil's eyes snapped open as he struggled to control his breathing. He broke down in cold sweat and unclenched his fists. Small sparks circled around his hands before they disappeared and he bit the side of his lower lip hard enough to draw blood.

"Damn it…" He muttered, he didn't know that Sanji saw this through the window…

In the room Luffy finally woke up. Vergil's eyes widened a bit a he heard his captain's waking up.

Luffy looked kinda sleepy as he reached for the hat on his head, only to find out that it wasn't there… And then he panicked.

"Ah! My hat!" Where is my straw hat?!" He panicked loudly.

"Isn't it right there?" Sanji said and Luffy then saw the treasured hat in a safe place.

"Oh, yeah." Luffy said as he took the hat and placed it on his head.

"Feel any better now?" Sanji asked.

Luffy looked around. "Eh? Where'd they go?" He asked, obviously thinking about pirates.

"They're gone. Thanks to you." Sanji told him.

"Me?" Luffy questioned.

"'We might meet at the Grand Line.' Was what Gin said." Sanji did as he was told and passed down the message.

"Gin, eh?" Luffy asked. "He told you that?" He asked oblivious to the situation.

"He meant you!" Sanji snapped at him.

Vergil smiled a bit as he kept looking at the sea.

A bit later Sanji was also outside, standing at the railing next to Vergil.

"Oh, yeah about you…" Luffy began.

"I'm not going. I don't want to be a pirate." Sanji said and Luffy looked down sulking a bit. "I'm staying here to continue being a cook, until that old fart acknowledges my cooking skills."

"I see… I'll give up then." Luffy said but his mind and body didn't work together as he held onto Sanji's collar clearly showing that he wasn't giving up…

"Your hand isn't giving up!" Sanji breathed as he tried to keep his own collar from suffocating him.

Luffy finally let go of the collar and Sanji blew out the smoke of his cigarette. "I can't go. They are all unreliable around here. But I'll go there someday. To the grand Line." Sanji assured them.

Luffy grabbed onto the railing right next to Vergil and shot toward it, he slammed into Vergil's back thus forcing the white haired demon to fall over the railing and slam head first into the platform. "Then let's go now!" Luffy exclaimed and then realized what he did. "Vergil!" He shouted as his first mate sat up and glared at Luffy.

"Luffy…" Vergil growled.

"Ah, sorry." Luffy apologized sheepishly as he rubbed the back of his head.

Vergil shook his head with a grin on his face and then turned to Sanji. "He's right, go with us right now." Vergil tried to persuade the cook.

"Not now." Sanji replied.

Vergil joined them back at the railing and leaned against it.

"Hey! Have you heard about 'All Blue'?" Sanji asked, his voice betrayed his excitement and happiness and the same was done by a massive grin on his face.

"Nope." Both pirates said.

"What? You haven't?! It's a mystical sea!" Sanji began. "In that sea fish from all over – East Blue, West Blue, North Blue and South Blue, can all be found there!" Sanji said, Vergil glanced up to see Zeff watching them.

"It's a wonderland for cooks like us. And it's in the Grand Line! So have you heard of it?" Sanji continued to talk about the sea of his dreams.

Zeff continued watching him. "H looks so damn happy." The older cook grinned. "Fool."

-Lunch time-

A bell rang.

"Lunch time, boys!" Patty called and cooks began coming to the tables.

"Finally some grub!" One of the cooks rejoiced.

"Food, food, food!" The second one cheered.

They were all eating when Sanji came in followed by Luffy and Vergil.

"Hey, where are we sitting?" Sanji asked, it was kinda strange, there were no empty seats, even though this was a restaurant.

"Where's the food?" Luffy asked.

"At the tables." Vergil deadpanned.

"We didn't save seats for you." One of the cooks told them after a short silence.

"Eat on the floor, the floor." The second one added with a small chuckle.

"No seat? How can that be? This is a restaurant for crying out loud!" Sanji pointed out. Either way the trio took food and sat on the floor. "Can't be helped." Sanji relented.

"They are acting weird." Luffy noticed.

"It's what they always do." Sanji stated.

"Funny, Luffy who never knew them before notices and you don't notice it." Vergil commented.

"I know them." Sanji countered.

"You sure?" Vergil challenged. "Well whatever." He shrugged it off.

Patty tasted the soup and didn't look satisfied. "Hey! Who in the world made the soup this morning?" He demanded to know.

Sanji quickly raised his hand. "It's me! Me! Pretty good, eh? Today's even more exceptional." Sanji said happily.

"I could hardly swallow this piece of crap!" Patty said as he wiped his mouth. "It's only fit for pigs!" He began spitting to prove his point.

This of course angered Sanji who glared dangerously at Patty.

Luffy and Vergil just kept eating their meals.

Sanji stood up "Hey, you never tasted 'human' food before, crappy cook?" Sanji asked.

"Hm. You are turning this awful cooking into an art form. I'm about to puke!" Patty said as he began spitting again.

"Excuse me but I'm very confident with what I made today. Is something wrong with your tongue?!" Sanji demanded as he approached Patty.

At that moment Carne tasted the soup as well. He set the spoon down and wiped his mouth with a handkerchief. "It's disgusting!" He exclaimed and tried to do his best to look as disgusted as humanly possible….

"I can't take this at all!" Another cook added. He spat as well. "Right everyone?"

"How can we eat this?" Yet another cook complained.

"This soup is super horrible!" The third one added.

"We can't drink up this crap!" The fourth one stated, all the cooks set down their spoons.

"This is just awful. Can someone get me some water?" One of them requested.

"What are you bastards up to?!" Sanji yelled at them.

"You are just a phony assistant chef. You've just been around for awhile, that's all." Paty stated.

"We are tired of your violent behavior." One of the cooks told Sanji as he stood next to Patty..

"It tastes so bad we just had to say it aloud!" The next one added.

"What did you say?!" Sanji was reaching the boiling point.

At that very moment none other than Zeff tried the soup.

"We are cooks of the sea. We can't afford to waste even a single drop of soup." All the cooks including Sanji looked at Zeff as he ate the entire plate, spoon by spoon.

As soon as Zeff finished the final drop of the soup he stood up and tossed the plate to the floor thus breaking it.

"Owner!" Cooks called as one.

"Old man?!" Sanji breathed.

Luffy still ate but now he was watching the scene. Vergil was munching on a piece of meat and watched as well.

"What's up with this disgusting soup of yours?" Zeff asked as he wiped his mouth. He also pointed a finger at the broken plate. "You intend to shut down this restaurant or something?" zeff asked.

Sanji walked up to him and grabbed him by the collar.

"Stop kidding around old fart! Tell me what makes your soup and mine any different! Tell me!" Sanji demanded.

"Between mine and yours?" Zeff repeated. Two glared at each other and then Zeff hit Sanji, with his fist. "Don't be so conceited!"

Cooks watched in shock. "The owner didn't kick him, but punched him." Patty muttered.

Sanji sat up and glared at Zeff. The hurt in his eyes was barely covered by anger.

"You are a hundred years too young to compare to me, li'l eggplant! For I am a man who has cooked on all of the seas, all over the world!" Zeff told him.

Sanji kept glaring at him but then stood up and ran through the doors. "Damn it!"

"Damn old fart! I… I…" He thought as he ran toward the railing, used it as a footing and propped himself toward the air. "I'm no li'l eggplant no more!" He kicked the air out of frustration.

Zeff and other cooks watched him through the window.

"This soup is great!" Luffy exclaimed as he ate a full plate of it and began pouring in another one.

"I know so." Zeff said as he turned to Luffy. "Sanji's cooking is revered by everyone here." He admitted.

"It doesn't taste bad at all." The cook said.

"Yeah, it's well made." Another one added.

"Man that was scary. He seemed pretty mad." The third one said.

"Yeah, he was." The fourth one agreed.

Sanji approached the doors and reached out for the knob, however he changed his mind and was about to leave again.

"But, if we didn't pull this off, he'd never leave. That stupid brat." Zeff said, Sanji of course heard this and his eyes widened.

"Hey kid. You and your crew need a cook on your ship, right?" Zeff asked. "I'm not trying to force you or anything, but that li'l eggplant of ours, care to take him with you?" Zeff asked as he sat down, he was speaking directly to Luffy as a captain to the captain. "To the Grand Line. The grand Line is what he's always dreamt about."

"You see, the boss is a real troublemaker." Patty commented.

"I was worried for a second with your crappy acting." Carne told him.

Patty laughed loudly. "Not to mention yours."

"Another helping of the soup please!" One of the cooks requested.

"Me too! Me too!" Others joined in and Sanji slid down the doors and sat down.

He took out another cigarette and tried to light it but his lighter wasn't doing what it was supposed to… Already frustrated Sanji gave up on lighting his cigarette, folded his arms over his knees and lowered his head down. "I can hear everything, you damn bastards." He muttered.

"How about it kid?" Zeff asked.

"No." Luffy simply answered earning three reactions. A smirk from Vergil, over the top shock from the cooks and wide eyes shock from Zeff.

"WHAT?!" Cooks yelled.

"Didn't you need a cook on your ship? Dind't you try to make him join all these days?" Zeff asked. "Or do you not like the guy?

"It's nothing like that. I want to take him with me. But he said he wants to stay here as a cook. I can't take him even if you guys insist." Luffy stated.

"So you are saying that you can't do anything about it unless he says 'yes'?" Zeff asked.

"That's right. Luffy isn't someone who'd force someone to join. Making Sanji join our crew isn't fair, he'd never be happy if he is in a place that he doesn't want to be in. We don't want to force him into admitting that he wants to go either, it's pointless as well. You guys, maybe you shouldn't have done this, for example if he doesn't figure this out, this little play of yours, how do you think he's going to feel? He'll feel betrayed, unwanted, alone. He'll feel like whatever he does is simply never good enough. As good as your intentions were the outcome could be bad." Vergil stated.

"That li'l eggplant isn't as weak as you think." Zeff stated.

"It's not about weak or strong. It's about core psychology of humans and even demons. You don't have to get praised for your work, but at the same time always getting scolded and degraded makes a person lose faith in their own ability, no matter how strong that person is… Sanji is a great cook. I know it, Luffy knows it, all of you know it but no one admits it in front of him. It leads that person into making mistakes." Vergil said and he knew what he was talking about, too well…

"While doing things the more acceptable way is better. Would that peculiar kid just admit that he wants to go?" Zeff stated.

"Not a chance. He's a stubborn son of a gun." One of the cooks said.

"Seconds please!" Luffy requested.

All of a sudden a rather strange event occurred… Yosaku, carried by a shark, in its mouth reached Baratie. The shark jumped out of the water and landed on the platform making Sanji yelp in surprise. The wood scattered around from the impact as smoke engulfed the area-

"Damn it…" Sanji cursed as Vergil pulled him out from underneath shark and Yosaku.

"Sanji?" One of the cooks asked.

"Who's he?" Another cook asked, clearly referring to Yosaku. "A mermen?"

"He comes all the way from the Fishman Island to eat here?" Another one asked.

"Idiot! It's just somebody in a shark's jaw!" The third one snapped at him.

"Huh? What's going on?" Luffy pushed through the cooks and saw Yosaku. "Eh? Yosaku?" He walked up to him with Vergil.

"Oh, Luffy-aniki! Vergil-aniki!" Yosaku recognized them.

"Why are you the only one here? Where's everybody else? Where's Nami?" Luffy asked.

"Didn't you pay attention earlier? Two pieces of meat that you cook at different times because you want to eat both of them when they are warm." Vergil explained making all the cooks sweat drop…

"Ah! So Yosaku came to get us!" Luffy realized.

The shark swam away and Yosaku was wrapped in a blanket. "We didn't catch up with her, but we know the rough destination toward which she is headed. Vergil-aniki was right, it'll be dangerous." Yosaku said.

"I get it! Let's go!" Luffy said and Yosaku stood up.

Sanji lit his cigarette as trio began leaving.

"Wait." He stopped them. "All of us hold on to foolish dreams." He stated.

"Hm?" Luffy intelligently asked.

"I'm gonna do this for my own dream, for All Blue." Sanji said.

"Sanji?" Luffy asked, he probably guessed where this was going, but he needed a confirmation.

Sanji tuned to them. "Ay you wanted, I'll go with you. On this 'Road to become the Pirate King'! Allow me to take the position of the cook aboard your ship!" Patty and Carne looked at each other. "You've got a problem with that or what?" Sanji asked.

This got Luffy to cheer, loudly. "YEEES! Great!" The rubber captain cheered.

"Told you so." Vergil said with a welcoming grin.

"isn't this great, Luffy-aniki?" Yosaku joined in on the celebration.

"Yay! Yay! We've got our cook! We'll always have something to eat now!" They both cheered as they danced in circles.

"So that's it people. I gave you a lot of trouble, didn't I?" Sanji said to the cooks.

"Kh. Man you piss me off!" Patty still tried to put up a tough act… "I wanted to throw you out of here on myself, but now things turn out to be easy."

"Well I'm sorry… That's what you get for putting on such an appalling performance." Sanji told him.

"Wha-? You figured us out?!" Patty exclaimed in pure shock.

"You couldn't be any more transparent." Sanji replied. "You are all morons."

"What?!" Patty growled.

"So you guys really want me outta here, eh? EH, old fart?" Sanji asked.

"What's with that foul mouth of yours?" Patty asked as he held his fist clenched in front of him.

Zeff however stopped him by a simple gesture of placing his hand in front of Patty. "That's right, you li'l eggplant. I hate kids! I regret every passing day that I let you live, you ungrateful brat." Zeff said.

"Heh." Sanji smirked. "That's just nice, old fart. Now you can sit back and relax for the rest of your life." He replied.

-Later-

Sanji's boat was anchored at the platform.

"Oh, a nice boat! Are you sure we can use it?" Yosaku asked.

"It's Sanji's, so of course you can." One of the cooks replied.

Vergil and Luffy were in the kitchen.

"Aren't you done yet?" One of the cooks that packed things for Luffy asked.

"Nope, more meat please." Luffy requested.

"How many days are you gonna be sailing?" The cook asked.

"Dunno." Luffy replied. The second cook realized that there was no escaping this situation and placed another large piece of meat in the large food filled sack.

Zeff walked up to them. "Kid!" He got Luffy's attention.

"Oh, old man." Luffy greeted.

"You want this?" Zeff offered his journal. "It's my journal during the year I ventured the Grand Line."

"Don't need it!" Without a moment of hesitation Luffy rejected it making Zeff chuckle.

"Thought so." The old cook said as he grinned at Luffy.

"Shishishishi." Luffy laughed and then Zeff turned around to leave.

"I want that frozen beef up there!" Luffy pointed at the beef.

"Can't you cut it out already!" Cook demanded.

"Yeah Luffy, get us something other than meat." Vergil added.

"That's not what I meant!" The cook snapped.

-With Sanji-

Blond cook finished packing his belongings and was now left to look at the photo of him and Zeff, it was taken back when Baratie was opened.

"_Awesome!" He remembered his reaction. "Old fart so this is our floating restaurant!" _

He took his things and walked out of the room, he went into the hall, then into the kitchen, he was taking in every single detail of the place, silently he was bidding farewell to it, at the very least for now.

He pulled a chair out and just sat on it, he simply thought about everything.

-Flashback-

"Hey Sanji…" Zeff called him.

"Eh? What?" The boy responded.

"no matter what kind of bad guy, even if he's a fugitive, as long as they are bastards who come here to eat, then our struggle here would be meaningful." Zeff said. Sanji's smile widened and he nodded happily. "We'll be very busy from now on."

"No problem, 'coz I'm here!" Sanji assured him.

-Flashback ends-

Sanji took the cigarette out of his mouth and then noticed multiple cuts on his thumb, a proof of his cooking career.

-Flashback-

He was peeling an apple when it went wrong, he cut his thumb and dropped it onto the table.

Zeff picked up the peeled off apple peel. "Gimme a break." He whacked Sanji on the head with his peg leg causing the boy to yelp. "The peel's still too thick, li'l eggplant!"

"That hurts! You should just watch quietly when people are focusing on their cooking!" Sanji complained.

"Who do you think you are? You li'l eggplant!" Zeff yelled at him.

"I'm no li'l eggplant, you old fart!" Sanji snapped.

-Flashback ends-

Well Sanji wasn't the only one who was remembering the past.

As he lied down on his beg Zeff thought back to when Sanji first made a meal on his own.

-Flashback-

"Try it!" much younger Sanji offered.

"Did you make this yourself?" Zeff asked.

"Yeah!" Sanji replied, Zeff took a spoon filled with suoup and tasted it. "And?" He expected an answer.

Suddenly Zeff whacked Sanji with his cook hat. "Man, this tastes awful, li'l eggplant!" Zeff said.

"Why… you old fart!" Sanji cried out.

-Flashback ends-

Outside, Luffy, Vergil and Yosaku were waiting for Sanji in the cook's ship. Other cooks were standing on the platform.

"Cook-aniki's rather slow, isn't he?" Yosaku asked.

"Yeah." Luffy agreed.

Just when he said that Sanji began stepping out of the restaurant. He silently stood at the doorways and looked at his boat. Without a word uttered from his mouth or from other cooks he began walking toward it.

"This is the fury I've accumulated for the past years!" Patty exclaimed.

"Prepare yourself, Sanji!" Carne added.

The two attacked however Sanji dropped his belongings, jumped back, stood on his hands and kicked the two cooks,

"You can never beat him." One of the cooks told them.

Without a single work Sanji made his way to the boat. "Let's go." He told his new crew.

"You sure No goodbyes?" Luffy asked.

"nah." Sanji assured him.

"Sanji." One voice that could make him stop in his tracks called from the upper deck."Don't catch cold now." Zeff told him and Sanji broke down.

Luffy and Vergil smiled as the two cooks finally expressed their care for one another directly. Images of Zeff swimming toward him and of the day he found out that Zeff ate his own leg flooded into Sanji's mind as tears well down in waterfalls.

"OWNER ZEFF!" Sanji screamed. He fell onto his knees and bowed down to the man that saved his life. "All this time, I owe you hell of a lot! What you've done for me, I shall never forget!" Right then and there Sanji cried his heart out without raising his head to look at Zeff who also allowed the tears to fall.

Patty and Carne were also crying. "You damn bastard!" Patty yelled.

Sanji looked up toward them.

"I'm gonna miss you, damn it!" Patty admitted through tears.

"Gonna miss you alright!" Carne confirmed it.

Other cooks weren't excluded either as they all cried.

"It's so sad." One of them said.

"I'm sad, damn it!" Another one admitted.

Sanji grinned through tears.

"You morons!" Zeff scolded them as he wiped off his own tears, but that didn't stop the new ones from falling down. "Men should leave without saying a word." He said.

The cooks kept crying though.

"_Touching, even I have to admit that_." Vergil thought.

As the crying and farewells stopped Sanji got on the boat and they finally set sail.

"Let's go!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Right!" Vergil agreed.

"'Till we meet again, you frickin bastards!" Sanji seemingly wasn't done with farewells but who could blame him.

Cooks said their farewells as well as the boat sailed further and further away.

"_With the belief and refusal to die, they will find, All Blue_." Zeff was sure of it.

"Men! Customers will be flooding soon! Get back to work!" He ordered the cooks.

-With Nami-

Going Merry was approaching a large ominous building and its navigator had the cold, emotionless expression.

Her approach had been spotted as the wind blew through her hair.

-Arlong Park-

"Our little cartographer is coming back." A voice said as a sick smirk appeared and golden eyes watched toward the distance.

* * *

_**Baratie Arc - Finished**_

* * *

_**That's it. It took me awhile but Baratie Arc is finished. But holy hell I'm on fire, I just want to write the next chapter right away! Actually forget about that, I want to write Vergil VS Krim right away!**_

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_**Trivia:**_

_**-Vergil and Luffy were supposed to make damage to the restaurant and work as chore boys.**_

_**-Vergil was supposed to recall the names of some demons that came to East Blue.**_

_**-He was supposed to mention Krim's name.**_

_**-Thus he was supposed to find out that Krim was the demon involved with Nami.**_

_**-Vergil was supposed to check on Nami before she left.**_

_**-This would have led to her potentially staying with the crew.**_

_**-At one point a thought of Vergil sneaking on the Going Merry before it sailed away crossed my mind, however that was while Vergil's blunt and straightforward character traits were replaced by a more tactic and considerate ones, in other words even before the actual story began. **_

_**-Sanji's flashback was at one point of the planning placed at the same time as it originally was.**_

_**-Sanji was supposed to talk about it instead of just remembering.**_

_**-Vergil was supposed to listen to the story.**_

_**-The way Vergil's technique, Zeher, works was supposed to be explained.**_

_**-Instead of using Zeher Vergil was supposed to sneak up on Gin.**_

_**-Battle match up was at one point Vergil VS Pearl and Sanji VS Gin.**_

_**So yeah, a long trivia this time. Just goes to show how much of decisions I had to make with this arc. Personally I find this to be a better version then what I originally planned. Plans for Arlong Park Arc were quite different then what you'll be getting as well but that's another story.**_

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_**Next Arc – Arlong Park Arc**_

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_**Next Chapter – Fishman Arlong, Demon Krim**_


	43. Fishman Arlong, Demon Krim

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Well I can only say thank you to everyone who reviewed, as of yesterday I can't read the recent reviews so once that's fixed I'll reply to them in a chapter that comes out after it's fixed.**_

* * *

_**All right! I am fully aware that so far this has been the most anticipated arc and we are finally here!**_

* * *

_**Arc 7 – Arlong Park Arc**_

* * *

_**Chapter 43 – Fishman Arlong, Demon Krim**_

* * *

-With Nami-

Going Merry was approaching a large ominous building and its navigator had the cold, emotionless expression.

Her approach had been spotted as the wind blew through her hair.

-Arlong Park-

"Our little cartographer is coming back." A voice said as a sick smirk appeared and golden eyes watched toward the distance.

-With Luffy-

The boat Sanji had kept sailing toward Nami's destination. Luffy was lying on the bowsprit with his hat covering his eyes and shielding them from the sun, Vergil leaned against the wall while Sanji and Yosaku sat down on the deck.

"The weather's wonderful!" Luffy exclaimed as he raised his hands up, he stopped lying and was now sitting on the bowsprit. He jumped down and ran to the other end of the boat. "So the Grand Line is in that direction?" He asked cheerfully. He ran over to another side. "Or is it over this way?" And that proved once and for all that Luffy honestly had no idea about navigation. "This way? That way?" He jumped around the ship like a child trying to find the birthday present. "I'm so psyched!" He exclaimed.

"Shut up… Can't you pipe down a bit?" Sanji asked, the newest member of the crew was rather irritated by Luffy's antics.

"Sorry… My bad." Luffy said with a grin on his face. "We finally got a cook on our crew. Now to find Nami so we can finally head for the Grand Line!" He said happily.

"Nami-san!" Sanji breathed dreamily. "Just thinking about her inexplicable beauty makes me want to jump for joy! I sure would like to see her again soon!" The smoke from his cigarette was shaped in forms of hearts.

Luffy sat down at the bowsprit. "We are almost there, right Yosaku?" Luffy asked. "The island where Nami is at."

"You are too naïve!" Yosaku scolded him as he pointed his finger at Luffy. "Way too naïve! Don't you get it?! We are getting closer and closer to Arlong's base!" Yosaku exclaimed. He remembered how Nami watched the wanted posters back when they dropped them. "Back then, Nami-aneki's were studying Arong and Krim's pictured carefully." He revealed. "Things aren't as simple as they seem!" Yosaku said, he missed the shock in Vergil's eyes.

"You just said Krim, didn't you? Blood Puppeteer, Krim?" Vergil asked.

"Yes Vergil-aniki, he is Arlong's first mate and a demon." Yosaku said, seemingly revealed that someone was taking this seriously.

"So the rumors really were true. That demon really did help the small fries get into the Human World." Vergil muttered.

"Krim did?" Sanji asked.

"No. Krim is one of the small fries that got here. With that being said there is a high potential of a scheme much bigger than just Arlong and Krim. No the chances of that are 99 %, the only question I have is just how important Krim is to all that." Vergil said.

"You know more than you are letting out aren't you. Spill it out Vergil." Sanji demanded.

"There are two great forces in the Demon World led by Monarch, the Demon King Mundus and Kagan, Warsfer. The one that concerns us is the one that is led by a Kagan. However similar to how Mundus, the demon king who rules over the second force Kagan also has those who serve as his eyes and ears throughout the area he rules over. Similar to how there is Fleet Admiral and then Admirals in the navy. Despots are equivalent to Admirals if you want to compare. Either way there were once 15 Despots, however now there are 14. One of them is Kaltag. There was a rumor that he sent unknown number of demons to the Human World, the reasons behind this are unknown as the matter was never even investigated." Vergil explained.

"And you are saying that this Krim demon has something to do with someone who is that high up in the food chain?" Sanji asked, as it looked like he was the only one who actually got what Vergil was saying, Luffy and Yosaku were blissfully ignorant to it, even with Yosaku's best intention of understanding what Vergil was saying…

"Perhaps not directly to Kaltag, but he is on the list I managed to get my hands on. It was the list of demons that supposedly went missing in action. I can't say he is directly connected to Kaltag, even if he is I doubt it went further from 'Do that. - Yes sir' kind of connection." Vergil said and looked up.

"And why do you know about all this?" Sanji asked, Vergil knowing so much about the matter that supposedly was never investigated was strange.

"I've done my fair share of investigation, on my own accord." He casually stated.

"And how did you get to those information, I take it they'd be classified if there are even any." Sanji pointed out.

"There is only so much one can protect by making it classified." The white haired demon stated. "I had my motivation, Kaltag, that bastard killed my sister…" Vergil said and looked up toward the sky.

Sanji's eyes widened and even though Luffy and Yosaku didn't exactly understand what was previously being said, 'killed my sister' was something anyone could understand.

"Sorry. I shouldn't have asked too much." Sanji finally said as he saw that the regret and sadness in Vergil's eyes retreat back into the corners of his mind.

"It's fine, you had right to feel suspicious. If you came up and told me this much about something that's clearly not supposed to be known I'd be suspicious as well. I'm willing to use every information I have to figure out what's going on with both Nami and Krim's connection to Kaltag. After we take Arlong and Krim down, and I'm sure we will have to, I'll search the entire place, there is bound to be something in there that will at the very least indicate Kaltag's plan. I don't know who is pulling the strings but with the way Kaltag is there is a high possibility that Kagan and his Despot changed places unofficially and that Kaltag is the one who is making moves." Vergil presented the possibility.

"The Demon World is much more complicated then we humans think it is, isn't it?" Sanji asked, he breathed out the smoke of his cigarette and sighed.

"But isn't Demon King a king and not a monarch?" Yosaku asked.

"Well King is a more recent, a bit more diplomatic, title." Vergil simply stated.

"Still, Nami-aneki wants to take 35 million beri that are on Arlong and Krim's heads. For what we know she could have already snuck into Arlong's base." Yosaku said.

"Dead wrong again. Nami has connection to them, not willing one. Of all the things that she could have lied to us one is absolute truth, Nami hates demons." Vergil corrected him.

Luffy yawned. "It's about lunch time, isn't it?" He asked making Vergil and Sanji grin.

"Yeah." Sanji agreed.

Yosaku face faulted.

"Take this more seriously!" He snapped at them.

"You take it easy. Over thinking it won't help us, we'll just go there and do what we have to do." Vergil told him. "Anyway I' not that good with this world's pirates, or well any other individuals so does anyone know who that Arlong is?" Vergil asked.

"I don't know." Sanji admitted.

"Never hear d of him." Luffy bluntly stated.

"You are hopeless…" Yosaku muttered. He suddenly blew a whistle and began pacing back and forth. "Guess I'll have to explain it to you all. Arlong is a Fishman who's already been to the Grand Line." Yosaku began.

"Fishman?" Sanji asked.

"A Fishman eh. Never seen one before." Luffy admitted.

"Come to think of it I've heard there is a Fishmen island at the Grand Line. And that there are lots of gorgeous mermaids there!" Sanji exclaimed as his eye turned into a heart.

Luffy was drawing on some papers. Those Fishmen, do they look anything like this?" He asked and showed a masterpiece, a pure form of art, one that could never be replicated again, one that showed his immeasurable talent, at doodling. He showed them a fish with limbs…

Sanji and even Vergil began laughing.

"You've got a masterpiece over there!" Sanji said.

"You are just as bad as I am!" Vergil said earning another laugh from Sanji.

"You are that bad?!" Sanji asked.

"Couldn't you guys be more serious here?!" Yosaku snapped at them.

Yosaku sat down. "Fine, I'll start over from the top. The reason why the Grand Line is called a pirate graveyard is because there are three superpowers that exist there. One of them is the Shichibukai." Yosaku revealed.

"Shichibukai?" Luffy asked.

"In simple terms they are seven pirates who are acknowledged by the government." Yosaku said.

"What the hell does that mean?" Sanji asked.

"The dogs of the government, I take it they do the dirty works for government or something like that in exchange for being free?" Vergil guessed.

"That's the rough definition. They give a fixed percentage of the treasure they get to the government. They are just government dogs to other pirates but they are powerful. The man that defeated Zoro-aniki, the Hawk Eyes Mihawk is one of them." Yosaku said.

"WOW! That's amazing!" Luffy exclaimed as he tapped his sandals together. "There are seven of them like him?!"

"Among the Shichibukai there is a Fishman, Jinbe who is a captain of the Fishmen pirate crew, and the guy who fought alongside Jinbe in the Grand Line is a most wicked, devastating pirate… another Fishman, Arlong!" He explained.

And Luffy was back to drawing as he showed them a drawing of a fish with arms and legs that was standing up.

"That's the same one from before, that one is just standing up." Sanji told him.

"It could go as a rough sketch." Vergil said.

"Ever since Arlong came to the East Blue with Krim he overturned over 30 villages. His power is far beyond Don Krieg!" Yosaku said.

"So from what you figured out Vergil, Nami-san has some kind of connection with that pirate." Sanji recalled.

"Given this into account the reason behind that, is most likely slavery. I assume that Nami's village is kept under Arlong's rule and that she for some reason, maybe to protect them works with Arlong and Krim. For her to develop such strong hate for both demons and pirates we can assume that there is even more to the story than what I've guessed but I'm certain that Nami is in close contact with them. What confuses me though is the reason for this. Krim is a demon that in some way works for Kaltag, so he is most likely prone to violence toward humans. Why would he tolerate Nami being in close contact with him or his apparent superior?" Vergil wondered.

"No! Nami-san might be a mermaid herself." Sanji tried to give a positive and clearly unreal outlook on the situation. "I mean she's totally cute." He imagined a long orange haired mermaid.

"Cute aside that makes no sense." Vergil said.

"Like this?" Luffy asked as he added Nami's hairstyle to the fish he drew earlier.

This of course enraged Sanji. "Do you have a death wish?!" He snapped as he gained shark teeth.

"Don't you guys understand what I'm trying to say here?!" Yosaku tried so hard to get them to listen properly.

"Far better than you do now relax." Vergil said blankly.

"Alright, let's get ready for lunch." Sanji said as he stood up.

"Right on, lunchtime!" Luffy agreed.

"Lunch?" Yosaku asked, his worry seemed to perish right away.

"What do you guys want?" Sanji asked.

"I want meat on the bone!" Luffy demanded.

"I want fried beans!" Yosaku added.

"Rice." Vergil said.

"Alright, leave it to me." Sanji said and left to his kitchen. "I'll make it in a jiffy. So meat, fried beans and rice." Sanji repeated.

"Having a cook onboard sure is great!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Yosaku agreed.

"And he was scolding us…" Vergil commented.

"Meat! I want a big chunk of it!" Luffy demanded.

"I want a big bowl of mine too!" Yosaku added.

"_Princess… Be careful…_" Vergil thought as he looked toward the distance.

-With Nami-

Nami leaned her back against the railing of Going Merry as she approached the Arlong Park. She looked absent minded for a couple of moments but then turned to look at the building.

"I'm finally back here again… My hometown…" She thought, there was an emotionless façade on her face as she hid the pain that was buried deep inside of her heart.

-Arlong Park-

Arlong Park's main element was a massive building that had 'ARLONG PARK' written on it. Arlong's pirate flag was at the top of the building thus proving the fact that this park was no amusement park.

The crew Arlong led consisted of five main figures.

Chew, a muscular, blue skinned Fishman with thick lips. The tattoo that represented his loyalty to Arlong, the Arlong Pirates' mark was on his right shoulder. He was wearing a necklace, a striped blue vest, dark brown leather pants and sandals.

Kuroobi had a typical appearance of a martial artist, he was wearing a dark blue gi and a black belt, his hair was tied in a straight ponytail. He had a sun like tattoo on the right side of his chest.

Hatchan, the octopus Fishman, being an octopus he had six arms and an octopus like face. He had ping skin and grey hair styled with five spikes. He had muscular built and suction cups on his arms. He had the same sun tattoo like Kuroobi, but his was on his forehead. Unlike most Fishman Hatchan had normal hands. He was wearing a striped outfit.

Blood Puppeteer, Krim. The only demon on the crew and the first mate. The demon had short brown hair and normal yellow eyes, he was about 180 cm tall and was somewhat muscular. However the most prominent trait he had were open cuts on his knuckles. He was wearing a grey sleeveless shirt and marine blue pants. He was 38 years old.

The last one was the captain himself. Arlong, a large, muscular, light blue saw shark Fishman whose most distinctive trait was his saw shaped nose. He had long black hair with a widow's peak reaching down to his shoulders. He was wearing a brown ushanka. Being a shark Fishman he had a fin on his nape and the gills located at each side of his neck. He also had a sun tattoo on the left side of his chest while he had his own Jolly Roger on his lower left forearm. He had fierce light blue eyes and a long angular jaw. He wore a short sleeved unbuttoned yellow shirt decorated by many black lightning like spots, green Bermuda shorts, a purple sash around his waist and simple sandals, he also had a lot of jewels, a golden chain bracelet around his left wrist and two golden bracelets around each ankle with straw like decorations hanging from the. On his hands he appeared to have rings but due to his hands being webbed those were most likely piercings.

"Here's this month's. Take it." Arlong placed money on the table and pushed it to a marine. Yes a marine. The marine n question was Nezumi, all in all a mouse like marine.

"Chichichichi. Arlong-kun, you think differently compared to the normal pirates. You sure know how the real world woks." Nezumi said as he tucked the money into his suit.

"Shahahahaha. That makes the both of us." Arlong said. "As long as you are willing to be my comrade here in East Blue, then you'll be sure to get lots of great things in return. For understanding that you are quite perceptive one for a captain of the marines. "

"I'm much obliged." Nezumi simply replied.

"Shahahaha! Don't be so modest. You can only live a good life if you've got the dough. Money's the best. Nothing's more dependable than money. Don't you think so?" Arlong asked as he raised an eyebrow.

Nezumi grinned uncomfortably. "Certainly."

"Even though I hate humans, a perceptive one like you is an exception." Arlong told him.

"Well then. I'd like to bid a leave now." Nezumi said as he stood up, he may have been working with Arlong but he sure as hell wasn't comfortable around him.

"Why don't you relax a bit, have a drink or two before you go?" Arlong offered.

"Patrolling marine cruiser stopping at a pirate's island won't look too good." Nezumi said.

"I'll kill anyone who dares to report on you." Arlong generously offered.

"That's fine. I have to go now." Nezumi insisted.

"Hey! The Captain's leaving! Take him to his ship!" Arlong ordered.

"Yes!" Hatchan emerged from the water. He pointed behind himself. "Hop in my 'octopus pot' behind me."

"Oh, thank you." Nezumi politely thanked him.

"But you know every time I look at you, your face looks more and more amusing. Kinda like a mouse!" Well he was certainly right. Hatchan laughed a bit.

"Hey Hachi, watch your tongue! The Captain's our VIP!" Arlong reminded him.

"Oh, that's right. I'm sorry." Hatchan apologized.

"No, it's alright." Nezumi assured him as he and his fellow marines hopped into the pot.

"Let's go!" Hachi began swimming away.

"_All these Fishmen look so disgusting, but they've got the greens though_." Nezumi thought as he smirked.

Outside the bounds of Arlong Park a familiar face was approaching, Nami, now wearing green camisole with dark green flower shapes, tight black pants with two yellow rings on the sides and light orange high heeled sandals. She had somewhat of a serious, maybe even a bit angry look on her face as she stopped not too far away from the entrance.

"Hey you! Get out of the way!" A small boy, Chabo yelled at her. He was wearing a green beanie and an orange jacket. He also had a sword in his hands. "I'm here to kill Arlong! My dad was murdered by him!" He said, the boy was however crying even though he did put up a brave front.

Nami turned to face him. The cold look in her eyes was almost chilling…

"If you don't move, I'll kill you too!" He threatened.

Nami pulled out her three pieces of staff, stuck them together and slammed the staff onto boy's chin without hesitation. Chabo fell to the ground.

"Arlong doesn't have the time to deal with the punks like you!" She told him. Nami returned the staff under her shirt. "If you understand just get lost!" She threw a wad of bills to the ground next to Chabo. "Take that and go take care of yourself." With that she turned around.

"Damn it!" Chabo cried out.

Nami passed through the entrance and was greeted by the familiar sight.

"I told you the little human is back." Krim said maliciously. The twisted grin on his face made a small shiver go down Nami's spine.

"Don't be so rude, Krim. She is our precious cartographer." Arlong said then turned to Nami. "You sure took a while this time, Nami. How was the trip?" He asked.

"Quite productive, I've managed tons." Nami replied. "I can't believe there are so many idiots out there." She placed her hand over her chest as the amused smile got painted on her face. "Take a look yourself." She said as she lifted and then tapped the bag.

"Shahahaha! You sure are best at backstabbing others." Arlong said as he pointed his finger at her.

"Well I must admit…" She agreed with a not so good natured smile.

"Hey crew! Nami is back! Prepare to celebrate!" Arlong called his crewmates.

Numerous Fishmen emerged from the water cheering.

"It's Nami!" One of them exclaimed. "Nami's back!"

Nami grinned at this.

A bit later though, during the party she left to her own room and then found that one crewmember that wasn't at the party was right there, in her room.

"_Krim…_" She thought as she looked at his back. She now had something, or rather someone to compare him with. It was barely visible but there was something in her eyes as she thought back to Vergil.

"Your eyes aren't as cold as before. What happened? You met some demon?" Krim asked as he turned and began walking toward Nami.

Nami's eyes widened for a split second, every atom of her body was screaming for her to back away, to run back to the party but she knew she couldn't let him control her.

"Did you perhaps…" He whispered and then grabbed her neck. He lifted her up a bit. "Bond with that demon?" His voice was threatening, he didn't know why but as he touched her skin he could swear he felt electricity tickle at his skin, it was making him nervous, almost as if hurting the human girl in front of him would in fact make things bad for him. No, he was fraid, afraid because of the call he got.

-Flashback-

Krim was in his room when the Den Den Mushi rang.

"Yes?" He answered.

"Krim." The voice on the other side made his blood run cold.

"Kaltag-sama! I apologize for my rudeness I didn't think it was you." He tried to apologize frantically.

"Pay extra attention to your surroundings, The Black Thunder has escaped and we have suspicions he joined a pirate crew. He should be somewhere in the East Blue." Kaltag said, he paid no mind to Krim, he just needed to make sure the documents and plans were safe.

"Yes sir." Was the only thing krim could say before Kaltag hung up.

-Flashback ends-

"Tell me if you met any demons or I'm killing everyone in that fucking village of yours!" Krim threatened fiercely.

"I did. Just briefly though. I wouldn't go and steal from a crew that has a demon. I know how you deal with humans…" She replied, she tried to keep her emotions in check.

"Describe that demon, now." Krim demanded.

"Let go, then I'll tell you." Nami said.

"Objects don't have right to disobey their master." Krim hissed as he tightened his grip on her neck and lifted her up a bit more. He wanted to do more, to hurt her more but the fear that crawled underneath his skin was too much for him to ignore.

"Yellow eyes, male, late forties, dark blue hair, average built. Dressed in plain clothing…" Nami breathed out, she obviously lied about everything but eyes, for what reason she didn't know. Maybe a part of her feared that Krim would go after Vergil, maybe…

"Nothing specific, like scar or something?" Krim asked.

"No, not that I've seen." Nami said and he dropped her to the floor.

"If I find out that you are lying, you know what'll happen." He said and walked out of the room.

Nami managed to sit up and leaned against the wall. "_Please, don't come after me…_" She prayed.

"_So it wasn't that one_." Krim thought as he returned to the party.

"Did she tell you?" Arlong asked.

"You know she had to. We don't have anything to worry about." Krim assured the Fishman.

* * *

_**That's it the first chapter of Arlong Park Arc and finally the introduction of Krim. I am aware that Arlong overturned more than 20 villages but with Krim there I decided to make the number a bit bigger.**_

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_**Next Chapter – The Witch Of Cocoyashi Village **_


	44. The Witch Of Cocoyashi Village

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**blazeinferno – Thank you for the reviews. I'm glad you liked the chapters.**_

_**Guest – Thank for the reviews.**_

_**Fireblack – Thanks for the reviews, I'm happy you like it. Soon enough we'll get to that fight as well.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks for the review, happy to hear that.**_

_**alexc123 – Thanks for the reviews.**_

_**OPFan37 – Thank you for reviews. I often make a vague plan of what I want, then I switch the details around. This arc will, as I said before provide some teasers but there will also be some specifically answered points, some of the teasers though won't be that subtle… Do don't go tearing your hair out. As for Kaltag, yeah, Vergil will definitely fight him and you are right, it'll be way away from this point but it will be a fight that will have emotional weight, it will have action and it will probably top most of Vergil's battles so yeah, I'm adding more fuel to the fire of impatience right now. As for Krim, I plan on making him absolutely unlikeable especially after Nami's backstory. Either way Vergil VS Krim will be hard on Vergil as you have guessed.**_

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_**Chapter 44 – The Witch Of Cocoyashi Village**_

* * *

A boat was approaching Arlong Park and the Conomi Islands in that very boat there were two cowards and one extremely bandaged swordsman.

"W-W-We're finally here, Arlong Park!" Johnny said fearfully.

This made Zoro sit up a bit straighter so he could look at it.

"This is it? The base of the Fishman pirate, Arlong, who survived the Grand Line." Usopp gulped. "Is Nami really in there?" He asked.

"Firstly, if Nami-aneki is really here, we should be able to find the Going Merry. So shall we check if it's really anchored at this island first?" Well even though the fear was most likely speaking through Johnny it did make sense to some extent.

"W-We should." Usopp agreed.

Well Zoro didn't feel like following that kind of plan, he used his sword to support himself as he stood up. He lifted the sheathed sworn and unsheathed it a bit. "Prepare to rush in." He said.

He sweat dropped as he saw his companions reaction. "W-Why would we do that?!" They demanded as their eyes popped out and their jaws dropped down.

"You moron we don't know anything about this place!" Usopp yelled at him.

"Our opponents are Fishmen and they even have one demon!" Johnny yelled.

"We should plan everything out first!" Usopp added.

"_I swear I'm taking a page out of Vergil's book…_" Zoro thought. "The hell with planning, you two are just scared!" He scolded them.

"Exactly!" Johnny and Usopp agreed right away.

Zoro sighed and then turned around. He placed his left hand on the sword's hilt. "Sorry but I'm not doing that cowardly stuff. Luffy asked me to bring back that woman. I don't care who the opponents are but I'll definitely get her back. Let's go!" Zoro told them and the two cowards had one resort left…

They took hammers and knocked Zoro out…

-Some time later-

Usopp finally spotted Merry anchored at the shore.

"There it is I found it! It's Going Merry! But why would it be all the way over there?" Usopp asked.

Johnny was holding a map and well Zoro was tied.

"So Nami-aneki is definitely here…" Johnny confirmed.

"What's the meaning of this? Untie me!" Zoro demanded.

Usopp and Johnny simply ignored him as Johnny pointed at the map. "This part, east of Arlong park is Cocoyashi Village. But this is weird, why would she anchor so far away from the park?" Johnny wondered.

"Untie me damn it!" Zoro snapped at them.

Usopp got to him and grinned. "You've got deadly wounds all over you." He tapped Zoro's chest and made the swordsman grunt in pain. "So just sit there quietly and rest! I'll handle the rest!" Usopp assured him as he stood up confidently.

"_Why… I'm gonna kill you one of these days…! Why couldn't Vergil come with us as well?_" Zoro thought as he tried to ignore the pain.

"I'll bring that woman back!" Usopp announced and began laughing.

"Just because we aren't in the Arlong Park he takes everything in stride." Johnny commented to himself.

"_Where is Vergil when you need someone bluntly drop the truth down_…" Zoro thought as his eye twitched.

"Prepare the anchor! Head toward the Going Merry!" Usopp ordered.

"Yes!" Johnny complied.

"Yosh! Now it's time for me to name my adventure to this uncharted island. The title will be 'The great adventures of Sniper Usopp!'" Usopp said to himself and then the courage faded away as he saw three Fishmen…

He quickly ran for the cover along with Johnny.

"Is everything okay?" Johnny whispered.

Usopp pointed at the side and that did it. "Fishmen!" They both gasped in utter terror.

"Full speed ahead…" Usopp sang quietly as they sailed by the Fishmen.

"Aye Capt'!" Johnny agreed.

"Why don't we dock here?!" Zoro snapped at them angrily.

Both Usopp and Johnny reminded him to stay silent.

"Didn't you see? There were Fishmen over there! They are Arlong's men! You can't blame me!" Usopp snapped at him.

Zoro took things into his own, feet, as he kicked Usopp's face with his tied feet. "You don't have the right to be mad!"

"This area must have already been controlled by Arlong! What should we do?" Johnny asked.

"Yosh! Let's just say we couldn't get Nami back!" Usopp decided.

"Hurry up and untie me, idiot! And you really think Luffy and Vergil will let that slide?!" Zoro snapped at them, Usopp's blood ran cold.

"That's right… Vergil… I don't know which one is more scary, Arlong or Vergil…" Usopp whimpered.

All the commotion might have aided in that, but Fishmen noticed the boat.

"Never seen that ship before." The blue one said.

"Kinda suspicious…" The brownish one said.

Usopp and Johnny panicked at the sight of two Fishmen jumping into the water.

"Abandon ship!" Usopp ordered right away.

"Alright!" Johnny agreed.

"Hold on you two!" Zoro snapped at them, he wasn't scared of Fishmen but how the hell was he supposed to fight while being tied…

The two seemed to think about what to do but as Fishmen got closer the decision has been made. "Farewell!" They said as they jumped into the water and swam away.

"Hey at least untie me!" Zoro snapped after them.

Fishmen jumped into the boat and found tied Zoro with a forced grin on his face.

"What only one guy?" Blue Fishman asked.

"Maybe he just drifted here from somewhere." The brown one suggested.

"You can say so…" Zoro agreed. "_I'm going to kill him next time!_" He silently swore.

"I see… I guess the injury came from the crew of this ship torturing you." The brown one guessed.

"Yosh! Let's bring him to Arlong-san before anything else." Blue one said.

Not too far away Johnny and Usopp emerged from the water.

Usopp placed his hand over his heart. "Forgive me, Zoro… I'll inform Luffy that you were courageous to the very end." Usopp said.

"You unfortunate soul. I'll never forget you, Zoro-aniki!" Johnny cried.

Well the crying stopped as Usopp grinned. "Now let's get to the land first!" Usopp said, in a much happier tone.

"Alright!" Johnny agreed as they swam to the shore.

They climbed up and get greeted by a scene from mediocre horror movies.

"I think this place is called Gosa village." Johnny said but as they looked up their jaws dropped…

The village was wrecked, it was completely destroyed to the point of houses being left upside down. The most horrific thing were the occasional dried blood stains on the walls and sometimes on the ground.

"W-What happened to this place?" Usopp asked even though he was honestly scared of finding out the answer.

"I heard that Arlong has attacked this place a couple of weeks ago." Johnny said.

"T-The buildings are upside down and there's blood on the walls." Usopp said fearfully.

"I heard that Fishmen have the ten times the strength of a human." Johnny revealed. "Does this exemplify the power of the men who've survived the Grand Line!"

Usopp thought about it, but as he was deep in the thoughts he failed to hear the footsteps approaching them and as the previous example proved, cowards will remain cowards and go run at the sight of the danger. Johnny ran away without even warning Usopp.

"But how did the road turn out this way?" Usopp wondered.

"A monster called Mohmoo did that." A Fishman behind him answered.

"Monster? Don't tell me they have monsters too?" Usopp asked, he still wasn't aware of the danger bhind him.

"We got him from the Grand Line." Fishman revealed.

"From the Grand Line…" Usopp repeated and then noticed one small detail… "W-e…?!" He screamed as he saw the Fishman.

"You must be a friend of the guy who drifted here!" the blue Fishman tried to grab Usopp but the long nosed male ran off.

"Farewell!"

"Stop right there!" Fishman ran after him.

Behind one of the buildings Johnny wiped the sweat from his forehead and breathed out a sigh of relief. "Almost got nabbed there. Do your best. Usopp-aniki, I'll stay here and wait for Yosaku, Luffy-aniki and Vergil-aniki to arrive."

Usopp laughed confidently. "Even if you are Fishman you can't catch up to me on land! I'm used to this kind of stuff! Catch me if you can!" Usopp challenged but then got tripped by someone. He landed face first in the dirt. "What the?" He asked as he turned around and saw none other than Chabo with sword raised above his head.

"Got you, Fishman! I'll kill you now to avenge my father's death!" Chabo said much to Usopp's horror, the liar closed his eyes but the blade never touched him.

Instead a young woman with light blue hair and tanned skin stopped him by hitting him on the top of his head.

Usopp opened his eyes to see her kneeling next to the boy, she held him back. Her name was Nojiko, a tattooed female wearing a bracelet, beige sleeveless shirt, blue trousers and purple sandals. She had a pink lip-gloss.

"Don't fight the Fishmen. Have you forgotten? This village, the Gosa village was obliterated because somebody went against them." Nojiko told the boy and then took a closer look at Usopp. "What…? He looks like a Fishman but he is in fact a human. Just a tad different." She realized.

"What do you mean 'just a tad'?!" Usopp yelled at her.

"Where are you? Over here?" The same Fishman from before asked as he ran around.

"He's coming." Usopp realized.

"Fishman!" Chabo exclaimed.

"This time it's a real one." Nojiko confirmed it.

"Stand back, I, Sniper Usopp will protect you." Usopp said as he pulled out his slingshot and stood in front of the duo. "If it's just this one foe I can do something about it." Fishman was closing in on them. "Take this… Sure Kill…" He began but then he was bonked on the head by a hammer.

Nojiko handed the hammer to Chabo as Usopp fell to the ground. "Everyone's the same. I already told him not to pick a fight with Fishmen or we'll all get killed!" She scolded as she dragged Usopp's body to a safer place, then she came out and screamed.

"What's wrong?" Fishman asked.

"There's a man with a long nose!" She screamed.

"Which way did he go?" Fishman asked.

"That way!" Nojiko said as he pointed at the random way.

"That way, huh?" Fishman ran off and Nojiko went back to Usopp and Chabo.

"Hurry, let's bring him to my place." Nojiko told the boy.

-With Luffy-

Sanji had finished preparing the lunch and now he was finishing with serving it up in the plates.

"Man, it looks delicious!" Luffy said as drool dripped from the side of his mouth.

"Let me see." Yosaku said as he pushed Luffy a bit to the side. The rubber captain looked a bit annoyed at this.

Sanji took out the meat from the oven.

"Kids." Vergil commented as he leaned his back against the railing. "But, that's fine." He said with a fond grin on his face.

-Somewhere else-

A gigantic sea cow was sleeping on the bottom of the sea when it felt something. Its eyes opened and it quickly swam toward the source of the smell.

-Arlong Park-

Hachi was blowing into the fire as he cooked a big pig.

"Well this should be about ready." He said to himself and then stood up. He used his octopus mouth to let out a sound similar to that of a trumpet. "Mohmoo! Lunchtime Mohmoo!" He called.

When Mohmoo didn't show up he scratched the side of his head with three fingers. "What happened to him? He should be really hungry by now. Where did he go?" Hachi wondered.

-With Luffy-

The group of four was enjoying their meal, Luffy and Yosaku stuffed as much food as possible in their mouths while Sanji drank some wine. Vergil was casually eating a bowl of rice.

"Nothing less from Sanji-san, this is delicious!" Yosaku complimented the cooking.

"I don't care about you guys. I just want to be able to cook for Nami-san as soon as possible." Sanji admitted.

"At least he is honest." Vergil commented.

"It'll be great if we can dine together like this again." Yosaku said as Luffy bit down on his meat. "Hopefully with Nami-aneki."

"We definitely will, 'coz she's our navigator. She'll be going to the Grand Line with us." Luffy assured him and went to take the second piece of meat, however it was taken by Yosaku. "Hey, that's mine!"

"But you just had one! Let me have this one!" Yosaku argued.

"But that's still mine!" Luffy argued back.

"Just this one shouldn't be that big of a deal." Yosaku said.

"No! Give that back!" Luffy demanded.

"Have some beans." Yosaku offered as he and Luffy began running around.

"That meat is mine!" Luffy followed.

"No!"

"Give it back!"

"Have some of my beans!"

"No! Give it back!"

"Stop shaking the ship you bastards!" Sanji snapped at them as he tried to pour in the wine. "I almost wasted some fine wine there."

"What the…?" Vergil said as he looked down to see a gigantic shape underneath them. "Luffy you might want to see this." Vergil called and the rubber captain excitedly ran up to him.

Yosaku grinned and was about to bite on his meat when Luffy's hand stretched out, grabbed the meat and took it away just before Yosaku could bite it.

"What? What?" Luffy asked and then saw a shape. "It's a monster!" Luffy excitedly said.

"Where?!" Yosaku asked fearfully.

"Monster?" Sanji questioned.

"Wanna make it come to the surface?" Vergil suggested.

"Don't you dare!" Yosaku begged.

"Yeah, yeah!" Luffy happily agreed.

"Who knows maybe we can tame it and make it pull the boat. That way we could get to the Arlong Park faster." Vergil suggested. Luffy had stars in his eyes at the idea as Vergil lowered his hand down and shot electricity into the water.

"You are crazy!" Yosaku yelled at them.

"Those two are complete idiots." Sanji muttered as he for the first time began questioning just who was supposed to lead the crew he joined and who was his first mate.

-Arlong Park-

"Hurry up and open the gate! We've found a suspicious man!" The brown Fishman from before said.

The gates opened and the boat sailed in with Zoro still tied on it.

"I'll ask you one more time. What's your purpose here?" Arlong asked.

"Like I said I'm here to find a woman. You half fish bastard!" Zoro most repeated.

"Oh this low life human has got some guts." Arlong commented. "I'll let that slip by me this one time. But you are not allowed to say half fish ever again! Us Fishmen are evolved beings who can breathe under water. With that fish ability it makes us superior to humans. With merely the power we behold is a proof that we are far better than humans. You better get this in your head, the most superior beings on the earth are not humans but us, Fishmen." Arlong arrogantly spoke. "If the humans were to go against us it would be like defying the laws of nature."

"I have gotten sick and tired of your theory, Arlong!" All of a sudden Nami stepped out making Zoro's eyes widen.

"Why are you so serious, Nami? You're special." Arlong assured her.

"Special? That kind of trash?" Krim mocked.

"Now Krim I told you. She is our great cartographer. She never fails to draw the most accurate map for me." Arlong scolded him, though he made no attempt to say that he didn't agree with Krim.

Nami let the comment slide, after all she was used to verbal abuse Krim constantly put her through. Trash was probably the best she could even hope from him.

"Our brain compositions are different, so it's obvious why I can." Nami stated.

"Hey Nami! What's the meaning of this? What does he mean by 'our great cartographer'? Why are you so familiar with them? And why are you taking that demon's insults, if it was someone else you'd already beat them up." Zoro asked.

"What you guys know each other? And seemingly so well." Arlong commented.

"Don't be ridiculous! He's just another victim." Nami stated and began stepping toward Zoro. "I gained a lot of loot from them. You haven't even realized you've been deceived. You've even come here, chasing after me. You are just plain stupid." Nami said as she crouched down in front of Zoro.

"So this is your true nature?" Zoro asked. "And to think that you hated pirates and demons…"

"Surprised? Everything was an act. You'll understand better after seeing this." She stated and showed him her Arlong mark.

"_This is…_" Zoro realized.

"I am a part of this invincible crew. An officer of Arlong's crew!" She chuckled maliciously.

-With Luffy-

The sea monster got electrocuted by Vergil and finally got enraged.

The monster that had a head of a cow and body of a seal with green and white skin emerged next to the small boat, and it was rather angry, originally it was after food, but right now it was out for blood.

"A cow?" Luffy asked.

"No it's a hippo." Sanji corrected.

"A monster like that shouldn't be around here! It should be on the Grand Line!" Yosaku panicked.

"I don't care it's giving us a ride." Vergil said with a grin on his face. The monster seemed to pipe down when it saw Vergil's eyes.

"It calmed down." Sanji noticed.

"Sink down." Vergil decided to test it and the monster sunk down below the surface. "Get back up here." He said and the sea cow resurfaced again. "It's no fun…" Vergil muttered and that's when realization hit him. "Luffy you try it!" he said.

"Sink down!" Luffy ordered but the monster roared at him in defiance and even went as far as to attack Luffy.

"**Gomu Gomu no… Pistol**!" Luffy slammed his fist against its head and sent it flying away.

The dizzy monster reemerged from the water and went in for another attack.

"Stop." Vergil said and due to fear the monster stopped, it looked at the demon with tearful eyes.

"What's going on here?" Sanji asked.

"Vergil! How come it only listens to you?!" Luffy snapped at his first mate.

"Because I'm a demon. This monster could be part of that Fishman Arlong's crew and due to Krim being there it probably developed a fear of demons so now it listens to any demon." Vergil guessed then pointed at Luffy. "You are going to take his orders." He ordered.

"Shishishishi. Sink down." Luffy gave it another try and this time the sea monster sank down. "Get back here!" The rubber captain repeated and the monster obliged.

"These guys are crazy…" Yosaku said.

-With Usopp-

Usopp woke up on the floor of Nojiko's house, covered with a blanket.

"Ah? Where am I?" He wondered as he looked around.

"This is my house." Nojiko stated.

Usopp quickly turned around. "Eh?"

"Awake now?" She asked, she was casually sitting at the table while Chabo sat at the other side.

"You are the…!" He began and realized that he had no actual idea who exactly the girl in front of him was.

"I am Nojiko. I grow tangerines here." Nojiko told him, this explained why the house they were currently in was surrounded by tangerine trees.

"I remember! You are the one who hit me right? And to think that I was kind enough to try and rescue you!" Usopp complained.

Nojiko placed a cup in front of the stool next to her. "I'm the one who did the rescuing. If you were to fight a Fishman in your condition, you would have been killed." Nojiko told him.

Usopp sat down next to her.

"Outsiders don't know anything about what's going on around here, but you are a kid from Gosa, a neighbor village, aren't you? You should know well enough that you'd get killed if you fought them. More than well enough..." Nojiko said as she looked at Chabo, the boy was fighting hard not to cry.

"I know! I know but… They were the ones who killed my dad! They robbed everything, destroyed the village and killed many of its people! I'll never forgive them! No matter what happens I'll never forgive them! So, I headed for the Arlong Park, but some woman of the crew blocked me off!" He remembered how Nami hit him and began crying. "She's like some sort of witch! I want to kill her too! I'll have revenge for my dad even if it means death!" As he declared that Usopp began drinking the drink Nojiko gave him.

"Then go drop dead." Nojiko told him bluntly making Usopp create a small fountain of his coffee. "Getting yourself killed would make a 'great' revenge. But at least keep this in mind. Thanks to me and the witch at Arlong Park your life has been spared twice." Nojiko reminded him and then sat up. "Drink your tea and leave." She said and began walking away from the table.

"Hey don't you think that's too harsh for a kid?" Usopp asked.

"Kid or not if he really wants to die then why not just let him? He doesn't have enough will to live in these harsh times." Nojiko stated.

"What are you saying?" Usopp tried to stand up for the kid.

"I always look to future. I know of a child who chose to live. Who lives a lifestyle that is more painful than death. That is why I hate people who simply want to go off and die like this kid here!" She revealed.

Chabo cried at the table. "What… What should I do?" He asked making the duo turn to him. "I'll try my best to hold it in. But what should I do?"

"Your mother?" Nojiko asked.

"She's alive." Chabo answered through tears.

Nojiko smiled a bit. "She must be worried. Go back to your mom." She told him.

"Okay." He agreed.

Usopp smiled and a bit later the duo watched Chabo leave.

"Hahah. You are a really nice gal, even though you have tattoos." Usopp commented.

"Stereotype." Nojjiko simply commented. "Speaking of which I still don't know who you are."

"Oh yeah, of course. My name is Sniper Usopp! I'm looking for a girl called Nami!" Usopp told her.

"Nami?" Nojiko asked, the blue haired girl was surprised.

"Eh, you know her?" Usopp asked.

-A bit later-

"What?" Usopp shrieked. "Nami is a part of Arlong's crew?!" He exclaimed.

"Yeah, everyone knows. That kid was talking about her too. The witch like woman. Here's another surprise… This is the place where that witch was raised." Usopp turned his head toward Nojiko as she said that. The girl in question walked up to a small table that had a picture on it, it was an old picture of back when Nami was a child, she was smiling and was accompanied by Nojiko and an adult woman. "Me and Nami are foster sisters."

Usopp looked around. "This is… Nami's home…?" He thought.

"Both Nami and I were orphans. We grew up here. Though the woman who raised us died, the three of us used to live happily here in Cocoyashi village." Nojiko stated, there was a soft tone of happiness in her voice. Usopp looked down at the table and noticed a craving of a boat, navigation compass and Nami's name.

"Then you mean to tell me that Nami betrayed her mom and friends to join Arlong's crew?" Usopp guessed.

Nojiko hesitated for a moment and took a deep breath in. "Yeah, that's about right. Isn't she just the witch?"

"Damn! Now I get it… She's been deceiving us from the start! She was just after our loot! She even joined in a battle to defend my village. She even laughed as if she enjoyed herself on the ship! She even accepted Vergil!" Usopp said.

"Eh? Enjoying herself? Her?" Nojiko asked but then realized the stupidity of Usopp's last statement. "Why would she need to accept that Vergil person?" She asked.

"Ah, he is a demon." Usopp said making Nojiko's eyes widen.

"She accepted a demon?" She asked in disbelief.

"They used to bicker before I joined and even bickered from time to time after that as well. She even punched him a couple of times, but they actually got along. Vergil was actually quite protective over her." Usopp explained.

"Are you sure he is a demon. A demon who bickers with Nami, gets along with her and is as you phrased it protective over her? I find that to be impossible." Nojiko said.

"Why not? Vergil is a bit strange for a demon but he really is like that." Usopp tried to assure her.

"Even if he was I don't believe Nami would even spend time with a demon." She countered.

"She really did. You have to trust me Nojiko." Usopp pleaded.

"Fine, even if he is a demon, where is he now?" Nojiko asked, she wasn't buying the story but she was letting him talk.

"With our captain, on their way here." And then the realization him. "One of my nakama has been caught by those Fishmen… Shit… I wonder how he's doing right now…?" Usopp wondered.

-With Zoro-

Well Zoro's situation wasn't that great, he was still tied, surrounded and wounded.

"See? You're following me now? From the beginning I've only been using you. You guys aren't too shabby at fighting, you were a real useful bunch." Nami told him.

"Shahahaha! You were blindly deceived, weren't you? She can even forget the death of her mother for the sake of money. The woman's a cold blooded witch." Arlong said and that was something Nami couldn't take. Her face twisted into a utterly devastated expression. Her eyes widened and Zoro wasn't the one not to notice this… He cocked an eyebrow at her. "You shouldn't have underestimated her."

"I get the picture now…" Zoro said, Nami's eyes widened a bit more and she let out a small gasp but her expression turned normal afterwards. "I never did trust her from the beginning. I wouldn't be surprised if she was a murdered even."

"Heh, if you understand, just get lost already. You are an eyesore!" Nami told him, but even though it was barely noticeable her voice was shaking.

Zoro smirked and Nami's eyes widened but whatever Zoro was planning he was stopped when Krim **Demon Flashed** in between them and grabbed his neck.

"Was there a demon in your crew?" He asked as Zoro glared at him. Nami's eyes were wide as fear began crawling under her skin knowing Krim Zoro would die…

"And I should answer you why exactly?" Zoro refused to answer.

"There wasn't. Cut it out Krim." Nami said.

"_What is she saying?_" Zoro wondered, he was confused by Nami's lie.

"I told you an object has no right to talk so many times and yet you never listen!" Krim roared at her and went to punch her. Nami's eyes widened as Krim's fist approached her face but then…

"Purupurupurupurupuru." A Den Den Mushi rang and krim quickly dropped Zoro before rushing into the building.

"Why are you doing this? After comparing him and Vergil I doubt you'd pick that bastard over Vergil. At the very least Vergil would never attack you." Zoro asked quietly enough only for Nami to hear, she however went and punched his guts. Zoro grunted in pain.

"Mind your own business. Vergil is a capable fighter but he can't do a thing against Krim." Nami answered.

"So you are covering up his existence to protect him? How generous of you, but he and Luffy are already on the way. You'll see, he'll tear down that demon, more so if he finds out that he almost punched you." Zoro told her from the floor.

As a response Nami forcefully stepped on him. "Stop messing with me!" She yelled and then lifted Zoro up by his bandages. "If you get involved with me any further you'll die!" She told him.

"I wonder about that." Zoro simply said.

"Wonderful bandages you have there." She commented.

"I can't afford new clothes, this is substitute." Zoro replied.

She punched him again making him fall down to his knees. She then began walking away.

"Hey Nami. What are you planning with him?" Arlong asked.

"Lock him up. I'll take care of it." She stated.

"Arlong-san! Arlong-san!" The Fishman that was chasing after Usopp came in.

"What's wrong brethren?" Arlong asked.

"Forgive me, There was a long nosed guy with him, but I failed to capture him." Blue Fishman said.

Nami's eyes widened as she realized that it was Usopp. She clenched her teeth in frustration.

"_That damn Usopp. He's got himself discovered_." Zoro cursed.

"I think he fled into Cocoyashi Village, but…" Fishman said.

"Cocoyashi Village, huh? Good timing. I got some errands there. Shall I pay them a visit?" Arlong said to himself but the reason why he said that out loud was to torture Nami in a way a bit different than the one Krim used.

-With Krim-

Krim answered the Den Den Mushi as quickly as he could.

"K-Kaltag-sama. I apologize for late answer." He quickly apologized.

"So? Did that woman return?" Kaltag asked.

"Yes sir. She did meet a demon but it's not the Black Thunder. Even if she did meet him, she wouldn't be alive now would she sir?" Krim implied making Kaltag chuckle.

"Ah, I often forget how vastly different the stories about him are. The truth is in fact quite different Krim. He wouldn't kill her, if he found out what was going on, on that island, he'd go after her and kill you." Kaltag simply stated.

"But, Kaltag-sama, you would send someone to help me, wouldn't you?" Krim asked fearfully.

"I am not willing to reveal my true intentions to him, not until I'm forced to. If he comes after you try to run away. I'll be frank though, you are as good as dead from the moment he arrives at the island, of course under assumption that he does arrive." Kaltag said, his voice was rather calm.

"The human trash didn't meet him… I'll be safe, right?" Krim hoped against all hopes that the answer would be yes.

"Perhaps. The chances are that she is lying." Kaltag said.

"She can't. If she does I'll kill everyone in her village." Krim assured him.

"Not much of that matters if you die by Vergil's hands." Kaltag stated.

"Vergil? That's the Black Thunder's real name?" Krim asked.

"Ah, so slow. Why of course it's his real name. It's Leonidas Vergil to be precise." Kaltag said.

"Why would Black Thunder, I mean Leonidas Vergil even help human trash? It's beneath any demon to even look at human without disgust for their specie." Krim said.

"Well not everyone thinks like that Krim. Vergil's reasoning aside, if you do want to create an opening, make him kill someone who can't defend themselves, it doesn't matter if it's your ally or enemy as long as Vergil kills someone that he wasn't fighting it will leave a couple of moments of an opening. Strike at that moment." Kaltag said.

"If I may ask sir, you know him very well?" Krim fared to asked.

Much to his relief Kaltag laughed.

"You have no idea how well the two of us know each other. After what happened between the two of us and events that followed afterwards it's a miracle that he even trusts anyone." Kaltag said. "Now then, regardless of Vergil coming or not, hide all the evidence of our contact." He instructed.

"Yes, Kaltag-sama." Krim obeyed and Kaltag hung up.

-Unknown location-

A demon in his late twenties with neatly slicked back black hair slowly drank wine from his glass. He had an arc shaped scar going from his chin all the way up to his ear, in fact a small part of his right ear was missing. He was dressed in a royal looking blue clothing. He had just finished the conversation with another demon and was now looking at the sky.

"Just you wait Vergil, I'm going to destroy everything you hold dear as soon as you step into the Demon World, for now though, I'll see what happens with Krim." This demon was Despot of the 9th District Gavran Kaltag.

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_**That's it. Well if I'm regretting one thing about not making Vergil come with Zoro's group it's the fact that I couldn't make him flatten Usopp's ego… It's kinda strange, when I just watch it it's not that bad but when I'm actually writing it myself it makes me annoyed to be frank. Anyway as you've seen in this chapter Vergil does have a misfit side of him, while he is mostly serious he has a childish side to himself as well as seen back when he pulled Nami in the water. Since Luffy is prone to getting crazy ideas, Vergil will join in as long as the situation doesn't require him to be serious, hell as shown in this chapter he might even initiate some things.**_

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_**Next Chapter – Usopp's Death**_


	45. Usopp's Death

_**Answers on reviews:**_

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_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks for the review.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**OPFan37 – Thank you for the review. I can't say what's the reason, not yet but you could be somewhat right. You are right that there is more to it than just his sister being killed by Kaltag. I' glad you agree that Vergil's antics make sense, but there's a bit more to that as well, not just being with Straw Hats. But yeah, Robin is a prime example of their influence. Thank you for the confidence, it is greatly appreciated.**_

_**cedezbenz – No problem and thanks for the review. Sanji's departure certainly is one of the most if not the most emotional one in my opinion as well. Zoro didn't exactly have one, Usopp had a brief one, Nami's was too quick, Chopper's was more of an after departure type of emotional, Robin didn't have one either, Franky's well can someone actually take that departure for pure emotional one with what Robin did and Brook also didn't have a departure so yeah, it's not much of a competition. Sanji and Vergil's friendship won't suffer much because of that, they'll in fact have a fairly descent friendship. I do believe that Sanji would eventually come with terms if Nami was to be with someone on the crew, as long as she is happy on top of that he is infatuated with every single beautiful woman…**_

_**Guest – Thanks for the review. Soon that flashback will begin as well. Between Arlong and Krim Nami is more scared of Krim, however she hates Arlong a tad bit more.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review. I'm glad you like it.**_

_**alexc123 – Thank you for the review.**_

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_**Holy hell over 200 reviews! Thank you all very much for the support.**_

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_**Chapter 45 – Usopp's Death**_

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-Cocoyashi village-

"Hey! Arlong's coming!" One of the villagers said as he ran up to some of the villagers, among them was Genzo, the mayor of the village, a black haired man wearing a police uniform with short sleeves and pants, he also had a hat with a pinwheel on it. He had multiple scars all over his body.

"What? What's going on? We just paid the tributes." One of the villagers pointed out.

"Maybe he's here to punish me for weapon possession. Everyone hurry into your homes." Genzo told them

"Gen-san…" One of the villagers began but all the conversation was cut short when Arlong and his FIshmen approached.

"_Krim isn't with him, at least that's good_." Genzo thought as he glanced at the approaching crew from the corner of his eye.

People were hiding in their houses, most of the parents held onto their children or watched through the window as the crew passed through the village.

Genzo was alone as Arlong stood in front of him.

"Was it you? The one who has the damned weapon?" Arlong asked.

"Yes, I was." Genzo replied knowing that there was no use in lying. "I just love admiring my weapons. Is there something wrong with one of your subjects having a weapon collection?" Genzo inquired.

"Yeah, 'coz it'll be trouble. Weapons only draw in evil and violence. It's a main factor of disturbing the peace." Arlong stated.

Behind some of the houses Nojiko and shocked Usopp were watching the scene.

"He's huge! That's Arlong?!" Usopp asked. "He's no human alright!"

"Well he is a Fishman." Nojiko stated.

"Yeah." Usopp agreed, the long nosed sniper was actually clinging to the wall, from the side without a single part of his body being on the ground…

"I've got 32 villages and towns under my control. Rebels are a pain in the ass. As ruler I destroyed Gosa village as a warning. The fact that they failed to pay their tributes was an indication of rebellion." Arlong said.

"What tribute?" Usopp asked Nojiko.

"It's just as he said, it's money offered to them. Every month we have to spend our money to buy our own lives. If anyone can't afford to pay, even if it's only one, their village will be wrecked like Gosa's." Nojiko's words made Usopp gulp.

"Then that town… was turned over just because of one person?" He asked.

"That's how Arlong does things. They are racists who don't give a care about killing and toying with human lives. The worst one is the first mate, a demon. He actually tortures people before he kills them. The blood stains you've seen, most of them are his doing." Nojiko revealed making Usopp gulp.

"Understand? Low-life humans should think of nothing but ways of offering money to me. I need lots of funds! The tribute that you offer will be the very foundation of the Arlong Empire which will dominate the East Blue!" Arlong announced.

Usopp was beginning to sweat, a lot. "Arlong Empire…?" He asked. "Are they planning on dominating the entire East Blue as Fishmen Empire?" Usopp asked.

-With Krim-

Krim was in the middle of a forest quickly pacing toward a small hut with around ten or so papers in his hand, he also had a couple of maps and Den Den Mushi.

-Arlong Park-

Nami opened the doors of Zoro's cell. He opened his eyes to see her standing in front of him with a knife in her hand.

After a couple of quick slices she walked back to the doors before she turned to look at him. "Leave quickly. Before Arlong or Krim et back." She told him.

Zoro wordlessly looked at the ropes before his attention was gotten by an object that fell on the floor, his Wado Ichimonji.

-Cocoyashi village-

Arlong slammed Genzo's head against the wooden pole with enough force to break it down.

"Gen-san!" Nojiko gasped.

"It's rebellious enough by just possessing a weapon. In order to prevent any more rebels from you humans I shall kill you right here, right now." As Arlong said that many people began watching through the windows.

"Is he kidding? He just possessed a weapon? Will he kill him just for that?!" Usopp asked in disbelief while Nojiko stared horrified.

"That's so selfish!" She muttered and ran to the scene.

"How can you be so selfish, Arlong?!" Nojiko exclaimed, Arlong turned to look at her. "We've been offering tributes to you for eight years now without fail! There's no way we'd even think about rebelling is there?! Let Gen-san go!" She demanded.

At that moment people began getting out.

"She's right!" One of the villagers agreed.

"He didn't use any weapons! Please don't!" Another one pleaded.

"Let Gen-san go!" Third one said.

I said that a possession of a weapon is also a form of rebellion. Or are your thoughts otherwise?" Arlong asked them, almost daring them to say yes. "Do you want me to dig up this village?" He asked. "If anyone dares to go against us then expect nothing less than a demise of this village. I don't mind whatever you choose."

Genzo lifted his head up. "Everyone, go back inside!" He told them. "It'll be futile to fight them now! If we were to resist them with our fists, we would have done so eight years ago! But, we swore to each other, 'Let's fight with patience, for our survival!'" Genzo reminded them.

"Gen-san…" Nojiko muttered.

"But…" one of the villagers tried to complain.

Arlong lifted Genzo up higher. "That's so touching… nicely said. Of course you can be happy for being alive… Even worthless pests like you!" He tossed Genzo to the ground with enough force to make the man cough up blood.

"Gen-san!" Nojiko shouted.

"because not all living things were made equal! Shahahaha!" Arlong laughed.

"You bastard!" One of the villagers was about to act.

"No!" With that one word Genzo stopped him. "Don't fight, no matter what!"

"But, Gen-san!" Villager called out to him.

Genzo raised his hand toward them. "Everything's over if you were to die. Don't abandon the endurance we've gone through! Even if I die…" He told them.

"Nice speech." Arlong said as he lifted Genzo up once again. "Mere humans, behold!" Villagers gasped. "This person, who had a notion of rebelling us, will now endure his fate! This is a warning!" Arlong was about to slam Genzo against the ground head first.

"**Gunpowder Star**!" Out of blue Arlong was hit by an explosion that caused him to drop Genzo in a bit less deadly way.

"Huh? What happened?!" One of the Fishman asked he turned around and noticed the initiator of the explosion. He pointed toward one of the roofs. "Look over there!" Fishmen turned around. "There's someone on the roof!"

A familiar face seemed to finally get some courage. Usopp was standing bravely on the roof.

"Who the hell are you?" One of the Fishmen demanded.

"I'm the brave warrior of the sea!" He may have began bravely but then his courage faded as quickly as it appeared. "S-Sniper Usopp…" His legs trembled and his voice was extremely shaky.

"It's him!" Nojiko realized. She and everyone currently present was watching Usopp.

"Thousands of people all over the world fear me, calling me King Usopp who emerged from the hell! I shall have mercy on you if you escape now!" Usopp began lying.

"Arlong-san! That's the guy I failed to capture awhile ago!" The Fishman that was chasing after Usopp previously said.

"Thousands of people are nothing to me." Arlong said as smoke around him cleared. "I'd clobber every single one of them to death!" As smoke fully cleared it was clear to everyone that Arlong was enraged but other than that he didn't have a single scratch on him.

"_He doesn't fear me and my _**Gunpowder Star**_ didn't hurt him_!" Usopp realized fearfully.

"Just a mere human! What is a low-life human like you trying to do to me?!" Arlong went and lifted the entire house Usopp was standing on.

"Arlong-san! Hold on a sec!" One of the Fishmen exclaimed.

"With Gosa also gone, our funds will clearly deplete!" Another one tried to reason with him. "It's easy to destroy these human villages but our aim is domination!" He reminded Arlong while Usopp tried to hold onto the house.

"Destroy then rebuild! We are the most superior of all creatures!" Arlong yelled and slammed the house down onto another one thus completely annihilating two houses.

"it's our turn now?" One of the villagers feared.

"What about that guy?" Nojiko asked.

As if on cue Usopp emerged from the rubble. "Damn! I thought I was a goner!" He exclaimed.

"He's still alive! Get him!" One of the Fishmen ordered.

Usopp began running away and Fishmen went after him.

"I'll catch and exterminate him!" Arlong roared as two Fishmen desperately tried to hold him back.

"Forget about that guy! Else you're gonna ruin this place!" One of them told him.

"You better catch him! What does he take us for!" Arlong yelled as at least four Fishmen led him away.

"We'll be back. Aren't you guys fortunate?" Kuroobi said as he followed Arlong and other Fishmen.

Dr. Nako helped Genzo stand up as they watched Fishmen leave.

A bit later Nako was tending to Genzo's wounds.

"Sorry for troubling all of you." Genzo said to everyone that was currently surrounding him.

"What are you babbling about? It's not your fault." Nako assured him.

"Right! But who was the lad just now?" One of the villagers asked.

"Everyone! Long time no see…" They heard Nami's voice, they turned their attention to the orange haired girl that was walking down the road toward them. She was carrying a bouquet of flowers.

"Nami/Na-chan!" Villagers acknowledged but then left for their homes.

The only ones left were Nojiko, Nako and Genzo.

"What's wrong? It's rare for you to use the main road." Nojiko pointed out as Nami stopped.

"I heard a big noise." She said and looked to the side, to where the rubble was. "It was Arlong, wasn't it?" She asked even though she knew the answer.

Genzo remained silent as the pinwheel kept spinning.

-A hill near the village-

Nami was sitting in front of a make shift grave.

"Another 7 million beri more…" She said.

Nojiko was leaning against one of the trees. "As usual your reputation's pretty bad." Nojiko commented.

"No surprise, I am a pirate after all. But Arlong and Krim understand me. Anything can be solved with money. Just a bit more to keep my part of the bargain. No matter what I just have to get 100 million beri and I can buy the village!" Nami said, there was a honest smile on her face.

Nojiko frowned a bit, she just couldn't afford to shake her sister's belief even though she honestly failed to see why the pirates would keep the promise…

-Arlong Park-

Fishmen were unconscious, barely even alive as Zoro sat on Arlong's seat. "She told me to escape, but the only thing I have to do lies here. I did promise Luffy that I'd get her back didn't I? Now then, what should I do? Things are getting complicated." Zoro said.

-With Luffy-

Mohmoo was pulling the boat toward Conomi Islands.

"Yahoo! We've got some speed now!" Luffy cheered.

"Luffy-aniki! Arlong Park is sighted!" Yosaku informed them.

"Here we come! Arlong Park!" Luffy said as he pumped his fist up.

Luffy ran to the end of the bowsprit. "Go! To Arlong Park!" He exclaimed as he held onto his hat. "Wait for me! Nami!"

Yosaku was slightly panicking due to the boat rocking up and down because of the speed they were going at.

Sanji grinned as wind blew at his hair. Vergil allowed himself a smirk.

-With Arlong-

Arlong was pulled by his comrades down the road and back to the Arlong Park.

He was glaring at the skies as the images of Usopp shooting him flashed in front of his eyes.

Arlong let out a shout. "Let me go! Let go of me!" He yelled and freed himself from the hold of his brethren. "Not yet? You still haven't caught that long nosed guy?!" He asked.

"Arlong? What's with all the commotion?" Krim emerged from the forest.

"Krim. A common human! Dared to challenge us Fishmen?!" Arlong said.

"Let's just go to the Arlong Park. We've got more non human problems right now." Krim said as he began walking toward the park.

"And what would those be?" Arlong asked.

"Black Thunder. There is a chance that he will come, if that human trash met him." Krim stated.

"You said she didn't." Arlong reminded him.

"Betrayal is her specialty. She could be lying." Krim explained.

"Then that demon is a shame for your specie." Arlong stated as he took the lead.

"As shameful as his actions are, he isn't someone to be taken lightly. If even Kaltag-sama is unwilling to show up in front of him… I am afraid that the rumors about him could very well be true." Krim said.

"What rumors? You always expressed fear of him yet you never explained why." Arlong inquired.

"Ten years ago he was rumored to have died when a battle ship he was on crashed into the Special Combat District, no one on that ship survived so that part is most likely a lie, however the next one is the scary part. After King Mundus' forces attacked in order to annihilate the district his Devil Arm changed and he massacred all the demons. That rumor itself is unbelievable for many reasons, first of all surviving that crash would be impossible, even if he somehow did never in the history of the demon kind did a Devil Arm change shape." Krim revealed, even the mighty Fishmen cringed at the thought of what Krim just told them.

"You said yourself that it's most likely just a rumor, a made up story, or extremely extravagated one." Arlong stated.

"If Kaltag-sama went as far as to warn me I better be careful..." Krim said, he was sweating a lot at the thought of facing someone who was supposedly that strong ten years ago.

-With Usopp-

Usopp desperately tried to escape from the bunch of Fishmen that were chasing after him.

"Damn! I can't outrun them?" he said to himself and then jumped into a bush.

Three Fishmen were left confused about the location of the man they were supposed to catch.

"Where'd he go?" One of them asked.

From somewhere in the forest a voice called out. "Anyone who thinks Usopp-sama shouldn't die yet, should raise their hands now!"

Repeatedly shadows of Usopp came out of the bushes with one of their hands raised saying 'Yes'.

"Idiot. What is he thinking?" Fishman mocked.

"You people think so too, eh? Me too!" Usopp's voice said.

Fishmen jumped onto a figure that looked like Usopp but it was just a distraction.

The real Usopp grinned as he shot at them. "Sure Kill! Edd Star!" Three eggs hit the pirates and Usopp ran by them as soon as he picked up his goggles again.

"It stinks! This sucks!" Fishman shouted.

Well it seemed like Usopp managed to get away from the Fishmen as he ran through the grass, well really tall grass.

He let out an evil kind of laugh. "How's that? Fishmen aren't that great. No matter what Sniper Usopp will always escape!" He bragged but as he bragged he almost stepped over the cliff and fell down, almost. "Crap. I wasn't aware I already reached the beach."

And that's when things went wrong again. The three Fishmen actually caught up to him.

"Come this way! We've got him!" One of them said drawing Usopp's attention to them.

They reached the cliff but Usopp was nowhere to be found. "There's nothing here." First one realized.

"Were we mistaken?" Second one asked. "That guy does run really fast."

"Let's look elsewhere." The third one said as a bird landed on a black nest…

Usopp was hiding behind the tree as his arms and legs blended with the branches and the black nest that the bird was sitting on right now, well that was his hair…

"Thank god…" Usopp thought as he cried small waterfalls.

Somewhere else Chew was also looking for Usopp, but in a bit more apprehensive way so to speak.

"I don't know." The unfortunate villager said as Chew slammed him against the rock.

"Telling lies won't do you any good." Chew stated.

And Usopp chose that exact moment to roll down from the cliff all the way to the beach, yeah, just his luck.

"Huh? What?" Usopp wondered when he saw that the villager from before was waving at him, he didn't notice Chew swimming toward him however. And he misunderstood things… "Thanks for cheering me on! As you can see I'm fine!" He assured the man as he quickly stood up and waved back.

Much to Usopp's horror Chew emerged from the water. "Perhaps a little too fine."

"That's true…" Usopp began shaking as he turned blue…

-With Zoro-

Zoro was still waiting and waiting and waiting.

"Too slow!" He complained. "When are Luffy and Vergil going to come? If they don't come in the next five minutes I'm going to die of boredom!"

"Oooh! Ooooh! Oh! This one is amazing!" He suddenly heard a voice at the other side of the wall. He also saw three fishing rods with the middle one twitching slightly. "Even I, a member of Arlong crew's elite Hachi-Hatchan can't pull it up! It must be a super great fish! I don't know from where you've come from but your gusto is East Blue's best…"

Zoro who was up until that moment having a what-an-idiot kind of face raised his eyebrows. Whatever was caught on that hook was wearing clothes, Hachi's clothes to be precise.

"Wh… What the? What? It was myself?" He fell down to the floor. "truly, my gusto is East Blue's best! Anything strange?" Hachi asked once he noticed Zoro at the top of the wall looking at him.

"Definitely strange." Zoro bluntly stated.

"Huh? Who the heck are you?" Hachi asked as he realized that he didn't know who Zoro was. He quickly switched the mood though as he pointed at himself with a confused look on his face. "Me?" He questioned. Zoro just watched as the Fishman posed. "I'm Hatchan. Call me Hachi."

"Are you a Fishman too?" Zoro asked.

"Of course! Of course!" His arms began wiggling. "I'm a charming octopus Fishman. Do I look like a human?"

"I guess not." Zoro replied.

"Are you with the Marines, or just a guest?" Hachi asked.

"Guest?" Green haired swordsman repeated. He turned to glance at the unconscious Fishman he defeated. "Yeah, I'm a guest."

"But you know Arlong-san's not here right now, right?" Hachi told him.

"Yeah, where'd he go?" Zoro questioned.

"I heard that there was a long nosed stranger that was trying to run away. They say another one was caught and held here though. He went to Cocoyahi village to catch him." Hachi told him.

"Usopp, huh?" Zoro muttered to himself. "_I guess I'd better go save him_." He decided. "That Cocoyashi village, how do I get there?" He finally asked as he jumped down to where Hachi was.

"Get in." Hachi simply said as he pointed at the pot in the water. "Guest right? I'll take you there, swordsman-san."

-A bit later-

Arlong, Krim and the crew finally returned to Arlong Park and got greeted by the sight of beaten Fishmen.

"What's happened here?!" Arlong demanded as he went to one of the Fishmen. "What exactly? My brethren!" As cruel as Arlong was he honestly did care about his crew.

"Roronoa…" The Fishman in Arlong's arms managed to say.

"What? What did you just say?" Arlong asked as he pulled the pirate a bit closer.

"Roronoa Zoro…" He repeated.

Arlong's eyes widened. "What? The Pirate Hunter? He's come for my head, huh?" Arlong asked.

"No… He didn't 'come'… That guy… turned out to be Zoro…" Fishman revealed but he was having more and more trouble with speaking.

"What?!" Arlong exclaimed, to say that he was surprised would be an understatement.

"That man we've caught before. He is Roronoa?" Krim asked making the Fishman nod before he lost consciousness.

Krim turned to the gates to see Chew come in dragging Usopp by his nose.

"Chu. I caught him, Arlong-san." Chew stated but then his eyes widened as he saw the scene in front of him. "W-What's… all this?"

"Took you long enough, Chew." Arlong said.

Usopp opened his eyes. "Don't tell me… Zoro…" Usopp realized as Arlong angrily glared at him.

-With Zoro-

"We've arrived." Hachi said as he and Zoro reached the shore. Zoro stepped out of the pot. "Cocoyashi village. Along-san should be here in this village."

"Yeah, thanks." Zoro thanked him.

"Don't mention it, later." Hachi said and jumped back into the water. He began leaving but then remembered something important. "Oh! I didn't ask you your name." Zoro's eyes widened at that. "Me? You want to hear my name again? It's Hatchan. Come again." Hachi said as he bid good bye to Zoro.

Zoro grinned a bit. "Strange guy…" With that he ran off to the Cocoyashi village.

-Arlong Park-

Chew dropped Usopp down in front of Arlong.

"This puny thing won't even fill half of my stomach!" Arlong hissed as he stepped on Usopp.

"You're right! So let me go! That was just a greeting. In my village that's the common way… to greet people." Usopp tried to get on his good side. He laughed uncomfortably but then went blue when Arlong stab bed a knife under his nose…

"But you are one of Zoro's group members, right?" Arlong inquired. He slowly brought the knife closer to Usopp's nose. "Well… It's normal to be targeted by bounty hunter." He stated.

As he said that Kuroobi checked the cell they were holding Zoro in and found that the ropes were cut off.

"Save me! I'm not connected to that Zoro!" Usopp lied.

"Chu! Stop telling such pointless lies." Chew told him. "You attacked Arlong-san didn't you? Either way there's no saving you."

"Oy! What are you insinuating! Me and Zoro are buddi… Buddies! That means if you lay a finger on me Zoro won't stand for it!" Usopp quickly changed the story.

"Oh? So you are saying if you are killed Zoro will come?" Arlong inquired.

Usopp's nose rolled in as he cried waterfalls. "No that isn't right! Killing me is definitely bad. If you keep me alive Zoro will appear. If you don't keep me alive Zoro won't come." Fishmen sweat dropped at Usopp's attempts to persuade them.

"And how will he know if you are alive or dead?" Krim asked. "I would personally love to kill you, just for the thrill of it. You do seem like someone who'd scream a lot." Krim said as he crouched down in front of Usopp with a rather sadistic smirk on his face. "I've had a lot of stress lately with all the Black Thunder stuff killing you will probably help me get rid of some of it."

"B-Black Thunder? He - He's my best buddy!" Usopp tried to lie.

"Is that so? Black Thunder is a heartless killer who is responsible for countless deaths all over the Demon World. If he was in any way associated with you I'd be the Demon King!" Krim said making Usopp's eyes widen in horror, unknowingly to Usopp, Krim did feel nervous about killing him now.

"But how did Zoro… get out of the prison?" Kuroobi returned with the ruined ropes in his hands.

"What are you saying?" Arlong asked.

"I'm saying someone helped him escape. Arlong-san, isn't it possible to think. In order to get your head, Nami invited Zoro?" Kuroobi suggested.

"She could do that. She did try to interfere between the two of us. Black Thunder and her? The more I think about it the more I find it unbelievable. There is no way that trash would bring a demon like that here, it would endanger everyone on the island and she would never trust a demon. Zoro and her? I can see that." Krim reasoned.

"Could it be that from the start, along with Zoro she planned on deceiving us?" One of the Fishman asked.

Unknowingly to them Nami was hiding behind the wall, listening to them, well she honestly was surprised to hear that Krim had suspicions that she was with Black Thunder. "_Ridiculous, if it's someone Krim fears then he is even more of a monster. I'd never even try to contact that kind of demon_." Nami thought to herself.

"Betrayal is that woman's forte." Kuroobi stated.

"That's enough." Nami revealed herpresence to them.

"Well if it isn't the trash itself." Krim commented. Fishmen turned to her and Arlong stood up.

"Don't end the matter by simply jumping into conclusion." Nami stated.

"Nami?" Usopp muttered.

"_So he does know her…_" Krim thought as he heard Usopp saying her name.

"Watch your mouth. I'm a traitor?" She boldly pushed Kuroobi aside and walked straight to Arlong and Krim. "It's been eight years since I joined this crew." She touched her tattoo. "I swore on this tattoo."

"Hm. Sorry. Sorry. Nami, it's only natural that you would be angry. But don't worry I never suspected you at all. Krim made a good point, you'd never contact a demon, not with how well Krim treated you." Arlong said. Nami's face was void of any and all emotions. "You and I have known each other for eight years. We just got a little worked up, isn't that right? Nami?" Arlong placed his hands on Nami's shoulders. "The one who should be killed is Roronoa Zoro and his partners." Arlong's gaze turned to terrified and crying Usopp.

"Hey, Nami… Say something! Nami!" Usopp pleaded, unknowingly he was making things harder for Nami herself and not just for her situation.

Nami closed her eyes. "Damn Zoro. He went overboard." She thought.

Arlong removed his hands off her shoulders.

"What's wrong Nami? You look a bit pale." Kuroobi noticed as he walked up to her. He stopped for a moment then went to Usopp. "Long nose here, even you can't save him." Usopp gulped as Kuroobi pulled the knife out of the ground. "Because he attacked Arlong-san."

"How far? How far do you intend to go on suspecting me?" Nami demanded, her voice showed signs of anger.

"It's because you are too intelligent." Kuroobi simply replied.

"The amount I promised Arlong will soon be ready. Why would I betray you now?!" nami exclaimed.

"The promised amount?" Usopp repeated.

"I know." Kuroobi said as he placed the knife next to Usopp's nose and tapped it a couple of times as the long nosed sniper went blue again. "The promise from eight years ago to buy Cocoyashi Village from Arlong-san for 100 million beri. But I just don't understand." Usopp began sweating even more. "betray the villagers, your family. You would do anything for money. Why are you so concerned with Cocoyashi Village? Why for such a puny village?" Kuroobi asked.

Nami frowned but decided not to say anything.

"Actually, I found this in your room." Nami's eyes widened and she gasped as Kuroobi showed her a rolled paper, one that she recognized right away. The paper unrolled and revealed a map.

"Th- That's… mine!" She said but her voice was shaking.

"Give it to me Kuroobi." Krim demanded and the Fishman had to comply to the order. Nami's eyes widened even more as Krim smirked.

-With Zoro-

Zoro slammed his palm against the wall thus terrifying the villager in front of him.

"What was that? Usopp got caught?" Zoro asked.

"He was just taken to the Arlong Park." The villager told him.

"That man was brave enough to stand up against Arlong!" Another one said. "I'm sure he's been killed already."

"_Shit! In other words he was caught while I was killing time._" Zoro realized as he remembered how he fought against the Fishmen. He clenched his fist and rushed off. "_Usopp! Stay alive!_"

-Arlong Park-

Hachi was swimming back to the park.

"Isn't this a treasure map?" Krim asked.

Underwater gates opened. "I suppose. Cocoyashi Village seems to be marked." Kuroobi replied.

"Treasure in Cocoyashi Village?" One of the Fishmen asked.

"That map is one of my personal belongings. It has nothing to with you at all!" Nami raised her voice and it was something that angered Krim, again.

"Don't you dare raise your voice at me, human trash." He hissed at her and slapped her hand away as she tried to reach out for the map.

"W-What is this?!" Hachi shouted as he saw the unconscious or maybe even dead Fishman floating in the water in front of him. "What exactly happened here?"

"It's the work of Pirate Hunter Zoro. More over where did you go, Hachi? If you had been here this wouldn't have happened." Arlong asked.

"Of course! If I had been here such a thing wouldn't have happened! This is beyond forgiveness!" Well when someone like Hachi got angry it was kind of hard to take him seriously…

"So in other words you don't know where Zoro disappeared to?" Kuroobi asked.

Hachi was huffing but then got a thoughtful expression. "Huh? If you mean someone I saw… I did see a kind of a weird swordsman alone." He remembered Zoro and the realization hit him. "It was him?!"

The Fishman face faulted.

"So you did see him you idiot!" Kuroobi scolded him.

"So? Where did Zoro go?" One of the Fishman asked.

"Since he said he wanted to see Arlong-san I took him to Cocoyashi Village." While they were talking Zoro kept running toward the building.

"That means there's nothing to get worked up about. He is also searching for me." Arlong relaxed a bit, but he did have a sinister look on his face.

"Well, he said he was Arlong-san's guest. I didn't think Arlong-san would come back so quickly." Hachi said.

Usopp seemed to be forgotten n all the mess. "Zoro is… That means if I can just buy myself some more time!" He reached out for his slingshot and while most of the individuals present at the moment didn't see it Nami certainly did.

She swiftly turned to Usopp. "Why are they interfering?! Everything was going to be resolved soon!" She thought as she rushed at Usopp who was about to fire. She took out her staff and slammed it against Usopp's face. "Really soon!" A couple of tears fell from her eyes as Usopp fell to the ground.

Usopp sat up as Fishmen and Krim watched Nami. "You… Wanna fight?" Usopp asked.

"You are an obstacle." She raised her head to reveal a cold hearted, emotionless expression. "It's your fault. For having attacked Arlong." She stated.

Usopp spat out blood and stood up. "Nami, you really disappoint me! Luffy didn't doubt you one bit, even after you stole the ship! Even now he trusts you completely! How can you so calmly deceive someone like him?!" Usopp demanded.

"The only thing I trust is money. He's an idiot for being fooled." Nami stated.

"What was that?!" Usopp snapped at her angrily.

Nami closed her eyes. "The deal was supposed to have worked out perfectly without anyone's involvement." Nami dropped her staff and took the knife from Kuroobi. "I can't let you ruin my eight years of business. So I will at least let you…" She rose the knife up. "Die by my hands."

"Heh. In the little time I haven't seen you, you've become quite a pirate." Arlong commented.

"Kill?" Usopp repeated then burst out laughing. "You… Me… Don't make me laugh."

Nami lifted her head up a bit to reveal an expression that would send chills down pretty much anyone's spine. "You better not… Underestimate me." Usopp realized that she was dead serious.

"_Damn…_" He reached out for his bag. "_There's no 100% way of escaping from here._" He pulled out a small grayish ball. "**Sure Kill! Smoke Star**!" The smoke engulfed the area stopping Fishmen from seeing him.

"Damn it's smoke! Don't let him escape!" Fishman exclaimed.

"Right now!" Usopp began running off but Nami stepped in his way.

"_Let's see now_." Krim thought as he watched the scene.

"This is the kind of thing only you would think up." Nami said and stabbed the knife into Usopp's guts.

"_So that's how it is._" Krim thought.

* * *

_**That's it. I am a bit late with this chapter but what can I say, it was a busy day yesterday.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – The Truth About Nami**_


	46. The Truth About Nami

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**20th Cboys fan – Thanks for the review, I suppose you could be right.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review.**_

**_ShirayukiHime. SnowIce_**_**– Thank you for the review. First one is in this chapter but the second one will take a bit more to get to.**_

_**OPFan37 – Thank you for the review. I think the climax of this arc has been anticipated even before it started for some readers, I suppose it's the most anticipated event of the story so far. I agree about what you said about Zoro and Usopp missing each other and Nami's ambition. Also no problem I understand completely.**_

_**Guest – Thank you.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 46 – The Truth About Nami**_

* * *

"Right now!" Usopp began running off but Nami stepped in his way.

"_Let's see now_." Krim thought as he watched the scene.

"This is the kind of thing only you would think up." Nami said and stabbed the knife into Usopp's guts.

"_So that's how it is_." Krim thought.

Usopp's eyes widened. "Stop it…"

Arlong's crew, with the exceptions being Krim and Arlong all stared in shock.

"For my business." Nami said.

Arlong let out a chuckle.

"This is the only thing I can do." She said.

Usopp looked at his bloody hand. "Nami… You…" He muttered.

Nami pulled out a knife and blood splattered on her arms. "Just die quietly."

Usopp took a couple of steps forward and fell into the water.

"Great! You avenged us!" Fishmen cheered.

"Truly a member of the Arlong crew!" One of the Fishmen said.

Outside the walls Johnny was watching through one of the openings, he was crying. "Usopp-aniki, has been killed, by Nami-aneki…!"

Nami watched the now bloody water and Usopp's sinking body. "It was your wish… to die at the sea."

Kuroobi walked up to her. "Nami, I'm sorry for suspecting you. You truly are our comrade." He said and offered his hand to Nami as an apology.

"Comrade? I don't have any comrades." She said and gave him the knife back. "The only reason I joined this crew is to buy Cocoyashi Village." She told them as she walked up to Krim.

"Follow me." Krim ordered, Nami's confidence faded away for a moment but she had to follow him.

"Keep your promise. The 100 million beri will soon come." She said to Arlong as she followed Krim into the building.

"Of course. I would rather kill myself than break a promise over money. That's the kind of man I am." Arlong assured her.

"Just like Arlong. You understand." Nami said as she entered the building after Krim.

"Eerie woman." Kuroobi commented as he stared at the bloody knife.

"Shahahahaha! She's become a really good woman! Shahaha!" Arlong laughed.

"Witch…" Johnny muttered as he sat on the ground still trying to comprehend with exactly what happened. "That woman's a witch!" He ran away as quickly as he could.

-With Nami-

Nami followed Krim into her cartography room.

"The map. Give it back." She demanded.

Krim glanced at her left hand and then at her. "You think you fooled everyone, huh?" He asked, before Nami could do anything he grabbed her throat and began choking her. "You've been acting a bit too rebellious lately, as soon as I make sure that none of the damned pirates that came because of you is Black Thunder I'm going to remind you what exactly your place is." Krim breathed out he slammed her body against the wall with enough force to make a couple of maps that were stuck on it fall off. He then let go of her and left the room.

Nami found it hard to breath normally again as she massaged her neck, with the way it hurt she knew it would leave a bruise for some time, not for too long but it will be there…

-With Luffy-

The remaining Straw Hats were approaching Arlong Park.

"Wooho! I can see it! Arlong Park!" Luffy exclaimed.

Mohmoo was however feeling dizzy.

"Hey! Don't get tired, you bull!" Luffy scolded it. But all the scolding wouldn't help, Mohmoo began swimming to his right. "hey! That's wrong! More to the left! That's Arlong base over there!"

Mohmoo kept swimming further and further away from the park and eventually began approaching a gigantic rock…

Luffy grinned while Sanji and Yosaku looked a bit, or in Yosaku's case hell of a lot, horrified.

-With Nami-

With her pain getting numb Nami looked at the room and then at the now blood stained map.

"Finally, I've come to this point. For eight years I've endured." She remembered back when Arlong first led her to this very room.

-Flashback-

"Come. From today onwards, this is your room. Your deck, your pen. Everything you need is here." The look on Nami's face was emotionless…

-Flashback ends-

Nami gripped her bandaged hand. "I've endured for so long. There's only one thing left to do." It was clear that she was fighting back the tears when she felt something fairly similar to an earthquake.

-With Luffy-

The boat erupted from a large water stream and began flying. Luffy normally didn't pay much mind to it while Yosaku and Sanji held for their lives. Vergil on the other hand broke down in cold sweat, Sanji and Yosaku may have been scared but Vergil was having a slight panic attack

"It's just like flying in the sky!" Luffy said.

"It's not 'like'!" Yosaku yelled.

"We are REALLY flying, you…!" Sanji snapped at him.

Yosaku panicked. "We are falling!"

Explosion flashed in front of Vergil's eyes and he closed them and shook his head as he tried to erase the images.

The boat landed and was now skidding across the ground.

Zoro stopped running and turned to look at what was creating the noise.

"Landing complete!" Luffy happily said. Then he saw the green haired swordsman. "Yo! Zoro!" He greeted happily.

But Zoro had no time to react as the boat smashed into him…

As if on cue they reached some fields and then crashed into the road, the food spilled around, boat was destroyed and the crew was, fine.

"We've arrived, we've arrived." Luffy said as he dusted off his straw hat.

"You bastards… What the hell do you think you are doing?" Zoro demanded as he emerged from the ruble.

Vergil let out a long sigh as he calmed down. "_I'll really have to do something about this…_" He thought.

"What do you mean? We've come to take Nami back." Luffy said, oblivious to the actually question. "Still haven't found her?" There was a short silence before Luffy remembered something else. "Oh yeah, where are Usopp and Johnny?"

That also got Zoro to remember exactly what was going on. "Usopp? That right! This isn't time to be idling around!"

"What happened?" Luffy asked as Zoro began running off again.

"That guy was caught by Arlong. If we don't hurry he'll be killed." Zoro revealed.

"He's dead." Johnny said as he reached them. Hiswords made everyone else look at him.

"What?" Zoro asked.

"Who killed him?" Vergil demanded an answer.

Johnny fell to his knees, panting heavily. "It's too late. Usopp-aniki was killed… by Nami-aneki!" Johnny revealed.

Zoro's eyes widened in shock. Yosaku looked pretty much the same while Sanji and Luffy looked surprised. Vergil however let out a sigh of relief.

-With Nami-

Nami was watching through the window, her gaze was clearly directed to the place where Luffy and others crashed.

-At the beach-

A man walked down the beach with a rugged cloak around his body. "Am I… A ghost?" He wondered.

-Back with the crew-

"Is that truth?!" Yosaku asked.

"Yeah, it's horrible." Johnny said, he was still crying. "That woman's a witch!"

"And what do you know about her?" Vergil cut him off.

"Vergil-aniki… You don't have to trust me but she killed Usopp-aniki! I've seen it with my eyes!" Johnny exclaimed.

"She didn't. I don't care what you saw, Princess would never kill Usopp. Furthermore if you were able to see it, why didn't you help him?" Vergil inquired, Johnny looked away ashamed. "Thought so."

"Luffy-aniki, there is a chance…" Yosaku began.

"There's no way Nami would kill Usopp! We are nakama!" Luffy declared.

"Who's nakama, Luffy?" Their attention was turned to Nami who was said as she at the other side of the row the boat created.

"Nami!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Why did you come?" She asked.

"What are you talking about? You are my nakama. I came to get you." Luffy told her.

"How annoying." The orange haired girl simply stated.

"Nami?" Luffy questioned.

"Nakama? Don't make me laugh. You are more like a pathetic group of cooperators, don't you think?" Nami stated, her eyes were still void of any emotion.

"Why you?! I saw it with my own eyes!" Johnny said as he ran in front of Luffy. "How? How dare you kill Usopp-aniki?!" He demanded to know. He was unaware of annoyed and kinda angry glare Vergil was sending him

"And your point is? You wanna try killing me to avenge him?" Nami challenged, she had a smile on her face, although it was anything but a kind smile.

Johnny backed away a bit. "What?" He asked.

"I'll tell you one thing. Right now Arlong want to kill 'Roronoa Zoro and his posse'. All because zoro went and did something stupid. You guys may have these monster-like powers, but you are no match for real monsters. Hang around this island long enough, and you guys will be killed for sure." Nami stated. "Well… it doesn't concern me though."

Zoro was frowning but Sanji looked love struck…

"Her cool look is still so charming." Sanji said lovingly. "Hi! Nami-san! It's me! It's me! Do you remember me?" Sanji asked as he began waving his hands around. "Let's go on a cruise together!"

"You stay out of this! You'll just complicate things!" Zoro snapped at him.

"What did you say?" Sanji asked him. "Love is always a hurricane!" Well even as Sanji said that Zoro pretty much ignored him. "Hey! Listen to me when I'm talking!"

Zoro was about to speak but Vergil raised his hand.

"Let me handle this." Vergil told him and step forward. "Say, Princess. If it doesn't concern you why are you telling this to us. As Arlong's crew member shouldn't you help him capture us?" Vergil inquired.

"I already killed Usopp. I have no need to contribute to Arlong any futher do I?" Nami replied with a question of her own making Zoro growl, however he remained in place as he figured Vergil would act if necessary.

"You did? I doubt it Princess, but I suppose we can continue this talk under assumption that you did kill Usopp. Why lie to me that the enemy would be Black Thunder?" Vergil asked.

"Why not? I needed a way to scare you away in case you stubbornly decided to follow me." So far Nami was keeping her cool.

"Is that so? I was under assumption from our conversations that you were trying to get us away from here so we wouldn't get killed." Vergil stated.

On the outside Nami may have looked calm but on the inside she was cursing the way he was talking to her right now.

"It was an act." Nami stated.

"Have you at that point considered that maybe I am Black Thunder?" Well this question surprised her a bit.

"A demon like you can't be Black Thunder." Nami said. "_You are too… good_." She finished inwardly.

"Well fine Princess, whatever you say." Vergil said and began walking toward Nami.

For some reason Nami felt a need to compare the feeling she had now with the one she had when Krim was walking up to her, it felt way too different. With Krim she wanted to run as far away, with Vergil… She hated to admit it but she wanted to step forward…

As for Vergil, well on the inside he was raging, he got close enough to her and now he felt a need to tear something in half…

"Krim did that to you, didn't he?" Vergil asked as he looked at her neck. There was a faint mark of Krim strangling her, from the distance it wasn't visible, but this close, he could see it…

Nami's eyes widened and she lowered her head down, trying to cover the mark.

"Princess… I told you didn't I? I will protect you, just trust me… Trust us…" Vergil almost pleaded her to stop being so stubborn. The crew and two bounty hunters watched silently. Sanji was focusing on Vergil's eyes, then and there he saw that the demon was being honest.

"I killed Usopp and you still say that?" She asked, she finally let some anger into her voice.

"I know you didn't. So you can stop lying, it's Usopp's job." Vergil said with a small barely noticeable grin.

"You don't know anything about what's going on this island. Just leave." She demanded.

"I don't care about what's going on on this island, all I care about is what's going on with you. If someone is hurting you, like that bastard is, I'm going to kill him." Vergil said.

She paused for a moment and closed her eyes, once she opened them again she continued the act. "You still don't get it? The only reason I got close to you guys is for the money, nothing else. Now that you guys have nothing you are of no use to me. I'll return the ship. Why don't you go find a navigator and head to the Grand Line. Go find One Piece or whatever. Just get the hell out of here! You are an eyesore!" She told all of them. "Farewell." She said at that moment Luffy's eyes widened a bit.

As the silence took place Luffy closed his eyes and fell down onto his back surprising everyone.

"Luffy-aniki?" Johnny questioned.

"I'm going to sleep." Luffy stated as he placed his arms under his head as a makeshift pillow.

"Sleep?" Johnny repeated.

"Right now? In the middle of the road?" Yosaku asked.

"I don't feel like leaving the island… I don't care what's happening here… I'm a bit sleepy… So I'm sleeping." Luffy stated.

"Big bro…" Johnny muttered.

Zoro face palmed.

Nami clenched her fist. "Then… DO WHATEVER YOU WANT! GO AHEAD AND DIE!" Nami screamed at them and ran off.

Sanji's eyes widened and he was about to say something, he didn't though.

Vergil clenched his fists as he looked up. "_Krim… From the moment I've set foot on this island, your death has been unavoidable._" Vergil thought.

-With Nojiko-

Nojiko was pulled by Chabo through the forest.

"Hurry, hurry!" Chabo urged her.

"What's the big deal?" Nojiko asked.

"The marines… The marines are here! The survivors of the Gosa village successfully got in contact with government. The marines are here to rescue us!" He told her, at the shore many people were looking at the sea, or more precisely at the approaching marine ship. "You see? We are going to be saved! We can finally leave this island!" The boy was smiling, there was no question about the hope he had but he didn't understand the situation…

Nojiko on the other hand did, but a small part of her still wanted to believe in miracles…

-With the marines-

"So that's the Arlong Park I heard about from rumors. You know it's the end of the world when pirates settle down like that. Listen men! Our duty today is to rescue survivors from Gosa Village, which has been destroyed by Arlong and his crew! But I think! That our duty to justice does not allow us to pretend as if we didn't see this grounded pirate castle. Does it?" Marine Commodore, Purinpurin asked the marine branch he was leadng.

"No sir!" Marines replied as they saluted to him.

"We shall eliminate Arlong and his crew! Prepare to attack!" Purinpurin ordered.

"Yes sir!" Came an obedient reply from the marines.

-Arlong Park-

Arlong and Krim were just informed of the marine ship approaching them,

"Marines from the 77th fleet?" Arlong asked.

"Yeah, that's what it says." Chew confirmed.

"That's a new face, someone go negotiate with the person in charge and tell them not to make an unexpected moves. If they don't settle for two million beri erase them." Arlong ordered.

Just a couple of moments after he said that the marines fired the cannon.

"They already attacked!" One of the Fishman realized as the cannon ball went toward Arlong's open jaw.

"Arlong-san watch out!" Another one warned him but Arlong simply bit the cannon ball and shattered it into pieces. It exploded but Arlong was left unharmed the only visible signs of what happened were the smoke coming from his mouth and the small peces of the cannon ball still in his mouth.

"He chewed up the cannon ball." One of the Fishman said in awe.

"That's a scary set of teeth." Another one added.

"Arlong-san, about the negotiations?" Kuroobi reminded.

Arlong spat out the remains of the cannon ball. "No negotiations." He said the Fishmen began cheering.

"All right! Let's go!" "Attack!" "Down with the marines!" The FIshmen cheered.

"Wait." Krim said making them all stop. "Arlong, I'll go. Since I didn't get to kill anyone in a while I'd like t get myself some fresh blood." Krim said as he stood up.

"Go right ahead. Hachi, go with him and follow the plan." Arlong ordered.

The demon and Fishman quickly left the scene.

"That ship won't last three minutes." One of the Fishman said.

"Well Krim-san likes to take time." Another one added.

-With the marines-

"How strange." Purinpurin commented.

"Sir, the cannon bomb seems to be a dud!" Marine reported.

"One more time! This is to signal battle! Our enemies are Fishmen so don't let your guard down!" Purinpurin ordered.

"Yes sir!" Marines exclaimed.

Underwater however a huge water drill destroyed the rudder.

"As expected of Krim-san!" Hachi praised.

"Fishmen might be good under water but water demons are one with the water itself." Krim said, one of the special attributes of the water demons was the ability to breathe under water and to extent that varied from demon to demon control the water. "Remember the plan Hachi, but let me enjoy myself a bit. I'm going to make some bloodshed up there." Krim said.

"Nyu… Is that really necessary?" Hachi asked, now he knew better than to question Krim but he personally didn't like the way Krim dealt with his enemies as much as he disliked humans he didn't particularly like all the blood that Krim was spilling.

"Don't make me get a bit of your blood as well, Hachi." Krim warned him with a sinister grin on his face.

_**(Next part gets brutal so skip it if you don't like those scenes, I'll keep giving this warning whenever a scene of this sort comes up. The next author note marks the ending of brutal part)**_

Marines honestly didn't know what hit them as Krim emerged from the water and landed on the board.

Blood emerged from the cuts on his knuckles and transformed into two sharp as sword blades. He looked around and saw Purinpurin, before the man could even react Krim Demon Flashed and cut into his neck, enough to damage his windpipe but not enough to kill him. Purinpurin gasped for breath as he tried to stop the bleeding.

"Commodore!" Marines exclaimed, but the man could utter no word whatsoever.

"I don't know how much time Hachi will give me so I'll get the best out of this." Krim said as he turned to the marines who drew their weapons.

"Stop right there! Surrender!" Marine demanded.

"Humans… So stupid…" Krim said as he rushed toward them, he cut the two of them in half and then the bloody blades dethatched from his body. Two blades transformed into boomerang like weapons and Krim threw them at the marines. The difference between these boomerangs and normal ones was the fact that they were sharp and capable of cutting through flesh.

As boomerangs massacred the marines Krim avoided a bullet and punched the marine that dare to attack him with enough force to send him overboard. The Boomerangs returned to Krim and blood retracted into his body, now with blood covering the deck of the marine ship and about half of the marines bleeding from the deadly injuries Krim smirked.

Under the water Hachi pushed a gigantic rock.

"**Heart Splatter**." Krim muttered as the wounds from the injured marines began boiling and they felt their own blood kill them as the pumping of the blood became too fast and their hearts gave in to a heart attack.

The remaining marines took a step back out of pure fear as Krim knelt down and the blood on the deck began seeping into his cuts.

In front of the ship, much to the demise of the marines appeared a whirlpool that Hachi created by moving the rock.

Krim jumped off of the ship and into the water as remaining marines drowned.

_**(Brutal part ends here)**_

-At the coast-

The villagers watched as their seemingly last hope perished.

Chabo fell to his knees. "It can't be…" The only thing that was left of the ship were a couple of wreckages, number 77 and a blood stain in the ocean that would sooner or later perish.

"This is reality. We can't escape from Arlong's reign." Nojiko stated.

-Arlong Park-

Krim and Hachi returned to the Arlong Park,

"Thanks for the hard work." Arlong said.

"It was my pleasure, with this much blood at my disposal not even Black Thunder will stand a chance." Krim said confidently , after all, all he needed was to make a cut that was deep enough and his **Heart Splatter** would work on about 85% of being from Demon or Human world. He knew that Black Thunder was just a simple Devil kind of the demon when it came to blood so it would work on him.

"With our power and knowledge we have no adversaries in the seas." Hachi said.

"I have to admit that the trash's map served as a descent help." Krim said, as much as he belittled Nami even he had to admit that the maps she drew were good, after all they served to prevent the Black Thunder's easy escape six years ago. In the end the demon had to fight his way through and was forced into hiding after the battle. It was the only major thing that Kaltag asked him to do, to get a map of the large area that was Vergil was in. He smirked. "_If it goes down to that I can use that as a way to make him switch sides, even if she was forced to draw it, even if she didn't know the purpose of the map, she drew it and he could change his mind and kill her_." Krim thought.

"I moved the boulder looking at it. We could even easily tell the currents." HAchi said.

"She really does make good maps." Kuroobi admitted as well. "If we make Nami draw maps for the whole world, we could be kings of the sea forever."

Alrong let out a pained sigh. "Damn it. Nami is irreplaceable as a member of the Arlong Empire. What a pity." He said as he seemed to come to terms with something.

"Pity?" Hachi asked.

"The deal is, if Nami saves 100 million beri. She gets Cocoyashi village and is free to go." Chew reminded him.

"Is that for real?" Hachi asked as he waved his hands around. "Arlong-san are you really going to let Nami free to go? Really for real? What a waste!" He said.

"I have no choice. That's the deal with her from eight years ago." Arlong grinned. "I keep my promises made over money even if it costs me my life. That's me." In his eyes there was something that said something different.

-With the crew-

"Hey, Zoro-aniki. What the hell are you thinking?!" Johnny asked.

"You are the target of Arlong and his crew! Why don't you run away?!" Yosaku asked.

"Now that we know Nami is that kind of low-li…" Well Johnny didn't even get to finish the sentence as Vergil slammed his fist into his guts.

"Vergil!" Zoro exclaimed as Vergil let out a growl. Johnny fell onto his knees.

"Partner!" Yosaku cried out.

"The next time you even attempt to call her like that I'm going to kill you." Vergil said and stepped back.

"That went too far." Zoro scolded him.

"A person who just watched someone 'die' and then went to play an informer has no right to judge her." Vergil stated. "There is no body to prove your point, Nami is obviously lying to us and trying to get us to leave so we can stay alive and you are still accusing her. I will not stand for it." He said firmly leaving no place for argument.

"Are you sure she doesn't have you wrapped around her little finger?" Zoro asked.

"If that's the best argument you can come up with then don't bother. Someone who betrayed us would never act like she did, I've seen the look on the faces of traitors when they reveal their true nature and stab you in the back, or heart depending how far they go. She didn't have that kind of face." Vergil said.

"Once you set your mind on something you are so stubborn even if you could be wrong!" Zoro complained out of frustration as he rubbed his temple.

"I am fully aware of how stubborn I am." Vergil agreed.

"Either way we have a reason to stay here, you and Luffy don't seem to plan on budging from this place." Zoro said.

"Actually I do." Vergil said and turned to Yosaku. "Did Arlong attack any place lately?" He asked.

"Well there's Gosa Village." Yosaku said and pointed at the direction of the village.

"I'll go and see if I can find something out." Vergil said and walked away.

Once Vergil left Yosaku turned to Zoro. "Are you really going to take Nami back as your partner?" He asked Zoro.

"I don't care what happens. He decides who becomes our navigator." Zoro said, he was referring to the sleeping captain.

"Big bro…" Johnny muttered but then realized that there was no winning against them. "Okay. I understand. Although it's only been a short while, our job to bring you guys out here is done."

"I'm with him. I don't want to die in vain." Yosaku added honestly.

"Okay. Take care." Zoro accepted it quite easily.

"Well then, until we meet again." Johnny said as the two bounty hunters left as well.

"Big bros, you guys take care too!" Yosaku added.

"You guys too." Zoro replied.

Things were silent for some time albeit with occasional snore from Luffy.

Sanji breathed out smoke and broke the silence for real. "Hey." He called to Zoro.

"Hm?"

"Why was Nami-san crying back there?" Sanji asked.

"That woman… crying?" Zoro asked, he didn't see any tears.

"She was crying in her heart." Sanji stated.

"_Maybe that's what Vergil was talking about…_" He thought but ignored the thought afterwards. "Keh. Crying? Maybe tears of guilt for killing Usopp." He stated.

"Oooh? You're serious?" Sanji asked.

"Hm?" Once again came Zoro's intelligent but rather proper question.

"You seriously think Nami-san killed that long nose?" Sanji asked.

Not too far away from them Usopp was running with the cloak still covering his back and the top of his head.

He remembered exactly what happened at the Arlong Park. "_Back then_…"

-Flashback-

"For my business." Nami said.

She had stabbed her own hand…

"This is the only thing I can do." She said.

-Flashback ends-

"_Back then Nami… Made it look like she stabbed me and stabbed the back of her own hand!_" The images of him falling into the water flashed in front of him. "_If she didn't do that for me, I would have definitely been killed by Arlong or Krim! What should I do? The man Usopp, can't take being saved like this all the time like this! Anyway I better find Zoro quickly!_" He decided and lifted his gaze. "Isn't that Zoro over there?" He wondered as he saw most of the crew. "_Yes it's him!_" The cloak fell off as he quickened his pace.

"'Nami didn't kill him…' Is that what you want to say?" Zoro asked.

"Isn't that right?" Sanji questioned.

"Hmph. I dunno. That little girl has no guts to watch someone die in front of her, but maybe she did that in a fit of rage after what I did." Zoro said.

"What?! Little girl?! WHAT'S LITTLE ABOUT NAMI-SAN'S CHEST?!" Sanji snapped angrily as he went to kick Zoro.

"Is that all you think about?!" Zoro snapped back as he went to block but his sword and Sanji's leg were blocked by something else… Usopp's face…

The two weren't looking like they were exactly comfortable about what they unintentionally did.

"He's still alive…?" Sanji asked.

"Nope. I think he's dead now." Zoro said uncomfortably.

-A bit later-

"USOPP! DID NAMI DO THIS TO YOU?!" Luffy who had just woken up asked as he held and shook Usopp's lifeless form.

"Uh no, sorry. That was him and me." Sanji said as he pointed at Zoro.

"It was you." Zoro argued.

Usopp stirred a bit. "Luffy, you got here." He said.

"Yeah, a little while back." Luffy told him.

"Vergil?" He asked.

"He went to check on Gosa Village." Zoro told them as he saw Luffy's confused look at the absence of the white haired demon.

"I'm here too. Nice too meet you." Sanji greeted.

"I'll kill you someday!" Usopp exclaimed as he sat up and stood in front of Sanji angrily as if he was completely fine.

"Hey, you're still fine even after that?" Sanji praised as he tapped Usopp's shoulder.

"Shut up!" Usopp yelled at him.

"Oh right. Weren't you killed by Nami?" Zoro asked.

"Damn him, Johnny was lying after all." Luffy complained.

"Actually. There is some truth to it." Usopp said confusing the trio. "It's more the opposite though. Nami saved my life." Usopp told them.

-With Vergil-

Vergil reached the ruined village and was now standing in the middle of the road.

"Always remember Vergil, on the battlefield your life depends on your own power, but on a job where you can prepare for the battle the chances of surviving and winning are raised by how much you prepare. Demon Hunter who can't analyze the surrounding and see the details will surely die. Now, to find out as many information as possible in a short amount of time you need to understand how to deduce what's important and what's not." He remembered Grom's lesson, the one that was given to him prior to entering the Demon Hunter exam for the first time.

"I get it Grom… I get it." He muttered as he looked around.

* * *

_**That's it. So far I'm sure you all pretty much know what to expect from Vergil in situations like the one with Nami, it will actually help Zoro's character. In this arc he wasn't exactly acting like a first mate in the actual one, over time the character we came to know in Water 7 and after it will be seen through progression a bit more with Vergil there to influence a somewhat crueler but more rational way of thinking.**_

_**I am quite aware that Vergil is now at the place where you either hate or like him, but that's the character I created and you are free to form your own opinion, do keep in mind though that there is no point in insulting if you do dislike or hate him, any opinion without insulting will be gladly accepted.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Nojiko's Resolve**_


	47. Nojiko's Resolve

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Fireblack – Thank you for the review. Glad you like him.**_

_**Okami1001 – Thank you for the review, glad you like him. It will take a long time to get to that meeting though.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks for the review. I'm hoping to pull off both the fight and the aftermath in a good way.**_

_**Guest – Thank you. I'm glad to hear that.**_

_**alexc123 – Thank you for the review, soon enough, soon enough.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you for the review.**_

_**OPFan37 – Thank you for review. No need to apologize, I understand. Personally I'd take the talk between Vergil and Nami as the second actual moment between the two of them, the first one being the beginning of chapter 31. Krim certainly will get it, a lot. As for Vergil's past, while it will take a long time to reveal it all, after this arc only Drum Island Arc will have a direct flashback out of all the canon arcs. Aybe there will be a flashback during one of the movies but I'm still not 100% sure. I can tell you that in my personal opinion I do find the experience Vergil was remembering traumatic but then again it goes down to personal opinion of what is traumatic.**_

_**I highly respect the fact that you are honest about your opinion so I have no reason to take it the wrong way, you simply stated the way you feel the character is portrayed. I have to disagree with knowing who'll win a fight, while it does appear as if he knows that it's actually his faith in his comrades (as in case of Luffy VS Krieg) or knowing Zoro's lack of strength to go up against Mihawk (taken from his own experience) Other than that I do have to agree that Vergil does come off as too knowing sometimes. Though you did say that it was justified due to his past and I can't say if it is or if it's not it will be up to you to decide that once more about Vergil's past is revealed. Once again thank you for honest and detailed review.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 47 – Nojiko's Resolve**_

* * *

Nojiko walked toward her house sighing. All of a sudden a window broke and her eyes widened.

Realizing who it was she walked to the house and opened the doors to find a complete mess, the place was wrecked, bottles were broken shattered glass was all over the floor and it was simply a mess, the culprit was sitting at the table with her head between her hands and an open map in front of her.

"Aaah, you made quite a mess." She complained. "Nami. What's wrong?" She asked, now seriously.

"Nothing. Just came by to rest." Nami said, but her voice was shaking clearly indicating to Nojiko that something was honestly wrong.

"If you made a mess every time you came to rest, I'd go nuts." Nojiko stated and lifted a stool before she sat on it on the opposite side of Nami. "And would you open that treasure map if there was nothing wrong?"

"There was just something that made me angry." Nami said, she was yet to lift her head up.

Nojiko sighed. "Them, eh? Who are they?" Nojiko asked.

Nami abruptly lifted her head up and looked at Nojiko with wide eyes. "You met them?" She asked.

"Yeah, the guy said something about being a sniper. He seemed like a liar though. I heard, when you were travelling with them you were happy and had a great time. I haven't seen you happy for years now. So tell me who are those guys?" Nojiko pretty much demanded.

Nami remained silent and kept looking at the map.

Nojiko smiled a bit. "I promised you could talk to me about whatever you want, right?" She reminded her.

Nami kept looking from Nojiko to the map a couple of times as her breathing became audible. "I was supposed to forget about those guys." She lifted her head up as she placed her hands on the table. Her eyes showed sincere sadness. "I was supposed to have them erased from my heart."

-Flashback-

Nami, Usopp and Luffy were playing card game as Zoro slept on the deck and Vergil leaned against the railing.

Nami placed two aces on the deck. "All right! I'm done!" She cheered.

"Damn it! Nami won single handed once again!" Usopp complained making the girl chuckle. Then he noticed Luffy… "Hey Luffy, why are you still holding so many cards?" He asked, indeed the captain was holding hell of a lot of cards.

"Huh? I had a feeling that more is better." Luffy replied.

Usopp made a funny shark toothed face. "Idiot! Learn the damn rules already!" Usopp yelled at him.

Nami was now as close to laughing as one could be. She still kept it under control but she was clearly happy. Unknowingly to her Vergil smiled as he saw her laughing.

"All right! The let's make a rule that more is better! Okay it's decided!" Luffy decided on his own.

"You can't decide on the rules! Vergil do something!" Usopp yelled at the first mate.

"Huh? Did you say something?" Vergil asked as he turned his eyes away from Nami.

"Teach your captain the rules!" Usopp exclaimed.

"How am I supposed to teach him something I vaguely have little to no idea about?" Vergil asked.

"You can't be serious...?" Usopp asked in disbelief.

-Flashback ends-

"But the more I tried to erase them from my memories, the more I remembered them…" Nami admitted.

-Flashback-

It was an awful storm and the ship sprung a leak.

"Crap! The water's leaking in!" Usopp panicked.

"Quick, hold it!" Nami exclaimed as Usopp and Zoro tried to hold it.

"Leave it to me!" Luffy exclaimed as he pressed his mouth against the hole.

"That won't solve a thing!" Vergil exclaimed as water filled Luffy's stomach. The white haired demon was trying to get to Luffy but it was pretty much too late.

Water burst out both from the hole and from Luffy's mouth making all five of them burst onto the deck.

Nami screamed but then felt Vergil catch her and safely land her on the deck while the other three dropped down.

"Could be worse." Vergil commented with a grin.

-Flashback ends-

"For an instant. I forgot the fate I brought upon myself."

Nami remembered Luffy fighting Kuro.

-Flashback-

Even with multiple cuts on him the pain seemed like nothing to Luffy. His eyes showcased anger as he bellowed. "What do you take your nakama for?!"

Vergil grinned at this.

"Luffy…" Nami muttered, she was honestly surprised by the sudden outburst.

-Flashback ends-

Images of Zoro and Usopp as well as Vergil fighting that battle flashed in front of her eyes as well.

"I thought that if I could, I would stay with these guys forever…" She confesed.

"And that demon? What's with that story about you bonding with him?" Nojiko asked, she still found it hard to believe that Nami, after everything Krim put her through would bond with a demon.

"Vergil… A bit after we officially met I tried to kill him." Nami revealed, without looking at Nojiko or waiting for her to say anything she continued. "I don't know what made me risk that much, but he didn't hurt me, he didn't even try to, he just pressed me against the wall, softly if you would actually believe me, and gave me a small lecture…" Nojiko just stared at Nami wide eyed. "Somewhere along the line I realized that I no longer hated him, that I, even though he was a demon, came to like being with him. And then that night happened…" Nami said.

-Flashback-

"Come on now, you should go back to sleep. Think about my offer though, I'll repeat it again, I can help you." Vergil stated again. Nami lied down and he covered her with sheaths.

"Why are you trying, you are a demon… Why would you want to help me?" She asked as she lied on the bed. Vergil sat down and leaned over so that his right palm supported his weight on her bed. She watched him as he half towered over her and fought back to gulp in fear.

"Because I want to protect you no matter what. I know that with the way things are in this life I can't say that I'll protect you forever, but until the day I die, or until you can protect your own freedom on your own, I will protect you." He said.

Nami's eyes widened. "Vergil…" She muttered softly but then rebuilt her resolve. "I can't…" She told him trying to sound completely sure of what she was saying.

Vergil sighed and got up. "Try having some sweet dreams for once." He told her and then left the room.

Nami let out a long sigh and looked at the doors… "Why me of all people…" She muttered not feeling sure why exactly she said that.

-Flashback ends-

Nojiko felt confused at that.

"With those words he completely shattered my resolve, he destroyed any and all defenses I had toward him. I try to forget and erase them from my heart, I try to erase him and it's not working at all. A demon… Why did I allow myself to get this close to him?" Nami asked.

"Have you ever compared him and Krim?" Nojiko asked.

"Twice since I came back. First time it wasn't anything special, but when I met up with them he approached me. As he walked up to me I couldn't help but notice that with Krim I wanted to even run away… With Vergil… I wanted to… Step closer…" She admitted, she lowered her head a bit to avoid the look in Nojiko's eyes.

"A demon huh?" Nojiko said. "_With what you are saying I'd say he is a human_." Nojiko thought.

-A bit later-

Nami fell asleep on the table and somewhere along the line Nojiko covered her with a blanket.

"I see. Of course she'd be upset. Somebody actually came for her. Firends huh? To her, that's the most…" Her voice was slowly getting shakier. "The most painful word…"

-With Luffy-

Usopp had finished telling the story. "So Nami bluffed the 'killing me off' part so I could escape. I think there is a reason for her being with those Fishmen pirates." Usopp said.

"Of course." Sanji agreed.

"So? What do we do now?" Zoro inquired. "Rush Arlong Park?"

"Hold on!" Usopp panicked as he quickly tried to persuade them against it, for now t the very least. "Before that we should ask Nami for a better explanation!" He told them.

"Either way it's useless." Nojiko said from behind, she had finally found them. "No matter what you guys do Arlong's reign won't end." He stated, she also noticed that neither one of them was a demon. "_So much for him wanting to protect her._" She guessed.

"Nojiko!" Usopp exclaimed.

"Who's that?" Luffy asked as he pointed at the slightly older woman.

"Nami's older sis." Usopp stated.

Sanji's eye turned into a heart. "Na-Nami-san's older sister?! She's so pretty!"

"What do you mean 'it's useless'?" Zoro asked.

"Do us a favor. Don't meddle with this village's business anymore. Leave Nami alone. I'll tell you the reason why." Nojiko requested.

"The reason?" Sanji asked.

"You mean why she stays with the Fishmen?" Usopp guessed.

"Yes. Once you hear the reason you must leave this place." Nojiko stated.

"All right then tell us the reason or whatever." Usopp accepted.

"I'll pass." Luffy simply declined the offer as he began walking away.

"Hey." Usopp called him.

"I don't care about her past." Luffy simply stated.

"Where are you going Luffy?" Sanji asked.

"A walk." Luffy simply replied.

"What do you mean a walk? You are not going to listen to the story?" Usopp asked.

"Yeah, I'll pass." Raven haired captain replied, once again in a rather simple way.

"What's with him?" Nojiko asked.

"Don't mind him. That's just what he's like." Zoro assured her as he sat under a tree. "We'll listen to the story. Although it probably won't change anything."

"I'll listen too. I want to understand what's going on here." Usopp said.

"Me too. I want to know everything about Nami-san!" Sanji said.

Zoro just fell asleep.

"He's sleeping." Nojiko pointed out.

"Don't sleep if you said you'd listen!" Usopp snapped at him.

"And that demon? Where is he?" Nojiko asked.

"Vergil went to Gosa, something about trying to find some information." Usopp explained.

"Guess I'll have to go there too after I finish telling you." Nojiko said and then sighed and then smiled. "I see. No wonder Nami's torn."

-At the coast-

"Marine ship arrived?" One of the villagers asked.

"It's marine's 16th fleet!" Another one said.

"Maybe they were sent by headquarters to see what happened to 77th fleet." One of them guessed.

Nezumi and his marines stepped out. "Chichichichi. I am marine captain of the 16th fleet, Nezumi. Bring forth the village leader Genzo." Nezumi requested.

Genzo stepped out as ordered. "I'm Genzo, captain."

"You, huh? Escort me to Nami's house." Nezumi requested.

"Nami?" Genzo asked, he believed that they were here for Arlong. "What business do you have with her?"

"All you have to do is escort me." Nezumi said.

-With Nami-

The orange haired girl was still peacefully sleeping.

-With Vergil-

Vergil was crouching in front of a blood splatter, he touched the stain.

"It's old…" He muttered and then looked around. "The air is for the most part clean from any demon energy, however I can still sense that it's a water demon with affinity to control blood." He said.

-With Nojiko-

"We have to go back eight years to start a story. Back when we were still young. She lived in this village. Nami and I will never forget her. Her name was Bell-mere." Nojiko began the story.

-Back at the wreckage-

Hachi, Kuroobi and Chew were sent to check on the report of flying ship crashing down.

"I was surprised… To have someone report seeing a ship falling from the sky, and it truned out to be true." Hachi said.

"Looks like some abnormal human landed on this island." Kuroobi stated.

"Who exactly and for what purpose?" Chew wondered.

"You think it's that demon Krim-san mentioned?" Hachi asked.

"No way, a demon like that won't come here." Chew said.

At that moment Hachi saw Luffy casually strolling down the path. "Look! He's not someone from this island!"

Luffy just kept walking, even when he saw the three Fishmen he didn't even slow down. "What? So those are Fishmen?"

Either way Luffy just walked by them with no hesitation.

"Hey you! Wait!" Hachi yelled after him.

Luffy stopped and turned toward them. "Huh? Were you calling me?" Luffy asked.

"Y-You… Who are you?" Hachi asked. "What are you doing on this island?!"

"What does it matter to you?" Luffy asked.

"W-Well… You've got a point there." Hachi admitted. "Just like you said."

"I'm Luffy. I'm taking a walk." Luffy answered him either way.

"'Taking a walk'?" Hachi asked. "Have a pleasant one!"

"Smartass where are you headed?" Chew asked.

"How should I know?" Luffy replied.

"Isn't he kinda amusing?" Hachi asked once Luffy left.

"Who the hell is he?" Chew wondered.

"He wasn't intimidated by us at all. A rather mysterious character." Kuroobi said.

-With Nojiko-

"Bell-mere? Did that woman raise both you and Nami?" Usopp asked.

"Yes, that's right." Nojiko confirmed.

"Should we try finding Vergil?" Sanji asked.

"Vergil? No, he'd probably say something like. 'I couldn't care less about her past, that bastard demon is hurting her and that's all I need to know.' Or something like that anyway." Usopp said as he tried his best to mimic Vergil's voice.

"I guess he would." Sanji agreed.

Nojiko couldn't suppress a small smile, even if they would have to leave it was nice to know that someone did come to care about her little sister. "Where shall I begin? Bell-mere-san's story." Nojiko said.

-With Vergil-

Vergil sat on the ground with his back leaning against one of the ruined houses.

"_Let's see. I understand the element he is going to use, he also appears to have somewhat cutting style of fighting, close or long range, possible combination. He most likely prefers blood based attacks as well. From his alias 'Blood Puppeteer' I can guess that he can to some extent manipulate blood as in flow of it, maybe even control the movement for a short amount of time._" He thought and looked up to the skies.

"_The question I have is, what exactly do you want with him Kaltag…? What purpose does he have to your plan? Damn… I wish Xenia was here…_" His thought unwillingly went to the past.

-Flashback-

Twelve years old Vergil was sitting at the table, he was half asleep as he lied his head on the table. On th sofa in the corner of the room a sixteen years old white haired girl was reading a book. She had golden eyes unlike Vergil whose eyes were red, she had average built and was considered rather pretty for her age.

"So? What is you final answer?" She asked out of blue.

"Damn it Xenia I told you, I'll just rush in and beat the enemy to a pulp." Vergil repeated for the hundredth time.

"Wrong answer again. I'm asking you to think of an actual plan." Xenia reminded him.

"Hell if I care. Why do I have to analyze things anyway? I get noticing the details and that stuff but why go so far into behavior, body language, psychology and all that stuff?" Vergil asked and Xenia lowered her book.

"You sure are stubborn aren't you? Look sometimes things aren't painted black and white for you to realize what's true and what's not. I'm not asking you to be an expert, I'm asking you to use your brain." Xenia stated and stood up.

Vergil remained silent.

"Verge… I know you are listening." She said and then pulled a chair that was next to him out and sat on it. She reached out and ruffled her little brother's hair. "I get it, you don't like analyzing and planning things. But while noticing details saves your life, analyzing and planning saves the lives of those you care about." She placed her hand onto his right shoulder and he glanced at her. His eyes were gentle and his expression was clearly rather soft, the fact was he had her and as long as he had her and Grom he would stay like this, maybe he'd grow up but he'd remain like this. At that point no one would have guessed that only a year afterwards he'd completely change…

"I know, but it's so boring…" Vergil complained but either way lifted his hand and placed it on top of Xenia's. His sister was his light, one and only light. Grom was his hope, his god and he didn't need anyone else…

"Anyway Kaltag asked me out and I accepted. Got any idea about what I should wear?" Xenia asked with a large smile on her face.

"Not this crap again…" Vergil said as he slammed his head against the table out of frustration, or in attempt to knock himself out.

Xenia laughed at Vergil's reaction and he couldn't help but laugh along.

"We'll play chess again when I get back. You need to get that brain of yours included into day to day life a bit more." Xenia said stopping his laughter and cutting it down at the roots…

"Why bother, with the way you are I won't even get to sit at the table and you'll already predict in what part of the room and how exactly I'll try to beat Grom up as well as exact words he'll use to tease me." Vergil said earning another laugh from Xenia.

"Then learn how to become unpredictable." She told him.

"As if there is anything you can't predict." Vergil said as he stood up and walked into his bedroom. "I'll go and get some sleep, tell Kaltag I said 'Hi.'." Vergil said.

-Flashback ends-

Vergil sighed. "Funny, back then I used to dislike the fact that you wanted to get me to learn all that and now I'd give anything for a good old lesson, maybe even that game of chess." He muttered.

-With Nami-

Nami finally woke up after her short nap.

"I dozed off…" She realized as she sat up. "Eh? Nojiko?" She called her sister as she noticed that she was alone. "Where could she have gone?" She wondered. Nami glanced around the room and noticed a big basket filled with tangerines. A soft smile appeared on her face.

"_Just a bit more, Bell-mere-san. Just a bit more and we'll get everything back! Cocoyashi Village, the tangerine farm _and my dream too!" She turned her gaze to the map and lifted it. _"I've endured for eight years_."

-Flashback-

Much younger Nami was fully oncentrated on what she was currently doing, she was drawing a map of her island and she was actually finishing it as she wrote down 'Cocoyashi'.

"It's done!" She happily cheered once she finished. "IT'S DONE!" She repeated as she raised her hands up.

-Bookstore-

Nami found herself in a bookstore with a specific book taking all of her attention, it was rather high up and she would need to use the ladders to get to it.

"Now if only I could take a look at that book." She muttered to herself.

Nami looked to her left, then to her right and made sure there was no one around. She quickly climbed up the ladders and took the book. She hid it under her dress and climbed down. She was going to try and sneak out but the old lady who was the owner of the bookstore seemed to notice her.

"Oh. Na-chan!" What's the matter?" The kind lady asked.

Nami laughed a bit. "Nothing! Nothing at all!" She assured the lady as she moved the book to her back.

She began stepping back toward the doors and then hit something, or rather someone. She trembled a bit as the book dropped down to the floor. It was titled 'Navigation'.

Nami looked up to see a bit angry and grumpy looking Genzo.

The shop owner just smiled.

"HEY NAMI! NOT AGAIN!" Genzo yelled at her clearly expressing his frustration at Nami's habit.

* * *

_**That's it. Well not a lot of Nami's flashback was covered in this chapter, in fact only a small bit, I planned on going through a bit more but I feel like the impact of the next chapter will be a bit better if I go through most of the flashback in one chapter.**_

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_**Next Chapter –Female Fighter, Bell-mere**_


	48. Female Fighter, Bell-Mere

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**alexc123 – Yes, he does.**_

_**Guest – Thanks for the review.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you, yeah, the next chapter is final set up for the battle and then the battles start.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you for the review, I'm glad you like it.**_

_**OPFan37 – Thank you for reviewing, I guess you are right about the brain thing. I also agee about being cruel, the flashback was taking place eleven years prior to current time and one year prior to Xenia's death so I can say that Xenia and Kaltag actually had about a year long relationship before he killed her, yeah, it's fucked up.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 48 – Female Fighter, Bell-Mere**_

* * *

"HEY NAMI! NOT AGAIN!" Genzo yelled at her clearly expressing his frustration at Nami's habit.

A couple of minutes afterwards Nami was carried by Genzo as if she was a cat.

"Oh, Na-chan again?" One of the villagers commented.

"Let me go!" Nami complained.

"No helping it eh?" A woman said.

"I'm not some cat!" Nami shouted at Genzo.

"Idiot! How many times do I have to tell you not to steal things?!" Genzo scolded her.

Nami simply stuck her tongue at him. "That's because we are poor at my house! I can't help it!" Nami exclaimed, she was still holding the book so it seemed like Genzo bought it for her. "Stingy!"

-Nami's house-

Genzo was loudly knocking on Bell-mere's doors.

"Bell-mere! Bell-mere! Your cat burglar has done it again!" Genzo yelled.

The woman with red-violet hair and a rather unique hairstyle similar to a Mohawk opened the doors. She was wearing a green checkered shirt with the word 'MACE' on it, indigo trousers and brown sandals, she was also smoking a cigarette. This woman was none other than Bell-mere.

"What? Aren't you the noisy one…" She complained but then saw Nami who was smiling brightly at her. "Oh, welcome home, Nami!" She said.

"I'm home!" Nami replied.

Genzo lifted the girl up a bit more and pointed at the book. "Look! How many times is this now?" He lowered her down. "The whole village is talking about her!"

Bell-mere stepped out. "So what?" She began patting Genzo's cheek lightly. "You don't have to get so worked up over it, Gen-san. Right?" She asked.

"It's because you are too relaxed about it!" Genzo snapped.

Bell-mere's hand traveled from Genzo's cheek down to his chin. "Just kidding… I get it." She assured him as she softly caressed his neck. "Gen-san has paid for it, right?"

One could easily tell that the man was uncomfortable.

"Bell… Bell-mere…" He muttered as he leaned back as he tried to avoid her touch.

Bell-mere closed in and with a flirty look on her face she continued. "Thanks, I don't have any money right now. I'll repay you next time." As she said that Genzo's became as red as a tomato. "With my b-o-d-y." She spelled making the man jump back out of embarrassment.

"D-Don't say such a thing!" He exclaimed and now we all found out why Nami could get flirty and from who exactly she learnt…

Nami was laughing loudly while Bell-mere let out a small short laughs of amusement.

"He turned all red, too!" She said and joined Nami in laughter. Suddenly she realized that her foster daughter was laughing as well and crouched down next to her. She cleared her throat to get Nami's attention. "Oh… Why are you laughing?" She asked.

Nami stopped laughing and looked at Bell-mere. "Eh?"

-A bit later-

Nami was bonked on the head by Bell-mere, the two were outside with Nojiko. "If you do this again your butt's gonna get it." Bell-mere threatened.

"Sorry! But I needed that book no matter what!" Nami defended herself.

"If you wanted it so badly why didn't you just ask me to buy it?" Bell-mere asked.

Nami turned to the side and looked down. "You wouldn't have bought it anyway."

"I would have! We've got some money from the last harvest."

"But the people from the village were saying, 'The weather has been good recently so all tangerine farms should be producing well.' So our tangerines won't rise in price or won't sell at all." Nami argued.

"You are thinking too much." Bell-mere complained.

"Nami sure is clumsy. If it was me I would've stolen it perfectly." Nojiko said.

This of course earned both of them bonk on the head. "Don't go stealing things!"

"I was just kidding! I really was!" Nojiko cried out.

"That hurt!" Nami cried.

Bell-mere laughed. "But at least this is something to brag about, Nami's maps are really amazing!" Bell-mere complimented as she opened the map Nami just drew. "After learning how to make sea maps I see you've also learnt how to do land."

Two girls smiled at that.

"This is map of this island, right?" Nojiko asked.

Bell-mere gently caressed the top of Nami's head. "No one would believe that such a small child made this."

Nami chuckled a bit. "I'm studying navigation right now." She revealed.

"Navigation too?" Bell-mere asked.

"It's Nami's dream, right?" Nojiko asked.

"Yeah. I'm going to sail around the world using my navigation skills. And then I'll make a world map of all the places I've seen!" She stated with a grin on her face.

"So?" Bell-mere began as she held the map up high. "This first island map will mark a first step toward your dream, right?" She guessed.

"Yeah!" Nami quickly nodded.

Bell-mere lifted the map above her head. "World map, eh? Nami I'm sure that your dream will come true someday! Definitely!" Bell-mere showcased her faith in her daughter.

-One rainy day-

It was raining in the Cocoyashi village and two girl were having a meal while Bell-mere sewed some dress.

"Hey, Bell-mere-san." Nami called.

"Hm?"

"Why haven't you been eating lately?" She asked.

"I'm eating tangerines, right?" Bell-mere reminded her. "I'm on a diet right now."

"Then I don't want to eat either." Nojiko stated as she placed the fork on the table.

"What's all this drama?" Bell-mere asked. "Kids have to eat well."

"You're just lying! It's because we don't have any money, that's why Bell-mere- san isn't eating, right?" Nojiko realize it a while ago but voiced it out just now.

"Really?" Nami asked.

"You've endured it by yourself, while giving us…" Nojiko tried to say.

"It's a diet! Now you two, you shouldn't underestimate the beautifying power of these tangerines. Even though I'm 30, this radiant skin is all thanks to my tangerines." Bell-mere said.

"But your hands are yellow." Nami bluntly told her.

"Shut up and eat!" Bell-mere snarled at her.

A bit late Bell-mere finished sewing the dress and cut the remaining thread. "Alright Nami, it's done! The Bell-mere brand! Haute couture _**(high fashion or something like that…)**_. The dress had an 'I am Lion' on it and well a picture of a roaring lion's head.

"Another one of Nojiko's hand-me-downs…" Nami complained, she wasn't happy with this.

"Yeah, yeah, but it suits you Nami." Bell-mere assured her as she knelt down to see if the dress would fit.

"This lion was a sunflower before!" Nami complained.

"But of course, Nami! You are two years younger than me!" Nojiko reminded her.

"Age shouldn't matter! I want new clothes too!" Nami demanded.

"But mine are used too you know! Since you are my younger sister that's why you get my used clothes!" Nojiko argued and Bell-mere stood up as she took this as a sibling fight.

"But I'm not your real sister! We are not of the same blood!" Nami said in the heat of the moment.

Bell-mere's eyes widened as she heard her. "NAMI!" She slapped Nami with enough force to knock her down to the floor.

"Bell-mere-san…?" Nojiko said, the girl was surprised at what her foster mother had just done.

Bell-mere looked at Nami and then at her hand and took in a sharp breath as if she just realized what she had done.

Nami was holding onto her cheek as she slowly brought herself up.

"What's that rubbish about not having the same blood?! That doesn't matter!" Bell-mere yelled at her while Nami fought back the tears. "I don't ever want to hear that again!"

"So what? Bell-mere-san isn't our real mother either! Wouldn't it be better if we weren't here?!" Nami yelled as tears threatened to fall from her eyes.

Bell-mere's eyes widened.

"Then you could actually eat! Buy clothes you like, and live carefree! If I was going to be taken care of then it should have been by a rich family!" Unknowingly to Nami every single word she said felt like a knife stabbing right through her heart to Bell-mere.

As the orange haired girl cried Bell-mere turned around. "R-Really? Then do whatever you want. If you hate this house so much then go and get lost wherever you want!"

"Stop it you two!" Nojiko tried to calm the situation down.

"I'M LEAVING!" Nami yelled and ran out of the house.

"Nami!" Nojiko yelled after her but the younger girl was already running away. "NAMI!"

Rain kept falling down almost as if showcasing the turmoil Bell-mere felt inside of her head and heart. The woman looked at the palm of her hand, the very same palm that she slapped Nami with.

"Bell-mere-san… The three of us are a family! Nami thinks so too! Just now… She was just… in a heat of the moment…" Nojiko tried to form it correctly as tears appeared in the young girl's eyes. She was trying her best to make Bell-mere see the clear picture of the situation and she succeeded.

Bell-mere sighed and smiled a bit. "You're the levelheaded one, Nojiko. I wasn't very adult like just now, was I?" Bell-mere more so stated than asked. "Can you fetch Nami back? I'll wait for you two while making some delicious food!"

"Okay!" Nojiko agreed with a big smile on her face.

-Cocoyashi Village-

As the rain stopped falling the village returned to its normal state. People were selling products, walking around, they simply returned to daily activities.

Genzo was laughing as he dried Nami's hair with a towel.

"So coming from the outskirts into the village is called leaving home, eh? How nice and simple!" Genzo said as he lifted a cup of hot milk that was next to a coffee cup. He offered it to Nami. "Here, before it cools down." He stood up as Nami accepted the cup.

"Bell-mere-san would be happier if we weren't around." Nami said sadly.

"Why do you think so?" Genzo asked.

"If you have two kids you need more money. And because of me the people on the village hate her." Nami admitted what she felt.

Genzo chuckled and smiled. "So you are old enough to worry about others, eh? Rest assured when she was your age, she was a nightmare." Genzo revealed thus shocking the young girl.

"Bell-mere-san was?" Nami asked.

"From villagers' points of view she's still pretty much a naughty child. When that naughty kid wanted to join marines, the villagers were astounded." He fondly remembered.

"The marines? Bell-mere-san was a marine?" Nami asked.

"Yeah. 'Pirates who kill innocent people are unforgivable.' Saying that she left the village." HE said as images of a fierce battle flashed in front of his eyes.

-Flashback-

The fierce battle has ended, the town was pretty much ruined and Bell-mere was on the verge of death.

'She was on the verge of dying when…'

"_Well… this is alright…_" Bell-mere thought as he consciousness began fading.

Suddenly as if a gift sent from heavens a baby laughed making her open her eyes, if for no other reason than to see if she was just imagining things. She saw a small girl carrying a baby in her arms as she walked through the ruined town. Bell-mere forced herself to stand up.

"Your… younger sister?" She asked getting the small girl's attention. This girl was none other than Nojiko and the baby she was holding was Nami.

Nojiko turned to the side to see Bell-mere staggering to her. She shook her head slightly. "No, just a little stranger." Nojiko said.

Bell-mere fell to her knees in front of the two girls and softly touched the baby Nami's face. Nami opened her eyes and looked at Bell-mere before she began laughing.

Tears began falling down Bell-mere's face. "She doesn't know a thing…" Nojiko was also crying and then Nami's laugh made the two laugh as well. Amidst that torn place with countless of corpses lying around the hope in Bell-mere, her will to live remained alive.

-Flashback ends-

"That was you, Nami." Genzo said as he finished the story, Nami lifted her head to look at him. "After seeing you, it was like Bell-mere regained her reason to live."

-Flashback-

The terrible storm was rocking the small boat back and forth near Cocoyashi village. Villagers have gathered around to see it.

"It is a boat! It's coming here!" One of the villagers realized.

"In this terrible storm? Who could it be?" Another one wondered.

It was none other than Bell-mere. She climbed out of the boat. "Doctor! Call the doctor!" She demanded.

"Bell-mere! Isn't it Bell-mere?!" One of the realized.

Genzo and Nako pushed through the crowd. "Bell-mere!" Genzo realized.

"Bell-mere, what exactly happened here?" Nako asked. "Those kids…"

Bell-mere was holding both Nami and Nojiko as close to herself as possible. Both were fighting to stay alive. "Doctor! They've got a high fever! They've grown much weaker due to the storm!"

"What? Alright, you better treat those horrible wounds as well…" Nako said as he took Nojiko and Nami from her arms.

"Never mind me, HURRY! Please, don't let them die! Just save those two kids! PLEASE!" Bell-mere cried out.

-A couple of days later-

Some time passed and all three of them were recovering in the hospital.

"What did you just say, you little thug?" Genzo asked in utter disbelief.

"'I'm going to be a parent to these kids.' Is what I said." Bell-mere repeated.

"Impossible!" Genzo panicked.

"Give it up!" Nako pleaded as he held onto his head. "A bad girl like you can't raise kids!"

"We won't say anything, so just let the government take care of them…" Genzo tried to persuade her.

"I'VE MADE UP MY MIND!" She yelled at them making them all step back with their arms raised. "I, too, am an adult now. I've already been a marine, and I want to try and be a good and responsible person. I'll take responsibility for these two and raise them. In order to survive in this era, I'm going to raise them into fine people. I want to live with them." She hugged Nojiko and Nami who was already in her arms. "Nami and Nojiko have given me a new breath of life."

-Flashback ends-

Nami's eyes were wide as Genzo finished telling the story.

"You guys have a stronger bond than a real parent and child would have." Genzo assured her, Nami looked down now feeling ashamed because of what she said.

Nojiko finally found her. "Nami! I knew you'd be here." Nojiko exclaimed as he ran up to the doors.

"N-Nojiko…" Nami muttered.

"Bell-mere-san's waiting for you." She tried to look strict but then smiled. "With a delicious dinner prepared."

Nami smiled widely and nodded.

"It's most likely Nami's favorite egg-rice with tangerine dressing!" Nojiko guessed as the two ran out of Genzo's office.

"Yay!" Nami cheered.

"Egg~ and~ rice~!" Two sang together as they ran through the village.

Nako, Genzo and most of the village watched them as they ran. "Time sure flies." Genzo said. "Those little ones who have once struggled to stay alive have grown so much."

"Everyone enjoys watching them happily growing up." Nako said.

"Yeah. If those three weren't happy we couldn't forgive ourselves, could we?" It was true, the village, as opposed to Nami's belief, truly loved them.

The bookstore owner lady wiped the tears and nodded.

Happiness came to a brutal stop when one of the villages uttered one single word.

"PIRATES! EVERYONE!" He yelled. The entire village was struck frozen. "Pirates have come! Pirates! Everyone hide!" The man ran past Nami and Nojiko as he yelled that, the two girls stopped and turned around.

An ominous laugh filled their ears as Arlong's ship anchored at their shore.

"The Arlong Pirates!" One of the villagers realized.

"Arlong?!" A woman asked.

"No way!" A male refused to believe his own eyes.

"Why would Fishmen from the grand Line come all the way here?" Another one asked.

"So the rumor about Fishmen pirates splitting up was true!" Another one said.

Genzo and Nako ran up to the two girls.

"Nami! Nojiko!" Genzo exclaimed.

"Gen-san!" Nojiko called back.

The man knelt down in front of them. "It's dangerous here. Go and hide in the forest behind the village."

"But…" Nami wanted to argue.

"Hurry and hide!" Genzo cut all the argument.

The villagers could only watch as Arlong and his crew approached the village.

"Greetings and salutations, my inferior little humans. From this moment on, this village… No this whole island will be my domain!" Arlong exclaimed making the villagers look at him with horror written all over their faces. Krim sadistically smirked as FIshmen roared in approval. "Listen carefully. On this day every month. You'll have to 'purchase' your very lives from me!" Arlong revealed.

"Genzo gritted his teeth in frustration but knew that he couldn't do anything against them.

"Each adult for 100,000 beri, each kid for 50,000 beri. Those who can't pay will be killed. Shahahaha!" Arlong told them, luckily he didn't see two girls hiding in the bushes.

"What should we do, Nojiko?" Nami asked. "We can't pay that much money!"

"But maybe they won't find our house. Because it can't be seen from the village." Nojiko hoped.

Unknowingly to her Krim smirked as he noticed a smoke coming from the outskirts…

-A bit later-

"How much is it, my brethren?" Arlong asked once another pair of bills was dropped into the money filled bag.

"About 25 million or so." Kuroobi stated.

"Perfect! Shahahaha!" Arlong exclaimed, he was satisfied with the amount.

"From now on each one of us will have to pay 100,000 beri each month for our very own souls?" One of the villagers bitterly commented.

"100,000? We can't afford to survive!" Another one said.

"We can only endure. At least no one in the village will get killed." Genzo said. "_If we can solve this with only money, then it's a fair bargain. I hope they leave as they are, without noticing Bell-mere's house. Including her two kids it will be 200,000 beri… She can't possibly have that much_." Genzo thought.

"Alright! We're leaving! My brethren." Arlong stated as he began walking away.

Genzo, nami and Nojiko let out a sigh of relief.

"What about that house over there?" Krim asked as he motioned toward the smoke from the outskirts, from the Bell-mere's house.

The relief perished from the faces of the trio as Arlong lifted his head up to see the smoke.

-With Bell-mere-

The former marine was cooking the promised dinner.

"Let's see now." She tasted the food. "Mmmm! Too tasty! Truly a Bell-mere tangerine sauce original! Nami and Nojiko will get a kick out of this!" She happily said.

-Back in the village-

"That's a smoke coming from a house!" One of the FIshmen realized.

Nami and Nojiko trembled out of fear.

"Oh? Almost missed one." Arlong said.

"_Shit_…" Genzo thought.

"Bell-mere-san!" Nami and Nojiko left their hiding spot and ran toward their house.

"Let's go and collect our money!" Arlong ordered.

The pirates began walking toward Bell-mere's house.

"This is bad! The pirates are… going to Bell-mere's house!" Villager realized.

All of them looked terrified at the thought of what could happen to Bell-mere, no at what would probably happen to her.

"Hey! Nami and Nojiko aren't here!" One of them exclaimed.

"What did you say?!" Nako asked.

-With Bell-mere-

"Duck in the oven needs another ten minutes. The stew is almost ready too. This is going to hit the budget pretty hard. Oh well, let's just enjoy the moment." Bell-mere knelt down to take out the bottle of tangerine juice.

Arlong and his crew were almost at her doors…

Nojiko and Nami kept running. "Bell-mere-san will… Bell-mere-san will!" They realized as Bell-mere poured in the juice in the glasses. "Bell-mere-san will get killed!" Nami exclaimed.

"We are not gonna abandon Bell-mere!" The villagers resolved as they raised their weapons.

"_Damn! Why does this have to happen? Don't give into the Bell-mere_!" Genzo begged as he ran toward Bell-mere's house.

Arlong clenched his fist in front of Bell-mere's doors and then knocked on them.

"Oh, they are home now?" Bell-mere said to herself as she smirked. She glanced at the window and saw multiple figures, now she knew for sure that these weren't her daughters.

Arlong knocked twice more.

"It's open. Come in!" Bell-mere told him.

Arlong smirked. "Don't mind if I do." He reached out for the doorknob and opened the doors. He took a step inside and realized that there was no one to be seen.

In a split second Bell-mere lit her cigarette and then slammed her foot against Arlong's jaw. The Fishman was knocked out of the house and fell to the ground from both force of the kick and surprise. Bell-mere was now sitting on him with a rifle placed inside of his mouth and ready to fire.

"Too bad for you, I'm a former marine." Bell-mere said as she smirked at him. "Now what would a pirate all the way from the Grand Line want with Cocoyashi village?" She asked.

Much to her frustration Fishmen began laughing. "What's so funny?!" She demanded.

"Shahahahaha!" Arlong laughed as he bit down on the rifle and shattered it, Bell-mere could only watch in horror as bits of her rifle fell down. "Useless. Useless. Useless. Useless. Useless. You inferior being that was absolutely useless! Shahahaha!"

At the same time Nami and Nojiko were getting closer to the back of the house.

"We'll use the backdoors to let her escape!" Nami said hoping that her plan would work.

"But pirates might already be there!" Nojiko reminded her.

"It's okay!" Nami assured both Nojiko and herself.

"Wait!" They were pulled back by Nako.

"Doctor!" Nami exclaimed.

"You can't go home!" He told them.

"Get out of the way! We have to rescue Bell-mere-san!" Nami shouted.

"Nojiko! Nami!" Nako lifted his sunglasses up. "You two listen up. In times like these… well because of a situation like this I'm forced to tell you something that may sound a little cruel." Nako tried to prepare them.

"Doctor?" Nami muttered.

Suddenly they heard a loud scream, one that was made by Bell-mere when Arlong stepped on her arm.

"Bell-mere-san!" Nami screamed as she tried to run to the woman. Nako stopped hr once again.

Bell-mere screamed loudly yet again as Arlong crushed her arm, again and again he stepped on it but she bit back the screams afterwards.

"_It's no use… These guys are real monsters! We're gonna get killed! Nojiko… Nami!_" Bell-mere thought as life faded from her eyes.

"Bell-mere!" Genzo's voice echoed. "Don't waste your life over something so trivial! There are fights with no meaning too! This can all be solved with money!" Genzo scolded her.

"Gen-san…" She raised her head a bit to look at the man.

"That's right, marine girl. Adults are 100,000, kids are 50,000. If you pay for the family's worth I'll let you live… As a divine mercy on you." Arlong arrogantly stated.

"My family's worth?" Bell-mere repeated.

Genzo lifted her up a bit in his arms. "That's 200,000 total. How much do you have in all?" Genzo whispered.

"Even with everything… Barely over 100,000." Bell-mere said, confirming Genzo's fears.

"Hey, there's a food for three here!" Hachi said. Genzo's eyes widened after this the might not be able to make sure all three survived.

"Oh? A three person family, eh?" Arlong asked.

"It must've slipped my mind… Today me and a good friend of mine were invited over for a dinner." Genzo lied. "Come on Bell-mere, pay up for yourself, the food's gonna get cold." Genzo urged the former marine.

"Gen-san…" Bell-mere muttered.

"She seems to have 100,000 beri. Good thing we all have enough. Now everyone in the village will be safe." Genzo continued his act.

"The census shows that she's never been married nor had any kids. She's always been single." Kuroobi stated thus confirming Genzo's story.

-Behind the house-

Nojiko and Nami paled as they found out Nako's plan and the truth.

"Understand? There is no proof that you two and Bell-mere are a family. Leave this island before they find out. Cross the sea and escape. There's no other way we can afford to save all three of you! I know it's unreasonable for you two youngsters to venture the sea. Something could go wrong… But even if there is slightest chance…" Nako tried to make it easier for them as Nami cried, Nojiko wasn't hanging in there much better as she was on the verge of tears as well.

"No." Nami said. "I don't want to! Why do we have to leave? They are the ones who invaded us. I want to stay in this village. Is it because we are poor that we can't be Bell-mere-san's daughters? Why…? Why does it have to be this way?" She cried out.

-In front of the house-

Arlong was seemingly finished with the business as he got the money from Bell-mere.

"Thank god. That I could save." Bell-mere said as she held onto her injured arm.

-Behind the house-

While Nami wanted to stay Nojiko realized the situation…

"Fine, we'll leave this island." Nojiko said and slowly began walking away.

"Nojiko!" Nami cried out.

"We're leaving! That way Bell-mere-san will be safe." She strengthened her resolve even though it was hard for her as well, she knew though that right now at the very least for Nami, she had to be strong.

-In front of the house-

Bell-mere seemed to have a second thought about everything as Arlong and his crew left. It was almost as if she, as a mother, felt the distress her children were feeling…

"Hold up! Who said that was my share?" Bell-mere said making the pirates stop and Genzo look at her as horrific realization dawned upon him. "That 100,000 beri is for my two daughters. I'm short on mine."

Nami and Nojiko heard this and their eyes widened as Nami gasped.

Arlong turned around.

"Bell-mere, you…!" Genzo wanted to scold her.

"Sorry, Gen-san. I can't say that I don't have a family… Even if it means sacrificing my life." As she said that Nojiko turned around.

"That's absurd…!" Nako muttered.

"We may not be blood related, but we are still a family. I wish I could be a mother by simply saying it." Image of her adopting the two girls flashed in front of her eyes. "Those two… Are my daughters, right?"

Two girls couldn't take it any longer. "Bell-mere-san!" They screamed as they ran by Nako.

"Hey, you two!" Nako tried to stop them but it was too late.

-Flashback-

"So what? Bell-mere-san isn't our real mother either! Wouldn't it be better if we weren't here?!" Nami yelled as tears threatened to fall from her eyes.

Bell-mere's eyes widened.

"Then you could actually eat! Buy clothes you like, and live carefree! If I was going to be taken care of then it should have been by a rich family!" Unknowingly to Nami every single word she said felt like a knife stabbing right through her heart to Bell-mere.

As the orange haired girl cried Bell-mere turned around. "R-Really? Then do whatever you want. If you hate this house so much then go and get lost wherever you want!"

"Stop it you two!" Nojiko tried to calm the situation down.

"I'M LEAVING!" Nami yelled and ran out of the house.

-Flashback ends-

"I was lying!" Nami shouted as loud as she could.

Bell-mere looked around to find her daughter as she heard Nami's voice.

"It was a lie! Bell-mere-san!" Nami told her as she and Nojiko came out of the hiding and to the front of the house.

Bell-mere dropped to her knees as two girls rushed into her arms. The two cried and held as tightly as they could onto their mother. Bell-mere fought back the tears as she somehow moved her injured arm to hug Nami as well.

"I really wanted to buy you more stuff, like books and new clothes. I'm sorry that I couldn't be more of a mother to you guys." Bell-mere apologized.

"That's not true!" Nojiko told her.

"We don't want anything just don't die!" Nami pleaded.

"Just stay with us!" Nojiko added, both girls were still crying.

"You need to see the map I'm going to draw of the world!" Nami told her.

"Map, that's right… Make sure you fulfill your dream." Bell-mere told her as she moved her hand up to the top of Nami's head. Tears fell down Bell-mere's face as well. "Live on, eh?"

"Bell-mere-san!" The two screamed.

The touching moment was abruptly stopped when Arlong and his crew got in front of the trio.

"These are your daughters, eh?" Arlong pretty much mocked.

While the two girls looked horrified and trembled out of fear, Bell-mere glared at him. "Yeah, that's right. You have to promise to leave these girls alone." She demanded.

"Of course. As long as you die." Arlong easily agreed, well their lives were 'bought' so he had no need to hurt them.

"HELP!" Nami begged.

Genzo went and fired the two guns he had but it was futile as Kuroobi stood in front of Arlong and deflected the bullets with the fins on his elbows. The Fishman went and slashed his sword at Genzo thus stopping his attempt to help them.

Nami's eyes widened in horror as Genzo fell down.

Finally the villagers arrived, they rushed toward Arlong and his crew thinking that they could stop the Fishman.

"Eh? They've become bloodthirsty. Don't kill them, just show them what we are made of."Arlong ordered.

"Nah, we should crush their hopes completely. I'll handle them." Krim said as he stepped forward.

"Fine, but don't waste our precious income." Arlong reminded him. He then turned to Bell-mere who somehow got back up to her feet. "You'll set a perfect example."

Bell-mere gathered what strength she had left and pushed Nojiko and Nami into the house.

Arlong smirked as girls gasped. He pointed the gun at Bell-mere. "You'll die for your pathetic love."

At the same time villagers' efforts were easily stopped when Krim blasted them all with **Water Breath**, he however made sure that they only got hurt instead of getting killed.

"Pathetic humans." He smirked sadistically and went to kick around some of the lying villagers as he watched Arlong and Bell-mere from the corner of his eye.

"Nojiko! Nami!" Bell-mere called and flashed the last smile at the crying girls. "I love you." She said, not a moment later Arlong shot her in the head…

-Flashback-

Genzo was once again carrying Nami like a cat.

"You never learn, do you? You little cat burglar!" Genzo scolded her.

"Let me go! I promise I'll pay next time!" Nami whined and then winked. "With my body." And there goes Bell-mere's line coming right from her daughter's mouth.

"Don't go around learning idiotic lines!" Genzo yelled at her.

* * *

"Jeez, did the two of you make the boys cry again?" Bell-mere asked.

"They started it!" Both Nami and Nojiko replied.

"It's fine Bell-mere, it's just a little kids fight." The mother of the two boys assured her.

"They said that Bell-mere-san's tangerines tasted bad." Nami said thus making Bell-mere herself go and hit the two boys.

"Why you little brats!" Bell-mere yelled at the boys.

"Bell-mere!" The woman yelled at her.

-Flashback ends-

'Nojiko, Nami, don't lose to anyone. Girls have to be strong too. No matter what happens. Don't hate the era you were born into. Even though nobody praises us. Don't forget to smile in any situation. As long as you're alive here, there will be better things later and there will be many.'

"BELL-MERE-SAN!" Nami and Nojiko screamed.

"Shahahaha! During my reign, people who don't have money will die! Do you inferiors understand? Shahaha!" Arlong laughed.

To make matters even worse Hachi noticed a paper in Bell-mere's pocket and picked it up much to Nami's horror. He opened it to see nothing else but Nami's map…

"A map?" He questioned.

"Stop!" Nami yelled thus getting his attention. "That's a special map that I drew! Give that back!"

"You drew this?" Arlong asked as he glanced at the map and then took it.

"Give it back!" Nami demanded.

"Nami stop it!" Nojiko pleaded her.

"Oh, this is rather good. Color me impressed. She could be useful, bring her with us." Arlong ordered.

"You sure? It's a human trash after all." Krim stated.

"Useful trash, Krim, useful one." Arlong stated.

"Aye Capt'." Hachi complied as he grabbed Nami and began carrying her away.

"Stop! Let go, let go of me! I don't wanna go!" Nami screamed.

Nojiko tried to stop him. "Let go of Nami! Let her go!"

"Wait! You got your money!" Genzo managed to stand up and stood in front of Arlong with his saber ready. "Wasn't the deal to leave them alone?"

"Yeah, we won't hurt her. We are just gonna 'borrow' her." Arlong said.

"Gen-san, help me!" Nami pleaded.

"Don't you dare hurt those children!" Genzo yelled.

"Kuroobi." Arlong simply said.

In a couple of swift moves Kuroobi slashed Genzo thus creating what would later on be the man's scars. Genzo coughed up blood as he began falling once again.

"Gen-san!" Nami gasped.

Nojiko dropped to her knees as Nami repeatedly cried out Genzo's name. Unable to do anything Nojiko turned to look at Bell-mere's dead body. The fear was evident in her eyes…

Genzo somehow stood up once again, thus showing the resolve he had to protect Nami.

"I'll save you… Nami…" He promised as blood stained his clothes. He was breaking down in cold sweat and was standing only by sheer miracle. "I won't let you go."

"It's okay! Enough already! You don't have to save me, just don't…!" She tried to persuade him.

Nojiko held her face to the ground as she fought back the sobs.

"Stubborn fool." Kuroobi commented.

"I'll save you…" Genzo breathed out and then got knocked out by Kuroobi.

"I DON'T WANT ANYONE ELSE TO DIE!" Nami cried out.

-Later-

The village was slightly wrecked, fruits were scattered around on the streets, stands were broken but most importantly, the ships were sunk…

"All the village's ships have been sunk. Our plan of letting Nojiko and Nami go to sea was…" Nako couldn't bring himself to finish the sentence.

"Naïve. The marines won't even bother with us." Genzo stated, he was completely bandaged up and has accepted their situation… "This island will be taken over."

"Bell-mere knew… From her experience as a marine, she knew instinctively what they would do. There was no way anyone could escape this fate." Nako said.

-With Nojiko-

Nojiko was sitting on the ground in front of makeshift grave they made for Bell-mere, she was once again crying.

"They've taken Nami. What am I supposed to do now? Bell-mere-san?" She cried.

-Tomorrow-

"We know where Arlong and his crew are! Looks like they are going to settle here on this island! Now is the time to decide! Whether we fight to our death, or gamble our lives and wait for the day government saves us. Knowing that we may die at any moment! One of these two!" Nako exclaimed, villagers around him were pretty much all injured.

"The only ones capable of standing up to those monsters are those people from the 'Marine headquarters'. But the headquarters have their hands full at the Grand Line. Chances of them coming out here to save us are close to zero. But I can't just leave Nami. Let us fight!" Genzo declared.

"I'm in too!" One of the villagers agreed. "I can't abandon a child and think of my own survival. We are all a family!"

"Even if we all trade blows with them we are going to save Na-chan!" Another one exclaimed.

"Bell-mere traded her life to save those girls!" The third one added.

"Let's fight once again!" Yet another one decided. "Even if only one of us fought, we'd all get blamed for it anyway!"

"Yeah! Let's go! Fight!" They all exclaimed.

'As long as you're alive here, there will be better things later and there will be many.' Bell-mere's words came to Nojiko's mind. She closed her eyes.

At that moment Nami approached the mass with the wad of bills in her hand.

Nojiko heard her footsteps and turned around. "Nami!" She realized thus stopping all the talking.

"Nami /Na-chan!" Villagers happily said.

"You're okay!" One of them said, and well she wasn't okay, her eyes were empty, void of emotions…

"Nami! Nami!" Nojiko ran up to the younger girl. "Are you okay? Did they make you cry?" the villagers all gathered around Nami who remained silent. "Nami?" Nojiko repeated.

"I'm… joining…" Nami barely whispered.

"Huh?"

"I'm… gonna join Arlong's crew." Nojko's eyes widened at that. "I'm gonna be in Arlong's crew." She forced a smile to her face. "I'm gonna be a cartographer and draw maps for them!" She revealed.

The villagers seemed unable to accept it.

"Hehe… What are you talking about, Nami? Are you for real?" Nojiko moved away to allow Genzo to kneel in front of Nami. "Did they make you do this? That's what happened right?"

"No." Nami denied.

"They threatened you, right?" Genzo refused to believe.

"NO!" Nami shook her head.

"Tell the truth!" Genzo demanded.

Nami forced his arms off of her shoulders and turned around. "Let go of me!"

"Nami?" Genzo breathed but then saw it…

"Nami!" Nojiko gasped, the Arlong crew's mark was on her left shoulder…

"T-That's Arlong's tattoo…!" Nako realized.

"You!" Genzo gasped.

"Nami…" Nojiko muttered.

Nami showed them the money. "Look at this! I've got all this money! They are gonna buy me whatever I want!" That forced smile was still on her face but her eyes wavered…

"NAMI!" Nojiko screamed as she pushed the orange haired girl to the ground. "I won't forgive you, I won't!" She yelled as she slammed Nami against the ground with all her might. "You're becoming a pirate? I'll never forgive you! Do you even know who they are?!"

"So what?! If living properly means dying like Bell-mere-san did, then I don't want to die like that!" Nami yelled. The villagers stood frozen at her words…

"What a thing to say? Bell-mere-san… Bell-mere-san was killed for us! But you…!" Nojiko yelled at her.

"That's enough Nojiko." Genzo stopped her. "Get the hell out of here, Nami! Never step foot in this village ever again!" Genzo shouted. Nami fought back the tears as Genzo closed his eyes and clenched his teeth.

Nami managed to stand up and began running away, she stumbled once but regained her footing without falling and continued running away.

"NAMI!" Nojiko called her, she finally saw the look in Nami's eyes…

"_Such a foolish thing to have done… Wasn't Bell-mere like a mother to her?_" He thought.

Nojiko turned around and looked at the villagers, they all looked down right disappointed at Nami.

-That night-

'That wasn't the case, Nami loved Bell-mere-san.'

Nojiko found Nami sitting in front of Bell-mere's grave, she was hugging her knees.

"Hey, didn't Bell-mere-san always say… 'As long as you're alive here, there will be better things later and there will be many.'?" Nami asked.

"Yeah." Nojiko confirmed it.

"After being captured by Arlong. I saw him sink five marine ships easily. The government probably won't help this island any longer. I realized that I had to act on my own." Nami told her, as she said that Nojiko walked up to her. "I made a deal with Arlong. I'm going to buy Cocoyashi village from him."

"Buy the village?" Nojiko asked.

"For 100 million beri." Nami revealed thus making Nojiko gasp softly. "If I buy the village we'll be free. No one has to die as long as I join that crew and make the maps for them."

"But 100 million beri… Even if you worked your entire life for it…" Nojiko tried to argue.

"I'll make it no matter how! Everyone's having hard enough time already just paying the tribute. I have to do this alone. If I ask for their help, they'll just get hurt." Nami cut off any argument.

"Won't it be hard?" Nojiko asked after a couple of moments of silence. "To be with the person who killed Bell-mere-san, won't it be hard?"

"I'm fine. I'll just smile whenever I see his face. I've decided I'll never cry again. I've decided I'm gonna fight on my own!" The only one who cried that night was Nojiko, Nami had vowed not to cry and was keeping her word…

-Flashback ends-

* * *

_**That's it. Holy hell this was a long one I swear from now on I'll start writing flashback chapters prior to reaching them, especially Luffy's gigantic flashback. It's about 12 episodes long and I don't want 12 chapters of 'copy-paste' material.**_

_**Either way Nami will have a bit more of a flashback in the next chapter and then near the end a couple more to showcase what Krim had done to her.**_

_**Finally there are now two new pictures on Digimonfanforever Deviantart profile, both are future moment of certain arc that I won't name yet. I'm still not fairly brave enough to draw actual full body pictures so for now I hope you'll be satisfied with those, if you do take time to look at them anyway.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Broken Promise**_


	49. Broken Promise

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Fireblack – Thank you for review, it's not my fault, it's Oda's for making Nami's backstory so sad.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you.**_

_**Guest – Thank you, I'm glad to hear that.**_

_**OPFan37 – Thank you for the review, skipping flashbacks is something that I'd gladly do but I feel like without them a third pov story would be incomplete. It's not just Straw Hats', there's also Jinbe's and Law's stories are also quite provoking, and long, holy hell I'll hate writing them down…**_

_**Son of Whitebeard – Thank you for the review.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks you for the review.**_

_**Guest – Yeah, it is quite sad.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 49 – Broken Promise**_

* * *

Sanji and Usopp were left shocked as Nojiko finished the story.

"For a 10 years old girl to decide to fight alone and struggle to survive… Do you understand how hard it must have been?" Nojiko concluded the story.

"For a deal that would free her village. That girl…" Usopp muttered.

Sanji let out a shout of frustration as he raised his arms. "Whoever makes Nami-san suffer, I'm gonna…!" He began but never got to finish as Nojiko punched him "Why? Big sister…?"

Usopp could clearly see the resemblance now that Nojiko actually punched Sanji….

"Because, I'm telling you not to interfere. If you guys keep claiming that you are her comrades. The pirates are gonna doubt her loyalty. And all her hard work for these eight years will be all for naught!" By now Zoro woke up and was actually listening to Nojiko's words. "Don't make it any harder than it already is. She is fighting on her own. Knowing there are people who call her 'friend' is the most painful thing for her."

Unknowingly to them Sanji and Usopp weren't the only ones who heard the story. Johnny and Yosaku were crying their hearts out due to the story.

Nojiko remembered one of the first times Nami returned with treasure…

-Flashback-

"Stop! Stop it right there!" Nami was being chased by pirates again and again, she desperately tried to use the time she was living in…

"A pirate thief?" Nojiko asked as Nami told her what she was doing.

"That's right!" Nami was hunched over and bruised, she even had bandages around her arms and legs. "I'm gonna make use of this era, where there are plenty of pirates to steal from!" She grinned at Nojiko. "I'm gonna get them back!"

"Aren't those cuts all over you?" Nojiko panicked.

"Yeah, I screwed up a little bit. But look at this, a million beri!" Nami told her.

"Who cares about that, we have to tend to those cuts!" Nojiko scolded her.

"It's nothing! These cuts are nothing!" Nami assured her. "No one will find it here. I'll save up little by little, by the time this fills up I'll have 100 million beri!" As Nami said that Nojiko looked at her, with an almost defeated look on her face. "Still a long way to go." As happy as she sounded Nami's smile was more of a bitter sweet one than anything else…

-Flashback ends-

Nami was having the same thoughts as she sat in the house.

"_100 million beri… It took me a while, but it's only 7 million to go. With my skills now I can earn that much in just a single trip. Only one more trip and everything will be all over. Everyone in Cocoyashi village, including me… We'll be free from Arlong's reign. Then, then I can finally… I can finally laugh from the bottom of my heart. Bell-mere-san._" Nami thought

'Because I want to protect you no matter what. I know that with the way things are in this life I can't say that I'll protect you forever, but until the day I die, or until you can protect your own freedom on your own, I will protect you.' Nami gritted her teeth as Vergil's words repeated in her mind.

"Seriously… How many times am I going to think about that stupid demon…?" Nami hissed, it was breaking her resolve, he was right there, not a couple of miles away from her, well maybe a bit further away but on the island nonetheless. It made her frustrated, she wanted to stay with the crew and he seemed to be willing to help her but she knew better. She knew that Vergil was strong and that he would probably put up and maybe even win against Krim in normal battle…

"_He'll die if Krim makes a cut that's deep enough…_" She knew that, Vergil was a lightning demon, not a water demon or any special one, he wasn't immune to Krim's ace under sleeve… On top of that she knew that the crew as a whole didn't stand chance against Arlong…

She clenched her fists and strengthened her resolve, she wasn't going to sacrifice their lives…

-With Vergil-

Vergil heard someone approaching him, he turned his head to the side and saw Nojiko.

"Leonidas Vergil?" Nojiko asked even though she was pretty much sure that he's the one.

"Yes." He bluntly answered, Nojiko took a good look at him, he was tall and had somewhat muscular built. His attire was rather simple, a dark blue T-shirt and black trousers and boots that he got from Baratie. She could easily notice three striking features about him, white hair, cold yellow eyes that carefully tracked her moves and the scar on the right side of his face.

"I'm Nojiko, Nami's sister." She could easily see surprise written all over his face, but then his posture relaxed.

"I see. And particular reason for walking up to me?" Vergil asked.

"I'll tell you Nami's reason for being with those pirates, after that leave this island." Nojiko requested.

"Not interested and I'm not leaving." The demon simply stated.

"You'll ruin everything she worked for. Don't make this any harder for her." Nojiko told him.

"Look, I have no need to meddle with this island, I don't care about it to be honest. But Princess is suffering, no matter what I won't let that continue." Vergil said.

"Princess?" Nojiko asked.

Vergil sighed. "Nami." He deadpanned.

"Your crew can't stop Arlong and you can't defeat Krim." Nojiko said as she tried to persuade him.

"That's up to me to decide. I will not be killed by the likes of Krim, even if I do get killed I'm dragging him down with me." He admitted slightly surprising Nojiko.

"You are saying you'd die for Nami? That's absurd coming from a demon." Nojiko said.

"Dying for her? Yeah, it does sound like a good reason to die for to me. So yes, if you want me to put it that way I don't mind dying for her." He admitted.

"A demon willing to die for someone is more of a fairy tale." She argued.

"You'd be surprised. Yes, demons are the lowest kind of trash there is in general, but each and every demon is willing to destroy anything and sacrifice everything to protect what he cares about. The only difference is what that is. Is it a feeling? A goal? A thing? A person? Frankly the last one is rather rare but it does occur from time to time." Vergil explained.

"So that's your explanation and excuse for killing?" Nojiko demanded a bit angrily.

"Excuse? Do I look like someone who want to make excuses for what I'm doing? In our life span there is always something that both humans and demons do, destroy to protect. When you place two equally good shops next to each other aren't you going to 'destroy' the profit one would have if he was the only one with a shop? Aren't you also protecting your own future by making sure you do sell something, so you disregard what you are 'destroying'. Same is with the second shop owner. This world works like that, there is no human who has never 'destroyed' anything. A child when it's born is inflicting pain to its mother at the very birth for the sake of 'protecting' its own life. It is a subtle way of 'destroy to protect' psychology, one that does sound sick and twisted to most people." Vergil explained, Nojiko remained silent for a moment, pondering on his words.

"It sure is sick when you put it like that." She agreed eventually.

"I can't disagree with that. Either way give it up, I won't leave this island, until Princess finally stops being so stubborn I will stay put though." He assured her.

"Do you have any idea how much she suffered and now there is someone claiming to be her friend? It's tearing her apart. You are tearing her heart into pieces." Nojiko told him.

"Care to elaborate on that one?" Vergil asked curiously.

"She always hated demons and then you showed up. You are making her suffer because she is no longer sure if it's demons that are evil, if it's just Krim that's evil or if you are just the one that's good." Nojiko explained, if he didn't want to listen to Nami's story she was going to try to get him to leave like this…

Vergil remained silent, almost as if he was actually picking words to say instead of just saying things bluntly. "Then it's up to me to patch up the torn pieces. I don't know what I have to do other than killing Krim, but I'm going to figure it out and do it." He stated… "I know one thing though. I can't let her waste her life, I can't let her go like this, not when letting her go is equal to letting her live like an object." He admitted.

Nojiko looked him in the eyes and he did nothing to avoid the contact, they were on the same page, the point was to protect and help Nami, the way they were going on about it differed though.

-With Luffy-

Luffy was walking down the main road of the Cocoyashi village, his stroll was however stopped when he saw marines who were followed by Genzo. One thing that clearly caught his eye and surprised him was the pinwheel on Genzo's hat. He even began sweating, a lot because of it.

"What business do the marines have with Nami?" Genzo questioned. He was however trying to remain objective.

"Chichichi. You should remain quiet and escort us." Nezumi simply stated.

The marines walked by Luffy.

"Why does he have a pinwheel on his head? That's TOO cool!" Luffy exclaimed.

-Flashback-

The marine ship was sunken down by Fishmen…

Nami was standing near Arlong who was currently drinking his wine. "What's wrong, little girl?"

Nami remained silent.

"You want your village back that badly?" Nami still remained silent but her breathing got heavier. "Then how about we make a deal?" He offered.

"A deal?" Nami asked.

"Yeah. Get 100 million beri for me, if you do that, I'll set you and your village free." Arlong said.

"Really?" Nami questioned.

"Of course. If there is money involved, I'd rather die than break a promise. I don't care how many years it takes, I'll keep my end of the deal." Arlong assured her.

'I'll gather 100 million beri no matter how long it takes! Bell-mere-san I'll do it!'

-Flashback ends-

Nami walked out of the house and stretched a bit.

"One final steeling spree… Shall I get on with it?" She said, now that she only needed one more time she was quite eager to go and steal.

The sound of footsteps got her attention and she turned her head to the side to see the smirking marines walking toward her.

"_Marines? And why is Gen-san with them?_" Nami wondered.

"Chichichichi. Are you the female thief, Nami?" Nezumi spoke up. Nami took a sharp breath at his question. "According to our investigation, you seem to have stashed the stolen treasure in this very tangerine farm."

Nami and Genzo's eyes widened at that.

"Well since you stole from pirates we have no intention of arresting you. But thief is still a thief." As Nezumi said that Genzo slowly turned to look at him with his mouth wide open due to shock. "Therefore, all the treasure that you have stolen, will become the government property!"

Nami's eyes widened in horror.

"Now hand it over! Confiscate it!" Nezumi ordered. Nami didn't respond to this and Nezumi let out a laugh. "Chichichi. What's the matter? Didn't you hear me?" Nezumi asked. "It's decided that all the stolen pirate goods will be taken into our custody."

Nami smiled slyly. She still had one trump card left. "Well, well." She folded her arms across her chest. "How diligent you guys are in your duties. You don't have the courage to stand up to the pirates, so you pick on a smaller game to raise your standings. How noble." She mocked them.

Genzo remained silent while Nezumi smirked.

"Let me tell you something. I'm one of Arlong's crew. Touch me and Arlong won't stay quiet about it." Nami stated.

"Chichichichi. Is that your idea of threatening me, little girl? Find the treasure!" Nezumi ordered and his men quickly obliged.

"Wait!" Nami shouted as she pieced together her staff. "STOP!" She yelled and knocked the two marines out.

Angrily she turned to Nezumi. "Is this what the Marines do now?! Arlong's crew is killing people and destroying villages! You know it!" She began walking up to Nezumi. "Even now they are taking over this island and wrecking lives!" Genzo gritted his teeth in frustration as Nami continued. "To ignore that and take care of one measly thief, is that what you should be doing now?!" She demanded.

"Chichichichi. Don't talk as if you are superior." Nezumi scolded her, she was yet to wipe away the smirk on his face. "Continue the search."

"The people of this island have been waiting for the marines' help for so long. How can you pass them by and come straight to me?!" Nami yelled at him.

"Captain, this tangerine orchard seems suspicious." One of the marines reported.

"Dig it up." Nezumi simply ordered.

Nami turned to the marine that went to dig and smalled her staff onto his neck thus forcing him down, she pressed him further down with the weight of her own body. "Don't you dare touch Bell-mere-san's tangerine orchard with your filthy hands!" She realized that another two marines have started digging and she quickly knocked them out. "I won't give you my money! That money is for… It's for…" She fought against saying the purpose of gathering all that money.

"THE GIRL'S MONEY IS GOING TO SAVE COCOYASHI VILLAGE! Does that make you think you have a right to take it, Marine?!" Genzo snapped at Nezumi thus revealing that he knew about the deal between Nami and Arlong…

Nami just knocked out another marine. "What? Is one of the little villagers talking to me, a Marine Captain?" Nezumi asked.

"Gen-san…?" Nami's expression saddened as she looked at the man that acted as a father figure to her. "How did you…?"

"I've always known, Nami…" Genzo admitted.

-Flashback-

"I'm… joining…" Nami barely whispered.

"Huh?"

"I'm… gonna join Arlong's crew." Nojko's eyes widened at that. "I'm gonna be in Arlong's crew." She forced a smile to her face. "I'm gonna be a cartographer and draw maps for them!" She revealed.

* * *

Nami forced his arms off of her shoulders and turned around. "Let go of me!"

"Nami?" Genzo breathed but then saw it…

"Nami!" Nojiko gasped, the Arlong crew's mark was on her left shoulder…

"T-That's Arlong's tattoo…!" Nako realized.

"You!" Genzo gasped.

"Nami…" Nojiko muttered.

-Flashback ends-

"Back then. I just couldn't believe what you'd done. So I questioned Nojiko. From then on everyone in the village knew that in order to save the village you joined Arlong's crew. But, we pretended not to know, so that if you ever wanted to run away from Arlong our hopes wouldn't pull you back into his crew." Genzo admitted.

"Can't be…" Nami muttered.

"What are you guys talking about? Are you saying that the whole village is in on the theft and wants to be arrested? Is that it?" Well Nezumi sure knew how to ignore the point…

"We are saying that we are fighting for our own lives!" Nojiko replied. "Because you Marines can't be relied upon!" She stated, Nezumi turned around to face the girl. "If you have no intention of saving this village then get the hell outta here! If you stick around you'll be Arlong's target as well."

"Arlong's target? I wonder…" Nezumi said. Nami's eyes widened a bit. "You still haven't found it? It's not like we are searching for a grain of rice! It's 100 million beri!" Whether he said that on purpose or not it was clear that Nami, Nojiko and Genzo realized just what was going on…

"Hey, you bastard! How do you know the amount?!" Genzo's fists trmebled as he asked that.

"Hm? Ah. 100 million beri. Well I just had a feeling it would be around that much." Nezumi mocked them.

Genzo glared at him dangerously but he couldn't exactly do something. Nojiko gritted her teeth as well. Nami found it hard to breathe normally as her eyes widened.

"Don't tell me…" Her tone was painfully disheartening. Arlong's laugh echoed through her brain as despair stepped out of the way and allowed anger to take over. "Don't tell me Arlong sent you here?!"

Nezumi simply smirked. "Who knows." He all but confirmed it. "As government officials, we are just doing what's necessary to persecute the thieves."

"You corrupt bastards!" Genzo yelled.

"How could the marines stoop so low as to be pirates' lapdogs?!" Nojiko asked loudly.

"_Arlong_!" Nami bitterly thought as she tightened her hold on the staff.

"Its here!" one of the marines said the words the three of them didn't want to hear.

Nezumi knelt in front of the large chest and opened it. "Ohooo! This is amazing! That little girl sure did gather a lot!" Gold, money pretty much anything one could ask for was in there, however one thing indicated the suffering Nami went through to get it, most of the money was stained with blood…

"But it's all stained in blood and in the bad shape." One of the marines commented.

"Who cares? Money is money. Chichichichi." Nezumi simply said. "_And one third of this is all mine_."

Nami was enraged. "Don't touch it." She kept repeating it, she was breathing the words out in a rather quite tone, she was on the verge of hyperventilation if she wasn't already…

"Nami!" Nojiko called her as she and Genzo ran to catch up with her.

"Don't touch it… Don't touch it. DON'T TOUCH IT!" Nami screamed.

Nezumi pulled out a gun and pointed it at the orange haired thief.

Without a single bit of care about the gun that was pointed at her Nami began running toward Nezumi. As the man smirked Genzo managed to grab Nami's wrist enough to slow her down and allow Nojiko to stand in front of Nami. She screamed and then Nezumi fired…

The bullet hit Nojiko and she began falling down. "Nami…" She muttered.

Nami's eyes widened as her rage disappeared. Genzo looked as shocked as Nami as Nojiko dropped to her knees and then to the side.

"Nojiko!" Nami was immediately kneeling next to her sister fearing the worst. "NOJIKO!" Nami screamed…

-With Luffy-

Luffy sat under a tree with his legs crossed and arms behind his back, he was looking at the skies. "A pinwheel, huh?" He remembered the pinwheel on Genzo's hat. "That was so cool!" Suddenly he grinned. "Oh! I just thought of a good move!"

"Doctor! Doctor!" Genzo suddenly yelled and the commotion was made on the road.

"What happened, Gen-san?" One of the villagers asked. Luffy looked at the mass and saw Nami there.

"Nojiko's been shot!" Genzo explained as Nako ran up to them.

"By who?" Nako demanded.

"The Marines." Genzo replied as he, Nami and Nako knelt down.

"The Marines?" Nako asked.

Luffy recognized Nami and smiled widely.

"Nojiko." Genzo called her.

"I… I'm fine." Nojiko assured them, her head was resting in Nami's lap.

"Arlong was collaborating with the Marines." Genzo revealed.

"What?" Nako asked in surprise.

"He turned his back on Nami eight years ago and never intended to keep the promise." Genzo's words made the villagers angry.

"What?" One of them asked furiously.

"What? That means…" One of the woman realized.

"That bastard! Our Na-chan…" Another one cursed.

Nami gritted her teeth both out of anger and the tears she fought back.

"Na-chan…" Another woman spoke up.

Nami lowered Nojiko's head on the ground and stood up.

"Nami…" Nako muttered.

"Luffy ran up to the crowd. "Yo, Nami!" He greeted her happily. "What's up? Can I help with something?" He asked.

She turned around and furiously glared at him. "You're STILL here?!" She grabbed him by the vest. "This is none of your business! Get off this island!" She yelled and then pushed him to the ground, he skidded across the road and Nami ran off.

"_Arlong… Arlong! Arlong!_" She repeated his name angrily in her thoughts as she ran as fast as she could.

'Of course. If there is money involved, I'd rather die than break a promise. I don't care how many years it takes, I'll keep my end of the deal.'

"_ARLONG!_"

-With Luffy-

Luffy sat back down under the tree, he was clearly pouting because of what Nami did to him. "What's her problem?" He asked as a child would when someone didn't want to play with him.

"Princess'?" He heard Vergil's voice.

"Ah! Vergil!" Luffy happily greeted him as he jumped to his feet.

"What, she turned you down?" Vergil teased a bit.

"She tossed me to the ground…" Luffy pouted.

"Something must have happened. How about I go get the crew?" Vergil suggested.

"Sure." Luffy agreed as he got over Nami's outburst.

-Arlong Park-

"Arlong!" Nami yelled as she marched into the park.

"Yo, what's up? My prized cartographer. What's that look on your face?" Arlong asked even though he knew what was going on.

"Those Marines you sent took all of my money." She grabbed Arlong by the collars of his shirt. "Didn't you say you would die before you broke a promise involving money?! Right?! WHY?!" Nami demanded an answer. She was however slammed against the wall by none other than Krim.

"The trash finally snaps. Get your worthless hands off and pipe down." Krim hissed at her, Nami knew that would hurt her but since her throat was still a bit sore from when he last choked her it hurt more…

"Exactly when did I break my promise?" Arlong asked. He was clearly mocking her.

"Don't play dumb! You used Marines to…" She was about to say but she was abruptly stopped when Krim punched her in the guts, it wasn't enough to break anything but it was exactly enough to show her that she couldn't do a thing against him if he tried seriously… Nami gasped for air as she tried to break his hold on her.

"When did I break my promise?" Arlong asked. "Tell me."

Krim moved his hand up and grabbed her chin as Arlong and other Fishmen laughed. The demon smirked evilly at her as tears began falling down her cheeks and onto the demon's hand.

"_Damn it… Damn it. Damn it!_" She cursed.

Arlong chuckled. "Is that so? All your money was taken away? That's unfortunate. However, a promise is a promise. Unless you bring 100 million beri before my eyes, I can't release that village." Arlong mocked.

"You scum!" Nami spat out earning herself another punch, this time she coughed up a bit of blood.

"Shahahahaha! It's only 100 million beri. You can just gather it again. Shahahaha! Or are you going to escape?" Once agains he was mocking her, hitting exactly where it hurt… "However you know, if you run away I'll kill everyone in the Cocoyashi village."

Nami's eyes widened at that as she remembered Genzo's words.

'Back then. I just couldn't believe what you'd done. So I questioned Nojiko. From then on everyone in the village knew that in order to save the village you joined Arlong's crew. But, we pretended not to know, so that if you ever wanted to run away from Arlong our hopes wouldn't pull you back into his crew.'

"Let her go now, Krim." Arlong said and Krim did as he was told.

As soon as she was free Nami ran off.

"Running away finally? Shahahaha!" Arlong laughed.

"It's okay? If we don't chase her?" Hachi asked.

"Chase her? Why? There's no way she'd escape. She can't forfeit the lives of the villagers." Arlong assured him.

"But, what a devious trick that was." Chew commented.

"I can't let a refined cartographer like Nami get away. But still, I'm not a demon. Once she draws up maps of the whole world, then I'll set her free." Arlong stated.

"Was that supposed to be a compliment." Krim said with a smirk on his face.

"Even I'm not as cruel as you." Arlong stated.

"Indeed. If it was up to me, her village would be destroyed and she'd spend the rest of her life locked up and drawing maps." Krim said.

Fishmen and Krim laughed.

-With Zoro-

"Okay!" Usopp exclaimed as he stood up. "Let's go meet up with Luffy and Vergil as soon as possible!" he then noticed that Sanji was still sitting. "hey Sanji, what are you doing?"

"I'm cherishing this happiness." Sanji replied.

"What are you talking about?" Usopp asked.

"Nami-san has suffered a lot. Much more than anybody." He lit his cigarette. "And I'm going to take away all that suffering. Is there anything better than that?"

"To stop the suffering even before it happened. But none of us could have done that." Vergil said as he walked up to them.

"Well, yes, but anything better at this point." Sanji stated.

"I guess nothing." Vergil agreed eventually.

"Your motives are obvious. Love Cook." Usopp scolded the cook.

Sanji stood up. "What's wrong with fighting for someone beautiful?" Sanji asked.

"It's not like that. We are doing this for everyone in the village too." Usopp said.

"I don't know about you, but I'm doing this solely for Nami." Vergil stated.

"I thought that at least you'd agree! And what's with that jacket?" Usopp asked, the last time he saw Vergil he didn't have the jacket on. It was black leather jacket with white mark on its back, it had surprisingly high collar and three blood red belts on the forearm parts of the sleeves. The jacket also had two horizontal straps on the biceps parts and shoulder blades of the same shade. It was unzipped so Vergil's shirt was still visible.

"I'm a demon. My motives are rather selfish, if it's saving Princess then I'm going to crush that crew, if it has nothing to do with her I won't move a single finger to interfere unless Luffy orders me to. I got the jacket from Going Merry, it was on the ship when we got back onto it at Rashca, the demon that saved me must have left it there. It's a jacket I used to wear as a Demon Hunter, well more precisely as a part of a certain battle squad. I'm not fighting just as a pirate, I'm taking Krim down as a Demon Hunter." Vergil stated.

Zoro stood up. "You came to get us, didn't you?" He asked.

"Yeah, let's go." Vergil said.

-Cocoyashi village-

The villagers have gathered.

"This is as far as it goes." Genzo stated. "Get your weapons! We're gonna fight!"

"YEAH!" They all exclaimed.

-With Nami-

Nami ran toard her village hoping to stop them before it was too late.

"_Gen-san… Everyone… Please! Don't be rash! You can't die! Everything will be over!_" She thought as she panted, tears began forming in her eyes yet again. "_You have to survive or everything will be over!_" By now she was once again crying.

-In the village-

"Eight years ago, we said we'd never throw our lives away! That no matter how bad their abuse over us became. As long as Nami was fine, we were going to continue our fight of endurance! But this is how they answer back! Now that there is no way for this village to be freed, we have no goal to survive for! Furthermore! We will not forgive them for preying on Nami's kindness! Are there any objections?!" Genzo pumped them all up for a battle.

"No way! Let's fight! / We're already prepared to fight! / We're not gonna take it any longer!" They replied.

"YEAH!" Together, they raised what they could use to fight,

"Wait! Everybody!" Nami exclaimed as she walked up to them.

The cheers stopped as they all turned to face the girl they loved so much.

"Nami!" Nojiko said.

The girl in question was smiling. "Just wait… Just wait a little longer! I'm going to try again! I'll get the money again! It'll be easier this time! I have lots of experience! It's okay. You don't have to worry!" It was clear that she was in denial, that she simply wanted them to live… "Compared to that time…"

The image of Bell-mere dying, her and Nojiko crying out for her and then herself crying that she doesn't want anyone else to die flashed in front of her.

"Everybody, I'm fine! I'm fine so…" She tried to make them give up on the suicidal plan.

Genzo walked up to her and pulled her into a hug thus making her eyes widen.

A tear fell down Genzo's cheek. "That's enough. We know what futility is like. You fought well for our sake. It must have been more painful for you to join that crew, more painful than it is to get hurt." Genzo's voice was trembling. "You fought well." He told her and tears fell down her cheeks.

"Gen-san…" She muttered.

They separated. "Now, leave this village."

"Eh? Gen-san!" Nami tried to argue.

"Do it, Nami." Nojiko told her.

"I can't!" Nami argued.

"Na-chan. / Nami." The villagers encouraged her.

"You've got brains and you've got a dream." Nojiko said.

"Nojiko! Everybody! I won't let you!" She pulled out a knife and pointed it at the villagers. "Stop it everyone! I don't want to see anyone get hurt anymore!" She was on the verge of tears. "You're gonna die!"

"We know." Genzo said and grabbed her knife. Nami gasped as Genzo gripped it so hard that it cut into his palm.

"It's useless. We've already decided in our hearts." Nako stated.

"OUT OF THE WAY, NAMI!" Genzo yelled at her. He unsheathed his sword. "Let's go, everyone! Even if we can't win we'll show them our pride!" Genzo exclaimed.

"YEAH!" The villagers let out a battle cry and then left Nami alone as they rushed toward Arlong Park…

The knife fell out of Nami's hand as she dropped to her knees. She could hear Arlong laughing at her as she cried, she turned her head to look at the despised tattoo… She slowly approached her shaky hand to it and touched it. She gripped onto the skin almost as if her intention was to tear it away.

"_Arlong_." She thought as she grabbed the knife. "ARLONG!" She screamed and cut into the flesh of her hand, exactly at the tattoo. "ARLONG!" She stabbed again and again. "ARLONG! ARLONG! ARLONG!" Luffy was behind her, watching her as she injured herself. "ARLONG!" By now, the knife was stained with blood. "ARLONG! ARLONG! ARLONG!" She kept screaming the name. "Ar…!" She was finally forced to stop when Luffy grabbed her wrist.

Nami turned to look at the reason why she stopped. "Luffy…" She muttered.

The rubber man just watched her as the bloody knife fell down.

"What do you want? You don't know anything. You don't know what's been happening for the past eight years on this island." She said.

"Yeah. I don't know." Luffy agreed.

She was shaking. "This is none of your business! I told you to get off this island, didn't I?" She asked as she dug her fingers into the dirt.

"Yeah. You told me." Luffy replied bluntly.

"Go away." She said as she threw the dirt at Luffy. "You! Go away! Go away! Go away! Go AWAY! GO AWAY! GO AWAY! GO AWAY! Go away! Go away! Go away…" As much as she told him to, he just remained standing there as she threw more dirt at him. She began crying again as she covered her mouth.

She lifted her head up a bit. "Luffy…" She barely whispered and turned to look at him "Help me." She pleaded as more tears fell down.

Luffy took his hat and placed it on Nami's head.

He walked a bit away from her and then replied. "DAMN RIGHT!" He yelled at top of his voice.

Nami's eyes widened as she remembered Luffy's reaction back at Orange town.

'Don't touch my treasure!' He said as he held onto the hat.

"Luffy…" She muttered as she looked at him, he began walking toward the rest of his crew.

"Vergil?" Usopp questioned as Vergil stepped toward Luffy and Nami.

"Give me a minute." Vergil stated and Luffy nodded.

Nami watched the white haired demon as he walked up to her and then knelt down. He took a good look at her and noticed barely noticeable trail of blood at the corner of her lips, it was small but visible when one took a good look at it. He reached out and wiped the blood away making her eyes widen as she realized she forgot to wipe it off in all that rush.

She winced as he softly touched her stomach, with the adrenaline gone the pain in her stomach was pretty much apparent to her. It was the most obvious place to hit so he reached out and touched it first and his eyes widened.

"He did this, didn't he?" Vergil asked her, he may have sounded calm but he was far from it.

Nami knew that he was talking about Krim and nodded.

He stood up and took a couple of steps toward the crew.

"Princess… I'm not going to beat him…" He said making the entire crew look at him.

His eyes were dangerously flashing from pure golden to normal ones as sparks surrounded him "I'M GOING TO OBLITERATE HIM TO THE POINT OF THERE NOT BEING ANYTHING LEFT TO BURY!" He yelled.

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_**That's it. **__**Either way Vergil's speech about destroying and protecting, the words 'destroy' and 'protect' were for the most part used as a metaphorical kind of speaking.**_

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_**Next Chapter – Straw Hats VS Fishmen Pirates**_


	50. Straw Hats VS Fishmen Pirates

_**Answers on reviews:**_

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_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you for the review.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**ShirayukiHime. SnowIce – Thank you for the review, I'm glad you think so.**_

_**Miguemaster – Thank you for the review. I hope this is soon enough.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review, I'm happy to hear you like it.**_

_**Fireblack – Thank you for the review.**_

_**OPFan37 – Thank you for the review. I completely understand your hate for Nezumi and Arlong and agree with you about what you said about both characters. I honestly doubt a real One Piece fan wouldn't know the walk to the Arlong Park scene, I just hope I have delivered it well enough.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 50 – Straw Hats VS Fishmen Pirates**_

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"Princess… I'm not going to beat him…" He said making the entire crew look at him.

His eyes were dangerously flashing from pure golden to normal ones as sparks surrounded him "I'M GOING TO OBLITERATE HIM TO THE POINT OF THERE NOT BEING ANYTHING LEFT TO BURY!" He yelled.

Zoro smirked at the statement.

"Heh, shitty demon." Sanji commented with a somewhat of a respecting grin on his face.

Usopp screamed and no one could exactly blame him because of that.

Luffy nodded, there was no need for any other reaction.

"Vergil…" Nami muttered.

"We're going." Luffy stated.

"Right!" The other four exclaimed.

Nami continued crying as she watched the five of them leave.

-In front of Arlong Park's gates-

Villagers were stopped by beaten up Johnny and Yosaku.

"Hey. Are you guys okay?" One of them asked.

"Were you beaten up by Arlong?" Nako asked.

"Out of the way. We've come to see the Fishmen." Genzo told the two of them.

"After finding out the truth about Nami-aneki. There was only one thing left to do. Beat Arlong. With that in mind we came here." Johnny stated.

"But we lost by a hair thin." Yosaku said, although it didn't look like it was that close…

"No offense, but we ain't moving for you guys. You have no chances of winning." Johnny told the villagers.

"What?" Genzo asked.

"We are waiting for 'those guys' to come." Yosaku revealed.

"'Those guys'?" Genzo repeated, he as confused as to who exactly they were waiting for.

"Bet your life on it. 'Those guys' will definitely come!" Yosaku stated.

From the left to right Zoro, Vergil, Luffy, Sanji and finally Usopp were walking down the road toward them.

"There!" Two swordsman exclaimed as they stood up.

The villagers turned to look at the Straw Hat pirates.

Zoro was holding his remaining sword in his right hand, it was leaned against his shoulder and he was ready to use it. Vergil seemed a lot calmer now but the murderous intent in his eyes was rather clear. Luffy was for once dead serious. Sanji had his hands in his pockets. And finally Usopp looked ready for the battle as well as he for once bravely walked forward. All in all no one would want to stand in the path of these pirates now.

"Them…" Nojiko muttered.

"Those guys? What about them…?" Genzo asked.

"If those guys can't stand up to them, then there's no hope, not only for this island, but for the whole East Blue." Yosaku stated.

"Remember the faces of those five that have come to change the future." Johnny added.

"Move." Luffy said as they finally got close to the villagers.

"Shahahahahaha! Hey! Do you think those two idiots were part of Zoro's crew?" Arlong asked, he was clearly mocking Johnny and Yosaku's attempt to beat him and his crew.

"Zoro's? They were far too weak." Kuroobi stated. "they weren't even worth killing."

"So true! Shahaha!" Arlong laughed but his laugh stopped when his gates got blown into pieces when Vergil and Luffy smashed their fists into it.

Two pirates stood in front of the place that once had a gate.

"What the…?" Arlong exclaimed.

"Which one's Arlong?" Luffy asked as he raised his fist.

Vergil surveyed the crew and then located Krim. The rage was evident in his eyes as he glared at the water demon who slowly took a step back.

-With Nami-

Nami was still on the ground, crying softly as clouds began to darken above her. Tears fell onto her lap and then the wind blew, it almost blew away the straw hat but she caught it just in time, it also pulled her out of the trans.

'DAMN RIGHT!'

"Luffy…" She muttered, much to her surprise a thunder roared in the skies.

'I'M GOING TO OBLITERATE HIM TO THE POINT OF THERE NOT BEING ANYTHING LEFT TO BURY!'

"Vergil…" This time she mumbled.

-Arlong Park-

"Arlong?" Arlong repeated. "Arlong would be my name."

"I'm Luffy." Luffy simply stated, his tone was however much more serious.

"Luffy?" Arlong repeated.

Krim on the other hand smirked a bit.

"_There_ _is no way he is that Black Thunder, the amount of power he has is even lower than mine._" Krim thought as he regained his confidence.

"And who are you?" Arlong asked.

"A pirate." Luffy declared.

Hachi suddenly realized who Luffy was. "It's him!" He exclaimed as he pointed at Luffy. "He's here! The big bro who likes to take walks!" Hachi said.

"Not so fast there, you!" One of the Fishmen said.

"Hehehe. Where do you think you are going?" Another one asked as Luffy got closer and closer to Arlong.

"You got some explaining to do to us first, bro." The first one stated.

Two Fishmen blocked Luffy's path, in fact one placed his hands on Luffy's shoulders.

"Hey now." The first one scolded him.

"If you don't stop…" The second one went to say but Luffy grabbed them by their shoulders and slammed their heads together.

"Out of the way!" Luffy told them.

The two Fishmen fell down and Arlong's eyes widened as other FIshmen looked at Luffy with their mouths wide open. Krim looked at Luffy with mild interest but then turned back to Vergil who was yet to move.

"And what does a pirate want with me?" Arlong asked.

Luffy looked at him and grabbed the wrist of his right hand as he prepared to punch. Vergil took that as a signal that he is free to attack as well and clenched his fist.

Finally Luffy slammed his fist against Arlong's face with a battle cry and Vergil Demon Flashed directly in front of surprised Krim and landed a lightning infused punch on demon's guts. Both Arlong and Krim were sent flying into the wall by the forces of the punches.

Fishmen that remained there looked even more surprised than before and they weren't the only ones, most of the villagers were shocked as well.

Arlong raised his head and glared at Luffy. "Who the hell are you?" He asked.

Luffy blew steam from his nose.

"The hell are you attacking your own kind?" Krim asked.

Vergil remained silent.

-Luffy's flashback-

Nami began crying again as she covered her mouth. She lifted her head up a bit. "Luffy…" She barely whispered and turned to look at him "Help me." She pleaded as more tears fell down.

-Vergil's flashback-

Nami winced as he softly touched her stomach, with the adrenaline gone the pain in her stomach was pretty much apparent to her. It was the most obvious place to hit so he reached out and touched it first and his eyes widened.

-Flashbacks end-

"DON'T YOU DARE MAKE MY NAVIGATOR CRY! / BECAUSE YOU MADE HER SUFFER!" Luffy and Vergil replied at the same time.

"You bastards! How dare you attack Arlong-san and Krim-san?!" FIshmen went and attacked the duo.

Before they could even react, they were kicked away.

"You weaklings stay out of this!" Sanji exclaimed.

Arlong looked furious as his crewmates got beaten.

"Honestly…" Sanji began as he joined Luffy and Vergil. "Bursting in just like that…" He complained.

"It's not like I'm going to lose even if I was alone." Luffy replied.

"Idiot. Since when did I say I was worried about you? I'm just telling you not to hog all the prey." Sanji told him.

"Oh, okay." Luffy replied in understanding.

"You can take the weaklings." Vergil stated.

"U-uh… I don't really mind. If you hog them all." Usopp assured them.

"That's some bravery you've got there." Zoro commented.

"Aaahh!" Hachi screamed once he saw Zoro. "That's him!" He shouted and pointed at Zoro. "That's an unknown swordsman!"

"That's Roronoa Zoro." Kuroobi stated.

"As I thought, I knew it! He's the one who tricked me! He rode me… I mean I gave him a ride…" Hachi said.

"Seriously Zoro? You were so ruthless to trick an idiot." Vergil said as he grinned for the first time in a while.

"It's not my fault he's stupid." Zoro replied.

"Fair point." Vergil agreed.

"Look, that long nose!" One of the Fishman noticed Usopp as well.

"Nyuuu! But Nami killed that guy!" Hachi exclaimed.

"He's alive. Which means…" Chew began.

"I knew it! I was right all along. That woman's a traitor." Kuroobi confirmed it.

Zoro glared at them, Usopp tried to look brave, Luffy cracked his knuckles, Sanji loosened his tie a bit and a couple of sparks circled around Vergil's right fist.

"Hey, who are those guys?" One of the villagers asked.

"Hold up." Johnny and Yosaku stopped them and crossed their swords in front of the people.

"They blew Arlong and Krim away." Nako said, he still found it hard to believe his eyes.

"Unbelievable!" One of the villagers said what pretty much everyone was thinking.

"That is not something a normal human can do!" Genzo added.

"Those guys…" Nojiko muttered.

"You still wanna fight?" Yosaku asked.

"If you guys join in you'll only make things worse for them. You'd just get in their way." Johnny told them and for once what he said was true.

"But why are they fighting?" Genzo asked. "What reason do they have to fight them?" His pinwheel began spinning once again.

"A reason?" Yoskau repeated.

"Nami-aneki was crying." Johnny revealed.

"She was risking her life. Is there a need for any other reason?" Yosaku added.

Arlong chuckled. "Pirates, eh? I see, so that's the relationship between you guys. I thought you were just Nami's victims. But… Shahahahaha! What can five inferior beings possibly do?" Arlong mocked.

"Well those 'inferior beings' sent you flying so do tell me. Doesn't that make you more inferior than dirt?" Vergil mocked.

"You are a disgrace for demon kind." Krim spat.

"Sure, whatever you say. There won't be anything left of you once I'm done so I might as well let you say whatever you want." Vergil calmly stated but there was something in his tone that made Krim gulp.

"Nyahahaha! You idiots! You think Arlong-san will waste his time on the likes of you! He'll be enough for the job." Hachi said and once again called Mohmoo, this time though he wasn't calling him to give him the meal.

Villagers were near panicking.

"Could it be?" One of them asked.

"It's coming… That is…" Nojiko breathed out as her eyes widened.

The sea itself ceased being calm as waves rocked back and forth.

"Wha… What's going on?" The terrified sniper asked.

"Nyahahahaha! You guys can be his next meal!" Well he was actually calling him to give him the meal after all… "Come out! Mohmoo!"

The whirlpool appeared in the middle of the water and then a massive form began emerging.

"It… It's a monster!" Usopp panicked. "The monster from the grand Line that crushed Gosa Village!"

The beaten up crying sea cow emerged…

Hachi looked at it kinda confused. "Eh?"

"It's huge!" Usopp yelled as he grabbed the sides of his head.

The villagers were also scared as they looked at Mohmoo.

"That's…" One of them gulped.

"The sea bull, Mohmoo…" Nako said.

Mohmoo got a bit closer and then got scared as well when he saw the trio that forced him into pulling a boat.

"Oh, it's just him." Luffy commented.

"So he was the comrade of the Fishmen." Sanji said.

"The hell if I care about the cow." Vergil stated.

The images of getting electrocuted, beaten up and all the torture he went through flashed through the sea bull's mind and then he turned around as he began swimming away.

"Hold on! Mohmoo! Where do you think you are going?!" Hachi yelled at him. "Hey! Wait! Wait, I tell you, Mohmoo!"

"Mohmoo…" Arlong uttered a single word that made the bull freeze on spot. "What are you doing?" Mohmoo's eyes wavered out of fear. "Well, if you want to run away, I won't stop you… Would I, Mohmoo?" Arlong said, the smirk on his face said otherwise though…

Mohmoo's eyes went blank as he began to berserk. He attacked the crew with his mouth wide open.

"It… It's coming!" Usopp panicked as he held his arms in front of him and waved them up and down.

"Yeah! Get 'em! Follow Mohmoo!" Fishmen attacked.

Usopp kept screaming. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" He kept repeating and then began screaming once again.

Zoro and Sanji were ready to attack.

"I'll take care of him!" Luffy announced. "This is a waste of time!" He punched his fists together.

Mohmoo roared as Luffy stuck his feet into the concrete.

"What the hell is he going to do?" Sanji asked.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." Zoro said.

"That makes the two of us." Vergil agreed.

"Idiots get into the water!" Krim yelled at the Fishmen that were attacking Luffy. The rubber man was rolling his upper body.

"Huh?" Fishmen halted the attack and looked at their fist mate.

"You'll get caught into Mohmoo's attack! Get into the water." He ordered feeling the urge to kill his so called comrades.

Luffy's arms stretched just as Fishmen jumped into the water. The rubber man grabbed onto the once again crying cow's horns.

"His arms stretched!" Hachi pointed out, the pink Fishman was rather surprised.

"He possesses the power of the Devil Fruit." Arlong realized.

"What?" One of the Fishman asked.

"Who cares? Mohmoo will finish him off." Fishman said.

"Oi, run!" Zoro exclaimed as he realized that whatever Luffy was going to do could be bad for them as well.

"What? What's he going to do?!" Sanji asked.

"I dunno, but it's not going to be pretty!" Zoro said and they backed away quickly.

"**Gomu Gomu no… Pinwheel**!" Luffy began spinning his upper body around along with Mohmoo.

The Fishmen around him stood frozen as Mohmoo got thrown out of the Arlong Park.

"I didn't come here to fight these guys! The one I want to take down… IS YOU!" Luffy yelled as he pointed his finger at Arlong.

"That's perfect. I was just thinking about how I'd like to kill you too now." Arlong stated.

"_I don't want to fight weaklings either but they'll just be a nuisance_." Vergil though as he jumped into the water.

"Attack him!" Fishman roared as they went toward Vergil.

"What is that idiot doing?!" Sanji asked, one reckless act was enough in his opinion.

"**Discharge**." While underwater Vergil let out the mass amount of electricity thus pretty much frying most of the Fishmen, there could be a possibility that he even killed some of them.

"_So he isn't just a normal lightning demon_…" Krim thought as Vergil emerged on the surface of the water. With electricity being in the water neither Fishmen nor Krim could get into it…

"You two are idiots! That was dangerous you idiot!" Sanji scolded, the second part was directed at Luffy who was getting lightly kicked into the head. "And you! What'll happen if some of us fall into the water now!"

"Do you want to kill us too?!" Usopp yelled as well.

"Nope." Vergil stated as he got out of the water.

"Huh?" Luffy realized something…

The villagers watched in awe at the power the pirates have displayed.

"Such destructive power." Genzo said.

"It's unbelievable that a human who can throw a monster like that even exists!" Nako exclaimed.

"Is this the battle of this world?" Genzo wondered.

Luffy suddenly began waving left and right.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" Usopp continued scolding him.

"How dare you do that to our brethren?!" Hachi demanded.

"Looks like we have to get our hands dirty now." Kuroobi stated as Usopp began stepping back.

"I think we need to teach them the difference between our species." Chew said, even after what they saw they were pretty much sure they would win.

"So the main forces finally show themselves…" Zoro said, he was excited to finally battle against some stronger opponents.

Arlong looked like he was plotting something as he grinned with satisfaction.

"Arlong-san, Krim-san, please stay right where you are." Kuroobi said.

"If you fought out of rage, Arlong Park would turn into dust. Chu." Chew added.

"Nyuuuu! We'll take care of them!" Hachi exclaimed as he clenched his fist.

"Yeah, do whatever you like." Arlong agreed. He looked somewhat bored as he rested his cheek on his hand.

Usopp peeked from behind one of the boulders. "Scary…" He muttered quietly.

"Hey, um, wait…" Luffy tried to tell them something.

Hachi took a deep breath thus gaining the attention of Zoro and Sanji.

"Looks like the octopus is up to something." Zoro pointed out.

"First, you boil the octopus in salt water, slice, then spice the flavor with olive oil and paprika. It makes a great appetizer." Sanji told them.

"Um wait, can you hear me out?" Luffy asked.

"Is something wrong?" Vergil asked the captain.

"Take this! **Zero Visibility! Octopus 8 Black**!" Hachi spat out a stream of jet black ink.

"My feet won't move." Luffy said just in time for Vergil's eyes to widen.

"**Darkness Shield**!" Quickly a wall of darkness managed to block Hachi's ink while Zoro and Sanji jumped out of the way.

"You morons! Why didn't you just dodge it?!" Zoro demanded to know.

"I'm / He's stuck." Luffy and Vergil said.

"What were you thinking...?" Zoro facepalmed.

"Now to finish you off." Hachi said as he lifted a large part of the eaves.

"Hey, Luffy! Vergil! Get out of there!" Usopp warned them from afar.

"Ah that's the problem, I can't move." Luffy said.

"Idiot didn't you stick them into the ground in the first place?!" Usopp yelled at him.

Sanji let out a sigh as Hachi slammed the rock down onto Luffy and Vergil, or so he thought.

Suddenly the massive thing split in half much to Hachi's surprise.

Sanji was standing in front of captain and the first mate with his leg raised up. "This is just great…"

"Oooo Sanji! Nice one! Nice one!" Luffy exclaimed happily.

"Looks like I ended up with a complete moron for a captain." Sanji said.

"We are on the same boat." Zoro agreed with him.

"He's… Awesome!" Usopp exclaimed, he was simply amazed by Sanji's kick.

"Well, at least it's hundred times better, than being with a bunch of low-lives who hurt a lady." Sanji stated.

"Don't insult low-lives Sanji." Vergil argued.

Sanji grinned. "You're right. My apologies to the low-lives." He said.

"A lady?" Kuroobi repeated. "Hm, you came all the way here for 'that kind' of woman? You guys make me laugh." Kuroobi mocked.

"'That kind of woman'? Say that about Nami-san again and I'll cook you in a buttered frying pan making you into Meuniere, Fish-man." Sanji threatened.

"You look like you can fight, for a human. But a pirate who fights by chivalry can only be mediocre." Kuroobi said.

"Why don't you see for yourself if my chivalry is mediocre? I was raised by an unbeatable pirate." Sanji replied.

"Seems like you are really unfamiliar with the superiority of the Fishman race." Kuroobi said as he cracked his knuckles.

Sanji clenched his fists as Kuroobi took a karate like stance.

Usopp was on the other hand trying to pull Luffy out.

"Let me take care of this." Vergil said as he went to smash the concrete.

"Not going to happen." Krim said and then **Demon Flashed** to Vergil's left. The white haired demon was forced to cross his arms to block the incoming punch.

"Nyu! Krim-san! We can handle this!" Hachi assured the demon.

"I want to take this traitorous filth down on my own." Krim said.

"Be my guest and try. I want to obliterate you as well." Vergil said and then turned to Usopp. "Sorry but you'll have to pull Luffy out on your own."

Vergil allowed Krim to push him toward the water and then grabbed the demon's forearm and pulled him along. Krim's eyes widened as they both landed into still electrified water.

"I still ain't getting free." Luffy said.

"Not yet? Can't you pull 'em out yet?" Usopp asked.

"Not yet." Luffy said as he picked his nose. "I don't think I can get out just by stretching."

Usopp's teeth turned into that of a shark. "Are you eve trying?!" He snapped. "Do you even want to free your legs?!"

"What are those two fooling around for?" Hachi wondered. "This is Arlong Park for crying out loud." Hachi once again lifted a slightly smaller rock and was about to throw it at Usopp who began running away. "I'll kill you!"

Usopp was still stretching Luffy out as he tried to escape. "Crap, crap! Come on damn it! Pull them out!" Usopp urged Luffy. "We gotta get out of here!"

"Wait!" Hachi yelled.

"Hey, octopus." Zoro called as he placed his sheathed sword in front of Hachi. "Those two are busy. I'll be your opponent." Zoro declared.

Hachi turned his attention at Zoro. "Nyu! Roronoa Zoro! I almost forgot about you! How dare you trick me?!" Hachi slammed the rock down but Zoro jumped out of the way. "That's right, then you also killed some of my brethren!"

"I'm not interested in any of that old news. Your reason for wanting me dead… I don't care about it." Zoro stated rather coolly. "The situation changed. It's not you who wants to kill us. It's us who want to kill YOU!" With that being said Zoro half unsheathed his Wado Ichimonji.

"Nyuu."

"Alright Zoro, I'll let you have the octopus." Usopp said as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. "nice." He then gave him a thumb up with his other hand which also resulted in Luffy snapping back to his original position, though not before slamming into Chew…

"I'm back to where I started." Luffy said to himself as Chew lied on the ground.

Chew sat up and glared at Usopp. "Bastard!"

"Goodbye…" Usopp cried as he bid his farewell to the world.

"Looks like you really want to be killed by me…" Chew began running toward Usopp who was already running away.

The long nosed liar ran out of the bounds of Arlong Park and down the road.

"Isn't that the guy who saved Gen-san?" One of the villagers asked.

Chew stopped when he saw the villagers. "Aren't you guys from the Cocoyashi village?" He asked them. "Seeing as you have all these weapons I take it you guys are rebelling. You guys are all…"

"**Flame Star**!" Suddenly he was hit by one of Usopp's stars. Flames burnt at his skin and he stepped back

"Usopp-aniki!" Johnny and Yosaku exclaimed.

Flames died out as Usopp stood bravely as far away as he could. "Your opponent is ME!" He declared.

Chew jumped back to his feet. "If you want to be killed so badly, I'll kill you right now!" He threatened and began chasing after Usopp once again.

Usopp ran off screaming and leaving the villagers confused.

"What's with that guy?" Genzo wondered.

"He stands up to fight and then he runs away… He's a strange one." Nako concluded.

Usopp kept running as quickly as he could.

"Get back here you long nose!" Chew demanded angrily.

"Hey, same with your mouth!" Usopp exclaimed, he was clearly saying that Chew's mouth were also long so he had no right to talk about Usopp's nose.

"_Why did these guys become pirates?"_ Nojiko wondered.

Arlong stood up and began walking toward Luffy. "Same old, same old. Move. This is getting boring, I can't stand just watching." Arlong ordered.

"Arlong-san, I thought we asked you not to get violent here." Kuroobi reminded him.

"I'm not going to. I just thought of an interesting game." Arlong stated.

Underwater Vergil's eyes widened.

"_So that's why…_" He realized as a mass of water protected Krim from the electricity.

"You realized it huh? Why Kaltag-sama chose me." Krim mocked.

Due to being unable to breath underwater Vergil settled for a glare. "_This just made things harder…_" He realized.

* * *

_**And that's it. I can't believe it's already been 50 chapters, so far I went through a movie, a special, two original arcs, 38 anime episodes and 83 manga chapters. Honestly I'm quite pleased. Thank you everyone for your support.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Zoro VS Hachi**_


	51. Zoro VS Hachi

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Guest – Thank you.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you very much.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**Piemaster981 – Thank you for the review, sorry but I hope the wait wasn't too long. I won't spoil the end of that battle.**_

_**ShirayukiHime. SnowIce – Thank you very much, soon enough he will.**_

_**Son of Whitebeard – Well I'll be honest, that's a strange choice…**_

_**OPFan37 – Thank you for the review, well I guess there are people who feel bad for the cow. Well not much else I can say but thank you.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you for the review, I'm happy you like it.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 51 – Zoro VS Hachi**_

* * *

"Arlong-san, I thought we asked you not to get violent here." Kuroobi reminded him.

"I'm not going to. I just thought of an interesting game." Arlong stated.

"Game?" The confused octopus repeated.

"I'm gonna DESTROY YOU!" Luffy yelled as he tried to punch Arlong. The large Fishman just moved his head to the side and dodged the incoming fist.

As Luffy's arm retracted Arlong caught his wrist making Luffy gap a bit.

"Do you guys seriously think you can win against us?" Arlong asked.

"So what about it?" Sanji questioned with a smirk on his face.

"Of course we thing that, you idiot! Let go of my hand!" Luffy demanded.

"Seems like he wants to say something." Zoro added.

Arlong lowered himself to one knee and stabbed his hand into the concrete.

"Hm?" Luffy just looked at Arlong's action feeling a bit confused.

Zoro and Sanji's eyes widened as Arlong pulled out a large piece of concrete and Luffy along with it. The Fishman raised it above his head.

"Whoa! What the, what's going on?" Luffy exclaimed.

"People who possess the power of the Devil Fruits are the hammers! Well even if you didn't have those powers, you'd still sink in this situation." Arlong said thus indicating his plan. "Shahahaha!"

"He can't be thinking… Into the sea?!" Zoro realized.

Well Luffy wasn't going to let that happen without a fight. "**Gomu Gomu no Pistol**!" He tried to punch Arlong but the Fishman caught Luffy's arm with his teeth.

As Arlong chuckled Luffy registered the pain. "OUCH!" He bellowed.

"Idiot." Arlong mocked.

"Why you!" Luffy bit Arlong's forearm thus making the Fishman release his arm.

"Useless." Kuroobi commented.

"Shahahaha! Arlong laughed and then threw Luffy into the sea.

"Luffy!" Zoro yelled.

"Bastard!" Sanji shouted at Arlong.

Luffy hit the surface near the gates.

Vergil's eyes widened as he saw Luffy falling into the water. "_Damn it! Luffy!_" He cursed but one moment of distraction was all that Krim needed to get an upper hand as he slammed his knee against Vergil's guts.

"Don't lower your guard. Low-life traitor." Krim mocked.

"Shahahaha!" Arlong once again laughed.

Sanji began running toward the water. "I'm going to save…" Sanji began but Zoro blocked his path.

"Idiot don't get worked up! Vergil is down there. He won't let Luffy drown. The water is still electrified from Vergil's attack and even if it wasn't if you jump in you'll be right where they want you to be! The Fishmen have the upper hand in the water." Zoro reasoned with him. "We have two choices to save Luffy."

Arlong sat down to observe the battle.

"Take care of these guys quickly and then jump into the water?" Sanji guessed.

"That and leaving it to Vergil. Just in case let's do it! We don't have much time." Zoro said as he unsheathed his sword.

"Right!" Sanji agreed.

"How many seconds do you think he'll last? That rubber man." Arlong wondered.

"Ah. So this is the game that you were talking about." Hachi said.

"I see." Kuroobi added.

"Shahaha." Arlong seemed to have a laughing fit as he laughed once again.

"The fish is yours." Zoro said.

"You've got the octopus." Sanji confirmed.

Luffy was sinking lower and lower as he tried his best to hold his breath. "_I'm in trouble. I don't have any strength to move!_" He realized.

"Oh no! He can't do anything by himself like that!" Yosaku panicked.

"Luffy-aniki is going to die!" Johnny wasn't handling it much better.

Nojiko and Genzo looked worried as well.

The bubbles from Luffy's breath disappeared making Arlong laugh yet again.

"You can't even breath underwater. Humans are such an inferior beings. Shahahaha!" Arlong mocked.

"Come on! I'm your opponent, you freaking' octopus!" Zoro urged Hachi to fight.

Hachi however just laughed. "Game! A game!" He cheered.

Zoro rushed toward him. "I'll finish this in five seconds!" Zoro declared.

"No! Three seconds!" Sanji disagreed.

"Don't be in such a hurry! No matter what happens, you have no hope of living after this!" Kuroobi said and blocked Sanji's kick with his forearm.

Luffy's time was quickly ticking.

"**Octopus Eight Black**!" Hachi once again attacked with his ink but Zoro dodged it and went it for an attack of his own.

"Hold on! Luffy!" Zoro exclaimed.

-With Usopp-

Usopp kept running away. "I'm going to get killed!" He screamed.

-Arlong Park-

Vergil looked at Luffy and made a split second decision as he used Air Hike twice in the water to catapult himself as close to Luffy as possible.

"I'm not going to let you!" Krim exclaimed as a stream of water threatened to hit Vergil.

Vergil braced himself for an impact as he realized that he wouldn't have enough time to reach Luffy again if that landed so he took the best that was offered to him and grabbed Luffy's neck. The water stream hit him dead on and sent him toward the surface along with Luffy's stretched neck and head. They broke the surface and both pirates gasped for air.

"Thanks Vergil!" Luffy exclaimed as he coughed up some water.

"I'll have to leave you here." Vergil said as he reached a small part of concrete hidden from Arlong's view. "**Devil Arms, Dark Edge**." The Devil Arm appeared and Vergil used its hilt to press Luffy's neck against the ground. He however paid as much attention as possible to how much pressure it exactly put on Luffy's neck as he stuck the blade into the wall to make sure Luffy's head didn't snap back to the water. "it ain't exactly comfortable but it'll do until I get a chance to free your legs." Vergil said.

"Got it." Luffy said thus showcasing his trust in Vergil.

Vergil took a deep breath and went down to se Krim waiting for him.

"That won't help much, but here is a deal, I won't attack your captain just so I can give you a fair chance, not that it's fair to begin with since you can't breathe here." Krim mocked thus earning himself another glare from Vergil. Revenge for Nami aside he knew that the first priority was to free Luffy, if Luffy wasn't up there to fight Arlong could probably take down the rest of their nakama…

Krim torpedoed himself to Vergil and attempted to punch the white haired demon, Vergil blocked the attack and formed a ball of darkness. He fired it at Krim who swam to the side and evaded it.

"Is that all you can do?" Krim mocked.

-Above-

Zoro slashed toward Hachi's head, however the octopus lowered his head enough to dodge the blade but not enough for it not to cut his hair.

"Tch." Zoro landed on the ground as Hachi began raging.

"Nyuuu! My hair! You bastard!" Octopus angrily glared at Zoro with his fists clenched. "I'm gonna… Forgive you. I mean it's only hair, it'll grow back." Well that was, anticlimactic…

"Huh?" Well no one could actually blame Zoro for being confused at this.

"Roronoa Zoro, you can never beat me! Because I have six hands. Isn't it cool? Isn't it wonderful?" Hachi said as he wiggled his arms around.

"You damn octopus." Zoro attacked once again.

"**Special Move Octopus Catching The Blade With Bare Hands!**" Zoro slashed and Hachi clapped each pair of his hands together just a moment after the Wado Ichimonji went down…

"OW! That hurt!" Hachi cried out as he got a vertical cut down his face.

"I don't have time to play with you!" Zoro exclaimed. Sanji glanced at the panting swordsman who was currently breaking in a cold sweat. "This isn't good…" Zoro cursed under his breath.

"_He's…?_" Sanji suspected.

"Getting distracted by him will bring your death!" Kuroobi attacked Sanji at that moment.

Sanji ducked under the punch just in time. "The fish fighting the cook?!" Sanji tried to kick Kuroobi twice but both of his kicks got blocked.

"We're running out of time…" Zoro panted and then once again rushed at Hachi. "Quit struggling! This is pointless!" Zoro tried to cut him but Hachi jumped up and evaded the attack. He staggered to a stop.

"**Octopus Hachi Move Number… Nine**!" And he was just holding onto the pillar upside down while facing Zoro…

"What's with you?! Get your ass down here!" Zoro yelled at him.

"Nyu." Was the only response he got…

"You freakin' octopus…!" Zoro was acting way too exhausted right now and it was probably clear as to why he was having so much troubles…

"That octopus bastard! He's just wasting time!" Johnny realized.

"If we go in the water now, we'll be dragged to the bottom." Yosaku said.

Suddenly a blast of darkness erupted from the water and formed a straw hat and 'OK'.

"Huh?" Sanji and Zoro looked at the blast.

"_Vergil… He found some solution…_" They both realized.

-Underwater-

"_That should make them realize…_" Vergil thought as he and Krim locked in a hand to hand combat. The fact that they were in the water gave Krim an upper hand so Vergil was slightly more on defensive.

Vergil engulfed his fist with darkness and went to slam Krim's guts with it. Water demon swayed to the side and smirk but then Vergil spun in an arc and hit the side of his head with a electrified forearm. The attack may have landed but Vergil's suspicions and worst case scenario for the battle were confirmed…

"_That damn Kaltag…_" Vergil cursed as Krim regained his composure and closed the distance once again to prevent Vergil from going for the rock.

-Above-

Johnny and Yosaku looked at each other and then at the fading darkness sign. They weren't the only ones confused, the villagers and Fishmen were just as confused.

"Wasn't that captain wearing a straw hat before?" Nojiko asked the two bounty hunters.

"Well yes, but… That's it!" Yosaku realized as they turned to the villagers.

"Vergil-aniki did something to make sure Luffy-aniki won't die." Johnny said it was loud enough for villagers to hear but quiet enough for Fishmen not to hear.

"What was the point of that…?" Arlong wondered.

Sanji and Kuroobi were fighting much more than Zoro and Hachi as Sanji tried to land a successful kick on the Fishman.

"You freakin' fish bastard!" Sanji cursed as he ducked under another one of Kuroobi's punches.

Arlong just sat and observed, believing that if there was something going on underwater then Krim would take care of it.

Zoro continued breathing harder than normally. "Roronoa Zoro, can I ask you something? I've heard that you fight with three swords, why do you have only one now?" Hachi asked.

"One is just fine! You're still going to lose!" Zoro retorted.

"Hey, shut up! I haven't gotten serious yet!" Hachi once again got angry… "Truth is, human swordsman don't stand a chance against me. Wanna know why? Wanna know? You wanna know why, don't you? It'll surprise you. Astound you! Shock you!" Hachi bragged.

"_Shit! The pain is kicking in again at the worst time… Fever's getting worse, too… I thought I could just walk it off…_" Zoro admitted to himself as he struggled to stay on his feet.

"Nyu?"

Sanji gasped and Arlong glanced at Zoro. The swordsman was no longer struggling to stand but to stay conscious as well.

"Shit! I knew it. You haven't recovered from…" Sanji realized as the image of Zoro being cut by Mihawk flashed once again. "The wound that Hawk Eyes gave you…!"

"Big bro!" Johnny and Yosaku exclaimed.

"What's this? Pretending to be sick is a good strategy, a very good! But I won't fall for that! Roronoa Zoro! Let me show you my true skill!" Hachi climbed up and into one of the rooms, he got out rather quickly with one sword in each of his hands. "Behold, my real skill! Six sword fighting style!" However Zoro fell down. "Hey! Don't fall over! Don't insult me!" Hachi yelled at Zoro but the green haired man couldn't do anything to stand up right now.

"Big bro!" Yosaku called.

"I knew it! He's been enduring it all this time!" Johnny realized.

"You're right! Those were wounds that would keep a normal person from walking for half a year if they didn't kill him first!" Yosaku revealed.

"What did you say?!" Nako asked as he, Nojiko and Genzo looked at the two bounty hunters.

"I knew that it was strange that he could fight with such a straight face. Stupid, stupid bastard…" Sanji commented, the lack of attention seemed to cost the Straw Hats dearly right now as Kuroobi used the moment to punch Sanji in the guts. The cook gasped and the cigarette fell from his mouth as he got catapulted toward the wall. He hit the wall and even broke through before finally stopping far away from the villagers…

"Didn't I tell you to pay attention? I'm a 40th level Fishman Karate Master." Kuroobi revealed.

"Huh? What was that?" One of the villagers asked. "Did someone just fly through here?"

Johnny and Yosaku crawled on their knees so they could take a look.

"Big bro?" Johnny called.

"Cook-aniki?" Yosaku called as well and then they noticed Sanji.

"Cook-aniki!" Johnny yelled but Sanji didn't move one bit.

"It's over now, Arlong-san. What should we do about Roornoa Zoro?" Kuroobi asked.

"Toss his ass into the sea." Arlong ordered. "How pathetic… How boring…"

"Nyu? It's over…?" Hachi asked.

"But they really made a mess around here." Kuroobi stated.

"That's no big deal. Krim will take care of the last one and this will be over. It's all right as long as Arlong Park stands." Arlong simply said.

"You're right." Kuroobi agreed.

"You bastard! Roronoa Zoro! He was scared to death before I got to show my skill!" Hachi complained and well got an irritated look from Kuroobi. "I would have become famous if you had fallen by my blades! Well it doesn't matter. Humans still can't compete against me and my amazing six sword style! You can't touch me!" Hachi began swinging his swords around at a rather incredible speed, one that created a descent tornado.

"That's enough, Hachi. I understand how you feel, but if you get serious it might get dangerous. You want to destroy Arlong Park?" Kuroobi stopped the octopus.

"Ah, that's right. Sorry. I forgot myself there." Hachi apologized and stopped swinging the swords.

"It's fine, forget it." Kuroobi said.

"Right, sorry. Sorry." Hachi apologized again.

"Six sword style, eh?" Zoro repeated. "You are full of crap." Zoro managed to push himself up as everyone had their attention solely at him.

"Big bro!" Johnny cried out happily.

"Roronoa Zoro!" Hachi exclaimed.

"Let me just make one thing very clear, Octopus. There is someone that I must meet again! And until that day… Not even death itself can take my life away!" Zoro declared.

-With Usopp-

Well Usopp was still running and screaming, and he was still being chased by Chew…

"Shit! How fast can this long nose run?! His speed and stamina are incredible… Chu~!" Chew complained.

Usopp was grinning, a lot right now. "Hehehe. If I can distract even one of Arlong's guys… It should help Luffy and the others out. What a great idea, Usopp-sama! You are so dependable and loyal, aren't you? But that's a gift isn't it?" He arrogantly thought and then stopped running when he noticed that no one was behind him. "Huh? He's not following me anymore? Damn that's too bad." Well he didn't sound sorry at all… "Looks like I left him in my dust. He may look like a fish in the water but he's just a turtle on the land!"

"Heehee… Turtle!" He grinned at his own, joke. Uopp began jumping from one feet to another. "Yeah, yeah! Turtle, turtle!" He continued his littlee act by standing still but moving his hands up and down as if he was running. "If you really think you can catch me, try, try!" He moved to the other side and began waving around in a mocking way. "I'll dust your ass again, you lazy, lazy turtle, yeaaaaah!"

The little act was stopped when Chew stepped behind him. "Wouldn't that be you?" An irritated Fishman asked. "The one who's being lazy, I mean."

Usopp screamed as he began running away again.

"Wait!" Chew ran after him…

-Arlong Park-

Sanji grunted as he moved his arms and lit a cigarette, he brought it to his mouth and took a smoke.

Nako heard him and turned around, he gasped at what he saw. Sanji was standing up. "He's alive, that guy!"

"Big bro! Cook-aniki!" Bounty hunters cried out.

"That fish bastard's punch level is level 40?" Sanji asked as he began walking toward the hole his body made. "Then the shitty old man's kicks I always took must've been level 400." He said.

Zoro took his bandanna and while he was standing it was clear that he was at his limit.

"What's with you, Roronoa Zoro? Why do you keep pushing yourself to go on?" Hachi asked. "I don't think you can defeat me an d my six swords as you are. I think anyone in the world would say the same."

"Shut up. It's none of your business." His Wado Ichimonji was in his mouth and he had tied the bandanna around his head.

"This isn't good… Big bro's condition…" Yosaku muttered.

"The fever is probably making him lose consciousness. He's delirious." Nako said. "If that wound opens again he'll die without a doubt."

"_Why go this far?_" Genzo couldn't help but wonder.

"But he doesn't have time to think about that now!" Johnny exclaimed.

"Right! If there's anyone who knows that, it's big bro!" Yosaku added.

"I'll show you… My three sword style." Zoro declared.

"Nyu?"

"Yosaku, Johnny! Lend me your swords!" Zoro requested.

Two bounty hunters stood up. "Of course! Big bro!" Yosaku replied.

"Catch!" Johnny shouted as they threw the swords toward Zoro.

"Shit… I'm losing it. How many more minutes can I hang on?" Zoro wondered as he tried to keep his eyes open.

"Big bro here they come!" Johnny shouted.

"Don't you want to use them?" Yosaku asked.

"Heh, now you'll see the barrier that two handed humans will never surpass! **Six Sword Style**!" Hachi prepared to attack.

"Big bro watch out!" Johnny and Yosaku warned as swords closed in on Zoro.

"**Octopus Leg Danger**!" Hachi randomly swung the swords.

"Big Bro!" The two cried out.

Zoro grabbed the swords just in time and miraculously managed to read the movement of every single sword.

"**Three Sword Style**…" He blocked and dodged the blades as he waved around before he finally attacked. "**Bleeding The Wolf**!"

Blood spilled from Hachi's wounds as Zoro stood behind him still in the stance after the technique. "NYUUU!" Hachi cried out.

Kuroobi and Arlong looked at the green haired, panting, swordsman.

"Got him!" Yosaku cheered.

"The six swords didn't touch him! Big bro's awesome!" Johnny added.

The villagers watched in awe and shock as well.

"That takes such concentration and persistence as well!" Nako commented.

It was too early to celebrate as Hachi stood back up. "How could this be? I'm really mad now" I'm going to kill you!" Hachi raged. "Just think about it normally, would you?! You can't match six swords when you can only carry three yourself! Don't you get it?!" Hachi blabbered and blabbered.

"Normally? That's a major miscalculation." Zoro stated.

-Flashback-

"Why do you seek ultimate power, you weakling?" Mihawk asked.

* * *

"I will… Take her share of training and become even stronger! I'll become so strong that my name will reach the heavens! I'll become the world's greatest swordsman!" He announced with as much determination as he could muster. "We promised… I… I…"

Koshiro smiled and picked up the katana.

"That's fine." He said making Zoro look up. "Kuina's soul and dreams…" He said as he held the katana in front of him in a manner that clearly said he was passing it down. "I leave them to you." He said, his eyes were for once opened. Zoro let out a loud cry…

-Flashback ends-

Zoro's breathing became uneven once again. "Three swords…" He breathed out. "Six swords… Numbers don't matter!" Zoro's eyes snapped open as he turned to Hachi. "I may have only three swords, but all of yours will NEVER be as heavy as one of mine!"

There was a long silence between the two.

"The weight, huh?" Hachi repeated. "Now I understand. Your swords are heavier, eh? But don't think that'll help each of my swords weighs 300kg, you know! That's much heavier and more powerful than any of your swords, you moron!" Hachi didn't understand it, at all.

"It's useless talking to a moron." Zoro stated the obvious.

"**Six Sword Style, Octopus Pot Stance**!" Hachi placed the tips of his swords together. "**New Year**!" He rushed at Zoro who blocked with his swords. "**Kite Flying**!" Hachi separated the tips and thus forced Zoro's defense to crumble.

"Shit!" Zoro cursed.

Hachi took the opportunity to slam his head against Zoro's abdomen. Zoro coughed up blood at the impact. "**Body Shredder**!" Zoro was sent into the air.

"That's dirty! Aiming for his wound!" Yosaku cried out.

"Watch out!" Hachi exclaimed as he rushed forward.

"Big Bro!" Yosaku cried out.

"Big bro is going to get killed! Johnny cried.

"You won't hit the ground alive!" Hachi announced as he stood bellow Zoro and began spinning the swords above his head. "**Six Sword Style Secret Technique! Six Sword Waltz**!" Johnny gasped as he saw what Hachi was doing. "Touch this for a second and you are mincemeat! You don't have a chance!"

"Big bro!" Yosaku called as some of the villagers covered their eyes so that they wouldn't see what was about to happen.

Swords clashed rapidly, Kuroobi smirked and so did Arlong but they were wrong as the one that got sliced was Hachi.

Zoro landed on the ground as Hachi's fingers bled.

"It hurts!" Hachi cried.

"Big Bro!" Once again Johnny and Yosaku cheered.

"That jerk, he spun with me in the air and did somersaults on my swords! Then he cu my hands like some sort of circus tricks! Quit joking around! I'm not some side-show sword swallowing act! Now I'm really PISSED and I'm going to destroy you!" Hachi raged immaturely once again.

Zoro staggered a bit but remained on his feet with visible effort.

"Big bro…" Yosaku muttered. "He's in so much pain."

"That probably opened his wounds again." Nako stated.

"Ah… If only I could suffer in his place." Johnny said. He and Yosaku were crying for a long while now and it didn't seem like they would stop.

"_A wound that'd make an ordinary man unconscious… I won't lose to it_." Zoro strengthened his resolve as Mihawk's eyes flashed in front of his mind.

"**Six Sword Style! Octopus Pot Stance**! This is the end!" Hachi declared as he took the same stance as before.

Mihawk's eyes flashed in front of Zoro again. "_A wound that would kill an ordinary person… I won't lose to it_!"

"**New Year**!" Hachi tried the same attack from before.

"To face one who is extraordinary, Hawk Eyes. I can't allow myself to be ordinary!" He took his signature stance. "**Demon Slice**!" Zoro's swords clashed with Hachi's.

"Nyuuu?!" Hachi's swords broke down.

"Now do you understand the difference in the weight of our swords?" Zoro asked.

"NYUUU! **Octopus Punch**!" Hachi tired to attack Zoro with his fists but Zoro took a much more open stance spun his swords and then body around. "**Dragon Twister**!"

Hachi's body went up in the air, the octopus was without a doubt defeated and villagers, along with bounty hunters, Kuroobi and Arlong could only watch him fall down.

"Hachi!" Arlong breathed out.

"How? Three swords style… How could…?" Hachi fell down lifting a large cloud of dust when his body collided.

"Octopus jerk… You satisfied?" Zoro asked.

* * *

_**That's it, the first battle is over.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Dramatic Battle Of Sanji And Usopp**_


	52. Dramatic Battle Of Sanji And Usopp

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Guest – Thank you, I'm doing my best to keep up the pace.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you.**_

_**Piemaster981 – Thank you for the review and here is the next chapter.**_

_**alexc123 – Thanks though I can't say I'm a big fan of the kind of coward Usopp was up to this chapter.**_

_**Blazeinferno – Thank you for the review, glad you liked the battle.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 52 – Dramatic Battle Of Sanji And Usopp**_

* * *

Nami was sitting on the chair in front of her house tying the bandage around her wounded shoulder.

She made a final knot and pulled it. Tears appeared in her eyes as she coughed a bit due to the pain. Nami wiped the tears away and gulped down the sob as she stood up.

"_Enough tears. Enough talk._" She resolved and slapped her cheeks before she opened the now determination filled eyes. "_It's time to make up my mind!_" Grabbing her staff, she ran down the road. "_I've got to go! They're all fighting_."

-Arlong Park-

Zoro was sheathing his sword as he sat on the ground.

"I'm sorry Octopus, but I'm not impressed. To hell with electricity, I have to hurry up and save Luffy… If Vergil isn't back yet then there's something stopping him…" Zoro breathed out.

"Big bro watch out!" Yosaku warned.

"You fiend! How could you do that to Hachi!" Kuroobi yelled as he towered over Zoro ready to punch him.

He was however stopped when Sanji kicked him and thus pushed him back.

"Bastard!" Kuroobi hissed.

"Yeah, you thought you'd gotten rid of me that easily, eh?" Sanji said.

"Hm? I didn't think there was anyone who could stand up to my punch. Not in all of East Blue." Kuroobi stated arrogantly.

"Oh, I bet you'll find plenty who could. Especially in a certain sea restaurant." Sanji replied casually.

"You've been fooled." Kuroobi disagreed but Sanji kept smirking.

At that moment Zoro began slowly moving toward the water.

"Big Bro don't move!" Yosaku pleaded.

"Hey, stop!" Sanji scolded him. "In your condition your ass is as good as dead if you go underwater."

"Shut the hell up! Something is going on down there!" Zoro snapped.

"I guess it is, but have faith in that shitty demon, he won't let Luffy die down there." Sanji assured the swordsman.

"But he's also fighting…!" Zoro hissed.

"They'll be fine." Sanji assured him, but he was trying to assure himself as well.

-With Usopp-

And Usopp was still running away…

"He's so stubborn!" Usopp cried out.

-Arlong Park-

Sanji's leg clashed with Kuroobi's arm fin once again as the two tried to land a successful hit.

Sanji ducked under the fin and lashed his leg out, he managed to kick Kuroobi's rubs and made the Fishman stagger a bit but it wasn't enough as Kuroobi used the moment of Sanji spinning around.

"**Arm Blade Slash**!" Sanji was hit on the back of his neck and coughed up blood, he dropped to his knees but managed to evade Kuroobi's next punch by jumping to the side.

"Shitty fish…" Sanji hissed as he and Kuroobi once again exchanged blows. Sanji would try to kick the Fishman who'd resort to blocking while Sanji would duck and wave around the punches, both of them searched for an opening and finally the first one who found it was Kuroobi.

Sanji moved back a bit and Kuroobi went to punch Sanji the same way he punched him earlier when he was sent flying through the wall. This time however he managed to lash out his feet and hit the fist in the middle of the technique to block some of the damage so this time went through a much shorter distance then before. He remained on the ground though.

Kuroobi laughed as others watched.

-With Usopp-

And Usopp was still running away…

-Arlong Park-

"It was you wasn't it?" Kuroobi asked once he stopped laughing. "Who said that a man who hurts a lady is a piece of shit? But take a look! Look where your mediocre chivalry has gotten you! There's no escape for you so you'll die by my hand. I'll kill that rubber man if Krim-san already hasn't killed him and the demon. Zoro, the long-nosed guy, I'll massacre all of the villagers who revolted! And of course… That little traitor, Nami, will be no exception! Understand? In the end, once your smooth talk of chivalry ges past your mouth. Let alone Nami… You can't protect a single soul!" Kuroobi made a speech.

As he finished Sanji's eyes snapped open.

"You may have some skills, but in the end you are just a puny human." Kuroobi mocked as Sanji stood up.

"Don't get ahead of yourself you shitty fish! I'm still going to kick your small-time ass!" Sanji declared.

"You still don't understand, do you? It doesn't matter if it's underwater or on the land. It's still the same. You'll still die! I'll show you the essence of Fishman Karate. The move that blew you out of the park and the one that you just took was a **100 Tile True Punch**! But my special move is **1000 Tile True Punch**! The chances of you surviving are… Zero!" Kuroobi yelled.

Well Sanji was so far rather annoyed by the Fishman, more so after Kuroobi saying that he can't protect anyone.

Kuroobi went to take a needed stance when Sanji kicked his neck. "**Collier**!" Kuroobi slammed head first into the concrete.

"You said my chivalry was naïve?" Sanji asked angrily.

Kuroobi tried to get back up. "**Epaule**!" Sanji kicked his shoulder thus bringing him back down.

"That I can't protect anyone, huh?" He raged.

"**Cotelette**!" He dropped to one hand and kicked Kuroobi's ribs. "**Selle**!" Another kick to Kuroobi's lower back. "**Poitrine**!" He stabbed his feet into Kuroobi's chest. "**Gigot**!" Finally Sanji kicked Kuroobi's knee caps and sent the Fishman flying.

Villagers and two bounty hunters could only watch with their mouth wide open.

"Why you… Bastard!" Kuroobi still managed to stand up even after that and prepared to use the technique he previously spoke of. "**Direct Air Punch! 1000 Tile**…" He realized that Sanji was no longer in front of him.

Sanji came from the side. "**Mouton… Shot**!" He kicked Kuroobi's face and sent him flying through the building and then through the wall and finally to the fields. He wasn't going to stand up after that one anytime sooner…

Villagers watched in awe and Zoro smirked. Sanji stood up and staggered a bit backwards. "Guess you… don't need dessert."

"Kuroobi…" Arlong muttered and then turned to glance at Hachi. "Hachi…"

"In the end they are just a 'seafood salad'. A fish taking on cook? Not in a hundred years. This game… is ours." Sanji declared.

Arlong finally stood up. "You bastards… You killed so many of my beloved brethren… One after another… Don't you think you've gotten a little caught up in the moment?!" Arlong asked them angrily, the Fishman's eyes were flashing with rage.

"We still don't know what's going on down there…" Zoro reminded him.

"If we want to help those two I need to go down, but he probably won't let us do that so easily." Sanji said.

"Amazing… Really amazing! They've taken out two of Arlong's best men!" Nojiko muttered to herself.

"No one died yet, maybe…" Genzo began almost afraid to finish the hopeful thought.

"Until now I've been holding it back… I feel like I don't want to believe it, but… This battle is rekindling my hopes again!" Nojiko admitted.

"Krim and Arlong are still here, let's not get ahead of ourselves." Genzo said, even though he himself was getting hopeful as well.

-With Usopp-

Somewhere along the line Usopp had gotten beaten up and was now lying on the ground with a puddle of blood underneath him, it even looked like he was dead… But he was still alive, somehow.

"Chu! What a handful he was… So damn fast!" Chew let out a sigh. "But it only took one blast of my Water Cannon to finish him off. Heh' time to go back." He turned around and began leaving. "Things should be pretty much done back there by now."

Usopp's hand twitched and he smirked. He chuckled a bit as he looked at Chew's retreating form. He licked the blood above his lips. "_That was close! Success! Good thing I made the _**Ketchup Star**_ for a time like this_." And the blood was actually ketchup. "_He thinks he killed me with his _**Water Cannon**_ thing… I should go back now._" He slowly began standing up. "_Man, they are a horrible bunch. They took out all the poor people in that village…_" he thought as he thought back to Gosa Village.

"_I know Nami can't change things alone… And I really want to help her, but…_" He thought.

Suddenly Chew turned around and saw Usopp, still lying on the ground… "Must be my imagination."

"_But I'll gladly pass on dying! Still, besides the ketchup, I should make it look like I made more of an effort. I know! Maybe if I get myself dirty_." He began rubbing the dirt against his arms. "I could say, 'Oh! So sorry! I got lost!' or something." He began making up an excuse. "Hmm, what should I say? Maybe I should go like, 'Oh that jerk? He got away!' Nah, that will never fly, will it?"

"_We are already nakama." Luffy told him as they were about to leave the Syrup Village._

_Usopp took a couple of moments before he finally replied. "Captain… I am the captain!" He shouted as he jumped up._

_"Don't be stupid, I am the captain!" Luffy yelled!_

"'Hey, don't cry, Nami.'" He tried to make another excuse…

_"Princess… I'm not going to beat him…" Vergil said making the entire crew look at him._

_His eyes were dangerously flashing from pure golden to normal ones as sparks surrounded him "I'M GOING TO OBLITERATE HIM TO THE POINT OF THERE NOT BEING ANYTHING LEFT TO BURY!" He yelled._

"'We tried our best'."

_"Yes. And that's called 'losing'." Mihawk stated._

_Zoro let out a short laughter. "That's why I can't step back."_

_"Even if it means death?" Hawk Eyes asked him._

_"Death may be better!" Zoro announced without a single moment of hesitation._

"Or… 'Well we each fought our hardest!" Every excuse he was giving was slowly getting weaker and weaker, not by words but by his willingness to say it.

_Sanji was standing in front of captain and the first mate with his leg raised up. "This is just great…"_

_"Oooo Sanji! Nice one! Nice one!" Luffy exclaimed happily._

_"Looks like I ended up with a complete moron for a captain." Sanji said._

_"Well, at least it's hundred times better, than being with a bunch of low-lives who hurt a lady." Sanji stated._

"Or… 'I was in a deadly situation!'."

_"For my business." Nami said._

_She had stabbed her own hand…_

_"This is the only thing I can do." She said._

"Or… 'My wounds aren't that serious…'."

_"Nami-aneki was crying." Johnny revealed._

_"She was risking her life. Is there a need for any other reason?" Yosaku added._

_"For a 10 years old girl to decide to fight alone and struggle to survive… Do you understand how hard it must have been?" Nojiko concluded the story._

_"Let's go, everyone! Even if we can't win we'll show them our pride!" Genzo exclaimed._

_"YEAH!" The villagers let out a battle cry and then left Nami alone as they rushed toward Arlong Park…_

"Or… 'M-My b-battle was…'." He began crying. "'That was… why…'" he could clearly see Kaya, Tamanegi, Piiman and Ninjin in front of his eyes. He stood up. "You ain't seen nothing yet!" Usopp wiped the tears in his eyes and turned to face Chew. "WAIT RIGHT THERE, YOU FISH FREAK!"

"Oh? You're still not dead? Chu!" Chew asked as he turned to Usopp.

"Of course not!" Usopp replied as he bravely stood there. He may have been scared of Chew but he was brave enough to stand and fight and that was what counted in the end. "I Won't die from some stupid **Water Cannon**!" He declared as he began looking for something in his bad. "_When I left Syrup Village, I left everything behind! Tranquility… Safety…_" He took out his slingshot. "_They face hardships every day, and they are laughing like they're really having fun!"_ The image of the crew all happy flashed in his mind.

Chew was approaching him. "_That's why I decided to go out to sea! I want to laugh until I cry, too! But if I don't fight with everything I've got, there's no way I deserve to be on the same boat as them!_" Chew jumped toward him as he prepared to shoot. "THERE'S NO WAY I CAN LAUGH WITH THEM!" His shot hit the Fishman but it was no use as Chew appeared from the smoke and punched Usopp directly in the face.

Usopp dropped to the ground due to the impact.

"Fool. You were better off pretending you were dead. You must be a bit slow in the head. Chu." Chew said and then began walking toward Usopp.

"Is it…" The now really bloody sniper breathed. "Over already?"

Chew began kicking him in the guts. "Yes! It is! It's over! Just like you are!"

"It's over, huh?" Usopp asked as he reached for his bag. "**Usopp Hammer**!" He hit Chew with a hammer making the Fishman's head raise. "**Usopp Rubber Band**!"

Chew for once looked scared as he closed his eyes and in a rather trembling way awaited the attack…

"Chu?" He slowly opened his eyes to see that Usopp has ran away… Again… "Ah! Shit! How did I fall for something like that?!" Chew's entire body became pale pink from embarrassment. "Why that little bastard…!"

A bottle flew straight toward him but he easily caught it. "**Sure Kill! Lead Star**!" The star hit and broke the bottle thus soaking confused Fishman with sake.

"Is this the only way you know how to fight?!" Chew demanded. "You inferior creature! Chu. No matter where you may hide, I'll blow you away with my **Water Cannon**!" Chew began sucking out he water from a water plain and well he sucked a lot because the water level lowered quite a lot.

"Being stupid or cowardly has nothing to do with it! This fight… There is no way the manly Usopp can run away from it! If I lose, I die. I'm a pirate now…" As Usopp said that Chew had turned into a massive ball willed with water…

"**Water Cannon**!" All he water Chew gathered was used as large cannon.

Usopp held onto the tree and then turned a bit to the side to see a complete destruction of the trees not a couple of meters away from him. "No way! So powerful!" His mouth elongated to the point of rivaling Chew's.

"Why should I have to fight this idiot?" Chew asked himself out of irritation. "He's so obvious!" Well he was right about that. "I'll blow you to pieces! **100-Shot Water Gun**!" Chew spat out water bullets at a high speed.

"Oh no! H-How did he find me?! Crap! Crap! Look, Usopp Pirate Crew! Kaya! I went to the sea to become a real pirate! I'm going to fight so I can become a brave warrior of the sea! Those lazy days and the silly pirate games…" Chew kicked and broke the tree behind which Usopp was hiding. "ARE ALL OVER!" Usopp cried out.

Chew grabbed the log and was intending to smash Usopp with it. "What's all over?" Chew asked.

"This battle!" Usopp jumped back with his front turned to Chew as he prepared to shoot. "Sake is flammable!"

Chew's eyes widened. "**Sure Kill! Flame Star**!"

The star hit Chew and his body was lit on flames.

"Hot, hot, hot-chu! Water, water, water, water, water, water…! Hot! Hot! Hot!" Now it was Chew's turn to run as he began running toward water.

"Oh, wait!" Usopp realized that it probably wasn't over yet.

"Water-water-water! WATER!" Chew repeated as Usopp ran up behind him.

"Usopp Hammer!" Usopp went to slam the hammer against Chew's head again.

"Chu!" Chew was knocked into the water and Usopp skidded across the ground.

Usopp stood up panting and looked at Chew. "Bastard…" Chew hissed making Usopp shriek.

"**Usopp Hammer**! **Usopp Hammer**! **Usopp Hammer**! **Usopp Hammer**! **Usopp Rubber Band**! **Usopp Hammer**! **Usopp Hammer**! **Usopp Hammer**! **Usopp Hammer**! **Usopp Hammer**! **Usopp Hammer**! **Usopp Hammer**!" After who knows how many hits from the hammer Chew was finally finished and Usopp fell down onto his back.

"_I won… I beat a Fishman!_" Well he sure did and for someone like him, it was a feat to be proud of, that's for sure. "You see that, loser? I CAN DO IT! You see that, you jerk?! Don't look down on me damn it!" He yelled.

* * *

_**That's it, all that is left is to finish Arlong VS Luffy and Krim VS Vergil. I've honestly had a lot of troubles with Sanji VS Kuroobi since most of Kuroobi's techniques are done underwater, so I tried to keep it hand to hand, or well hand to leg, combat as much as possible.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Luffy And Vergil Resurface**_


	53. Luffy And Vergil Resurface

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you. The battles are starting in this chapter.**_

_**Guest – Thank you.**_

_**ShirayukiHime. SnowIce – Thank you very much. Here is the beginning.**_

_**alexc123 – A lot of people do, they are kinda nice comic relief, and a bit nasty to some opponents.**_

_**blazeinferno – I'm happy to hear that.**_

_**OPFan37 – No problem, you don't need to apologize. I completely agree about Zoro, don't we all know just how badass that character is. In the canon they didn't notice until they went into the water so I took a guess that they wouldn't notice this either. Not many demons were exactly introduced so far but you are right, every demon that was introduced used the powers for harming. I have to admit that it was a tough scene to write and I knew that from the start of the planning because Vergil's Discharge was planned from the beginning, but it wasn't until I really began writing the scene that I saw just how much of a trouble I got into. So I'm happy I pulled off a fight like that and I thank you for the compliment. About Usopp, eah, you are right about first development as a Straw Hat and that it was pathetic, personally I like Usopp, but prior to this point his ego and cowardice combined annoyed me, from this point on, not so much because he had shown that he can do it when it all counts.**_

_**And finally we approach the final chapters of the battle. After this two more will concludethe battles and then comes the aftermath vastly different from the canon one. Well longer to be precise.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 53 – Luffy And Vergil Resurface**_

* * *

Vergil's fist clashed with Krim's and two demons were pushed back a bit. Vergil spun around to regain the composure and sent a side kick toward Krim's ribs. Krim pushed himself up a bit and evaded the kick, he responded to Vergil's attack with a kick of his own aimed toward Vergil's head.

Vergil managed to block the kick and grab onto Krim's ankle, he pulled the demon toward him and punched Krim directly in the face. A bit of blood dripped into the water from Krim's nose creating a small red cloud. For all the advantage he had in combat Vergil was quickly losing a different battle, one that he fought against his own lungs…

"_I have to hurry! The others… Calm down, the first opportunity I get I'm blasting the bastard back to the surface."_ Vergil decided but he knew it would be a bit harder, especially with Krim moving around so much.

"_He's not as weak as I thought he'd be, maybe I should try to threaten him after all._" Krim thought and then smirked. "Whatever you are plotting you should know that I work for Kaltag-sama, even if you by some miracle manage to defeat me you are done for when he gets his hands on you." Krim threatened and noticed Vergil's lack of reaction and then blinked as he swam around.

"Don't tell me you don't know about Kaltag-sama? Well don't worry as farewell gift for you to take to your grave I'll educate you a bit." Krim said and the torture began.

"Gavran Kaltag-sama, currently Despot of the 9th District, a 29 years old demon and my dear, so strict and dangerous boss…"

As the water demon kept talking Vergil looked at him with 'You've-got-to-be-kidding-me' look in his eyes…

-Above-

The situation above the surface wasn't that good, Zoro was lying on the floor and Sanji was on his knees. Arlong hadn't even touched them and they were pretty much done for…

"I feel faint… Was that a dream?" Nako wondered as Sanji somehow stood up. "I'd even started to get hopes for this battle…"

"That shark guy, what is he doing?" Yosaku asked.

"No clue! It looked like he was just throwing water around. But then the two of them started bleeding!" Johnny said.

"To kill humans like you, I don't need to do it myself. A little water is all it takes. That's the difference between you humans and us Fishmen." Arlong mocked.

"Cut the crap!" Sanji snapped at him. The cook tried to kick Arlong who simply moved a bit to the side and then splashed Sanji with the water on his palm.

Sanji was pushed to the ground as water hit him.

"_He's not joking… to him, he's just playing around with water. But it feels like a shotgun! Is this the power of shark?_" Sanji wondered as he tried his best to get a hold of himself. "_The most powerful among the FIshmen…_"

Nojiko, Genzo and Nako suddenly turned around and saw none other than Nami.

"_He's on completely different level_." Sanji admitted.

"You should just give up. Your lives aren't all that important anyway." Arlong told them.

"ARLONG!" Nami shouted thus getting the Fishman's attention.

"Nami-aneki!" Johnny and Yosaku exclaimed.

"Nami-san!" Sajni breathed out.

"Nami…" Nojiko, Nako and Genzo muttered.

"Na-chan!" Villagers said.

"Yo, Nami." Arlong greeted her. "I was just giving some loser pirates a demonstration of our power. What brings you here?" Arlong asked and then chuckled.

Nami's eyes were overshadowed by Luffy's straw hat as she looked at Arlong. "I'm here to kill you." She stated coldly.

The villagers looked at her completely shocked as they realized what she had just said.

"Here to kill me?" Arlong repeated. "Shahahahaha! You still haven't given up. How many times have you tried to kill me these past eight years?" Arlong asked making the villagers look at Nami. "Assassination, poison, assault. Has it ever worked? You should know better than anyone else, that we can't be killed by you humans so easily. Listen, you can never kill me. And you can never run away from me." Arlong stated.

Somewhere else a spider awaited on his web.

"Nami. You'll remain as my cartographer." Arlong said making Nami's eyes widen a bit. "Besides, you know I've been good to you. I really hope that you'll continue the map making, if possible." He briefly chuckled and raised one finger. "So how does this sound? Because of what happened here, I'd normally kill all of the people, except you." At that Nami took in a sharp breath. "But, if you make a decision now to return to the Arlong Pirates and continue to draw maps for me… I'll spare the people of Cocoyashi." Arlong offered.

The villagers gasped. "But, these guys won't be spared, they were too foolish." He pushed Sanji with his feet and the blond cook grunted. "So it's your choice. If you choose me, the people of your village will be safe. Or you could choose to fight against me with these fools. But, these guys you hope to count on are in such a bad shape now. Long nosed one got killed by Chew, rubber man drowned and that demon was killed by Krim. I don't think there's any way to avoid this ending in tragedy." Arlong revealed making Nami's eyes widen.

"_They are… dead?_" Nami thought, she knew that there was a chance but sh didn't want to believe it…

A butterfly slowly flew toward the web…

"Nami. Are you my comrade, or… Are you theirs?" Arlong asked.

Nami gasped.

The butterfly was closing in on the web.

"_No way…_" Nami clenched her injured fist. "_If I say I'm Luffy's nakama, everyone will be killed. If I go back to Arlong, then everyone from the village will be safe… It's all up to me… Everyone's fate…_" Nami thought as drops of sweat fell down her face.

The butterfly was caught in the web.

"You bastard!" One of the villagers exclaimed angrily.

"No matter what you say, you just want to keep her!" Another one yelled.

"Don't listen to him Nami!" Genzo shouted at her.

The spider noticed the caught butterfly.

Nami held onto the straw hat and pulled it closer to her eyes. "_But!_"

-Flashback-

Luffy grabbed her wrist.

Nami turned to look at the reason why she stopped stabbing herself and saw him

She lifted her head up a bit. "Luffy…" She barely whispered and turned to look at him "Help me." She pleaded as more tears fell down.

Luffy took his hat and placed it on Nami's head.

He walked a bit away from her and then replied. "DAMN RIGHT!" He yelled at top of his voice.

-Flashback ends-

Nami closed her eyes tightly as she struggled to decide.

-Flashback-

Nami watched the white haired demon as he walked up to her and then knelt down. He took a good look at her and noticed barely noticeable trail of blood at the corner of her lips, it was small but visible when one took a good look at it. He reached out and wiped the blood away making her eyes widen as she realized she forgot to wipe it off in all that rush.

She winced as he softly touched her stomach, with the adrenaline gone the pain in her stomach was pretty much apparent to her. It was the most obvious place to hit so he reached out and touched it first and his eyes widened.

"He did this, didn't he?" Vergil asked her, he may have sounded calm but he was far from it.

Nami knew that he was talking about Krim and nodded.

He stood up and took a couple of steps toward the crew.

"Princess… I'm not going to beat him…" He said making the entire crew look at him.

His eyes were dangerously flashing from pure golden to normal ones as sparks surrounded him "I'M GOING TO OBLITERATE HIM TO THE POINT OF THERE NOT BEING ANYTHING LEFT TO BURY!" He yelled.

-Flashback ends-

"_I can't doubt what they said! They are alive! I know it!_"

Butterfly tried to get free as the spider approached it.

Finally Nami tuned to the villagers. "Everyone, I'm sorry!" She apologized. "Will you die with me?" She asked bravely making her sister and father figure smile proudly.

The butterfly flew away just as spider reached it.

"YEAH!" Villagers exclaimed as one. "Let's go!"

"So, you wish to be slaughtered." Arlong concluded as he glared at the villagers.

Nami turned and glared at Arlong.

"**Egg Star**!" Suddenly an egg flew toward Arlong who placed his hand up to block it. "I've got you covered! Zoro! Sanji!" Usopp declared but his voice seemed a bit far away…

"Usopp-aniki! Are you alright?!" Yosaku asked as he tried to locate the long nosed sniper.

"How brave! He's facing him without fear!" Johnny believed.

"Oh yeah! I fight with no fear!" Usopp exclaimed as he stood… behind the hole… that Sanji made back when the battle was starting…

"Why are you over THERE?!" Villagers yelled at him.

"Usopp!" Nami happily greeted him.

"Hey, Nami. Check it out!" Usopp said as he pointed at himself. "One of their guys! One of them was finished by ME! Me of all people!" He bragged and had a reason to do so this time. He then made his face look like Chew's, at least in shape. "A guy with a face like this… Hahahahaha! Those Fishmen are NOTHING!" Well now he was going a bit too far but it could be overlooked.

"Chew!" Arlong realized. "You bastard…"

"You betcha! My appearance signals the climax of this battle! Get ready for the big finale!" Usopp declared.

Nami smiled as a butterfly rested on the straw hat.

-Underwater-

Vergil was left dumbfound as Krim continued to compliment Kalag.

"I'm telling you! He's the most amazing demon ever, the prodigy, the best strategist, leader, he became Despot at the age of 18! Kaltag-sama is clearly…" And Vergil could no longer take it, he held his mouth as he tried to fight back the laughter.

"Why you bastard! Disrespecting Kaltag-sama's greatness!" Krim got irritated and blindly attacked Vergil.

"_Now's the chance!_" Vergil realized. "**Darkness Breath**!" Vergil opened his mouth without a single concern about the water and blasted Krim with massive wave of darkness energy.

-Above-

As Arlong glared at Usopp the real moment that turned things around started as blast of darkness sent Krim smashing into Hachi who was starting to stand up thus knocking the octopus out and surprising Arlong.

"What?!" Arlong gasped.

Sanji smirked as he glanced at Krim. "Now, huh?" He muttered.

"They are late." Zoro muttered.

"What was that?!" Johnny and Yosaku cried out.

"Vergil!" Nami happily realized.

"_Vergil?_" Krim thought and then his eyes widened.

-Underneath-

Vergil was now losing breath even quicker and he hurried to the rock. As lightning engulfed his fist he slammed it down and shattered the rock. Luffy's legs began catapulting toward the head and Vergil grabbed onto the red vest.

Just about half a meter before the surface he made the Dark Edge disappear and they catapulted over the wall.

Nami's eyes widened as she saw the two pirates go up and up and up rather high in the air.

"I'm getting a parachute next time…" Vergil muttered but then smirked.

"I'm BACK!" Luffy exclaimed as they finally reached the highest point.

Villagers rejoiced.

"Rubber boy!" Nako exclaimed.

"And that demon too!" Nojiko added.

"There might still be some hope." Genzo said.

Yosaku wiped the tears as Johnny waved his arms high in the air. "Luffy-aniki! Vergil-aniki!" He yelled happily.

"Wooohooo!" Usopp cheered as well and dropped from the wall.

A large smile appeared on Nami's face. "Luffy! Vergil!" She exclaimed.

"Those bastards…" Arlong hissed.

"You're late, idiots!" Zoro scolded them.

"You got us into this whole mess in the first place now clean up." Sanji complained.

Vergil used Demon Slide to get closer to Arlong and then threw Luffy toward the Fishman.

"**Gomu Gomu no… Bell!**" Luffy slammed his head against Arlong's thus knocking the Fishman back. He easily landed on his feet and continued the attack. "**Whip**!" He sent Arlong to the side.

Villagers and bounty hunters watched in awe once again at the display the rubber man was showing.

Arlong skidded to a stop as Luffy stretched out his right arm. "**Gomu Gomu no**…" The speed of the arm retracting created waves. "**Pistol**!" The attack landed thus once again sending Arlong back. Luffy began punching air and his punches slowly gained more and more speed. "**Gatling Gun**!" The rapid punches landed directly on Arlong. "Take that!" Arlong slammed into the wall and broke it.

"Done!" Luffy exclaimed.

Nami could only watch in utter shock at how easily Luffy took Arlong down.

"No way…" Usopp muttered.

At that moment Vergil landed in between Zoro and Sanji.

"What? Slacking off?" He teased as he grabbed the collars of their respective jackets.

"Shut up!" Zoro and Sanji snapped at him as he lifted them and began walking toward villagers.

"What the hell are you doing?" Zoro asked.

"I'm moving away the obstacles, I can't wreck this place with the two of you lying around." Vergil said and moved his head to the side to dodge Sanji's kick.

"We were trying to take care of everything while Luffy and you played around!" Sanji complained.

"We weren't playing around, I had to go through the torture known as Krim fangirling over another demon." Vergil admitted making Nami look at him as if he was crazy. "Yeah, I know it sounds crazy to you." He assured her.

Arlong got out of the rubble. "Did you think that would do anything?" He asked.

"Not a single scratch!" Johnny and Yosaku panicked as they held onto each other.

"Nope. Just warming up!" Luffy said as he cracked his knuckles.

"You demon bastard. I am Blood Puppeteer Krim, do you really think you can just turn your back on me like this?!" Krim demanded.

"No, i don't think. I know I can. Speaking of who you are don't blabber so much. If you want to go by the significance of one's alias yours has no relevance when compared to mine." Vergil said as he dropped Sanji and Zoro in front of villagers.

Nami looked at him slightly confused and she wasn't the only one, entire crew and villagers looked at the white haired demon.

"And who would you be?" Krim asked.

"Black Thunder, Leonidas Vergil." Vergil said making the chills run down not only Krim's spine but Nami's as well.

"You are, Black Thunder?" Nami asked after a bit of silence.

"Sorry I didn't tell you Princess, I'll explain everything later." Vergil assured her, the two looked at each other's eyes and Nami nodded.

"Prove it!" Krim demanded.

"I ain't stripping for males." Vergil refused. "Just because you swing that way doesn't mean I do."

"What did you say?!" Krim raged.

"That you find males attractive." Vergil bluntly replied and Nami couldn't take it any longer as she burst into giggles.

"You don't have a single proof!" Krim yelled.

"Well now I have three actually. Number one, you seemingly are so blind you can't see that Princess over here." Vergil began and motioned toward Nami. "Is clearly beautiful in every meaning of that word. Second you keep on blabbering 'Kaltag-sama, Kaltag-sama' in a way that would put any fangirl to shame. Finally you said 'I don't have a single proof' meaning that there are proofs and that you believe I don't have them, you have never negated the statement." Vergil replied with a smirk on his face.

Vergil glanced at Nami who was still trying to make her, now chuckles less evident. It was a good thing to see for him and he allowed a small smile to appear on his own face.

"Why you… Black Thunder or not I'm going to kill you…" Krim hissed.

"Huh? Did you say something?" Vergil asked and he wasn't making fun of him this time, he honestly didn't hear him.

Zoro kept smirking as Krim became even angrier.

Luffy, well he was confused...

Hell not even Arlong could take the scene seriously, but as a form of respect for his first mate he did nothing.

Nami had finally burst out laughing thus making Vergil's own smile wider.

Sanji and Nojiko as well as Genzo did notice the little scene between the white haired demon and orange haired navigator. Genzo clenched his fist protectively as any father would, Nojiko gave them a knowing smile, one that neither one of them noticed while Sanji just closed his eyes and let out a relieved sigh, when it was revealed that Vergil is Black Thunder he was a bit worried that Nami would be scared, but he was proven wrong.

Nami finally stopped laughing and looked at Vergil whose back was now turned to her. "Idiot…" She muttered fondly.

"You aren't getting out of here alive either way Krim, but do calm down, it's no fun beating up someone who rages around." Vergil said as he cracked his knuckles.

* * *

_**And that's it. The battles have finally, truly, began. Anyway Vergil making fun of Krim wasn't intended to insult anyone just in case anyone could find the last scene insulting in any possible way. Anyway I honestly think that Nami needed a good laugh in this arc after everything she went through. Also, Kaltag and Krim, while Krim is scared of Kaltag there is something that will be explained in the chapter 55 about the two of them that will explain the fangirling Krim just did in this chapter.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – You Are My Nakama**_


	54. You Are My Nakama

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you, glad you liked it.**_

_**Guest – Thank you, I suppose you are right.**_

_**Son of Whitebeard – Bartolomeo without a doubt.**_

_**alexc123 – And it begins here and ends in the next chapter.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you for the review. I'm happy to hear that you like it.**_

_**cedezbenz – Thank you very much, no need to apologize, I feel honored that even though you are on vacation you took your time to read the story. Though one thing confuses me, the interaction between Krim and Nami is cute? In what way?**_

* * *

_**Chapter 54 – You Are My Nakama**_

* * *

Luffy began stretching a bit as a warm up while the remaining three combatants remained standing still. Though Krim was still somewhat annoyed.

"What's wrong with you, you pathetic scum?" Arlong asked both Luffy and Vergil. "I think you would have been happier sleeping at the bottom of the ocean. And wouldn't you be happier with getting killed in the Demon World and not here?" He asked.

"No. I'm actually pretty thankful for getting rescued." Luffy replied.

"The hell if I care about where I die, though it's not going to be here, that's for sure." Vergil stated.

"Because then you wouldn't have to see how angry I am." Arlong said. "To see my brethren getting killed by your lame pals… Soon enough you'll be wishing you had died earlier…" Arlong stated.

"The anger at being betrayed by the lowly trash such as Nami, the anger at having this many of our cremates wounded because of her. Do you have any idea how much I'll torture her before I kill her?" Krim asked.

"Luffy-aniki and Vergil-aniki are going to be all right, aren't they?" Yosaku asked. "All those attacks did little to no damage!"

"Arlong, Krim… You two are mistaken, it's not your anger that we should fear. You hurt Nami, for I have no idea how many years. You made her cry… You physically harmed her… Because of you she endured so much pain… Tell me. Do you really think we are the ones who should be afraid?" Vergil asked, as Krim look into his eyes the previous doubt about Vergil being Black Thunder were erased, those were… The eyes of the cold blooded, merciless, mass murdering monster that were currently radiating with anger and cruelty. Krim swallowed the lump that formed in his throat as fear seeped into the very core of his being.

"_It's_ _fine. As serious as he is, the amount of power he has is unchanged, I should be able to kill him…_" Krim tried to assure himself.

"Go! Luffy, Vergil! I've got your backs covered!" Usopp cheered and well assured them.

"I don't think that'll help!" Nami scolded him she may have been in a good mood just a minute or so earlier but now that the battle was going to start she got serious again.

Sanji lit his cigarette as he and Zoro sat up.

"If they lose you'll all die with us, right?" Sanji asked for a confirmation.

"So it seems." Genzo stated.

"And then East Blue will be done for, too." Nojiko added.

"Who was talking about having faith in them before? They won't lose." Zoro said.

"Do you know what the difference between me and you is?" Arlong asked as he looked at Luffy.

"Noses." Luffy guessed.

"Completely right." Vergil agreed.

"Chins?" The rubber man gave another guess.

"Right again." Vergil confirmed.

Johnny and Yosaku along with most of the villagers looked at the two with mouths wide open. "Is big bro trying to… joke around with him?" Yosaku asked.

"No. I'm afraid he's quite serious." Johnny said.

"Oh! The webs!" Luffy realized as he pointed at his hand.

"Alright he's got three right answers so far. Someone ask something else! He's on a roll today!" Vergil shouted out to the villagers.

"This isn't time to joke around!" Genzo, Nojiko and Nami yelled at him.

Arlong had enough. "It's our very race!" Fishman raged.

"Well that too." Vergil agreed.

The spectators gasped as Arlong tried to bite Luffy who quickly and for him rather elegantly moved to the side by softly jumping with his arms raised above his head in a straight line.

At the same time, Vergil ducked under a punch and skidded to the side.

Luffy dodged the attempted bites again and again until Arlong grabbed his neck and slammed him against the pillar. He tried to bite Luffy's head this time but the rubber man pulled his head to the side thus making Arlong bite the pillar itself.

"That idiot! He'll bite off his own tongue!" Usopp exclaimed as he pointed at Arlong. "His teeth must be…" He began saying but then the pillar crumbled under the pleasure of Arlong's teeth.

Usopp and the bounty hunters screamed at the sight.

"He bit the column into pieces!" Yosaku cried out.

Luffy ran behind Arlong on all fours and went as far as currently needed. "Scary!"

"_Holy shit, what is this guy?_" Sanji thought, his eyes were wide from shock. "_Those teeth, if he were to bite him he wouldn't just leave a scar, his teeth would go through and break his bones too! He might even tear it off as well!_" Sanji realized.

"_He was just playing with us_…" Zoro thought bitterly as he saw exactly what Arlong could do.

"You don't have time to watch that puny human, Leonidas!" Krim exclaimed as blood made blade appeared from the wound on his right knuckle.

"_So that's how you want to do this_." Vergil thought. "**Devil Arms: Dark Edge**." The broadsword appeared in the demon's arms.

Arlong chuckled as he turned to face Luffy. "Behold. This is the true power of Fishmen. The heavens have made a distinction between us. The heavens only gave you humans enough strength to exist below us. You are inferior animals! From the very moment we were born everything was different. You so called 'nakama' over there must think so too. Demons are much stronger than humans. Don't you think so, what was your name again, Black Thunder?" Arlong asked.

"I beg to differ, yes the humans, when speaking about average standard, lack the physical power of demons, yes they lack the stamina as well, speed, pretty much anything physical, but let me tell you one thing. Humans have something that demons lack, because of that demons will never surpass humans." Vergil disagreed. "Let me tell you, the strongest person I have ever met, not by power, but by the real strength, was a human." He admitted.

"Heh. Seems like you are truly retarded." Arlong said and then turned back to Luffy. "I'll show you just how different we really are."

Luffy stood up and grinned. "Sure, show me. But there is no way in hell I'll lose to you fish-people. Because I'm the man who'll become Pirate King!" Luffy declared.

Not too far away Vergil and Krim exchanged a couple of rather casual slashes, seemingly just to get a taste of how skilled the opponent was.

"Pirate King?" Arlong asked as he lifted a rock. "Don't make me laugh. You think a mere human like you can become someone like that?"

"Wasn't the previous one a human?" Vergil inquired.

"Shut up, that was 22 years ago." Krim hissed.

"Still, it was a human." Vergil replied.

Arlong ignored the two demons and turned his attention back to his own opponent. "Can you bit thought that column with your power?"

"So what?" Luffy asked. "Don't try showing off with things that don't matter!" With that being said he smashed a rock with fist. "I can break a rock without having to bite it."

"Oh! Well said! Luffy-aniki!" Yosaku exclaimed.

"You got it! In the end the results are the same!" Johnny agreed.

Veins popped up on Arlong's neck due to the anger. "You're so stupid! The whole human race is pathetic! You can't even save yourself in the ocean! You can't do anything!" Arlong dashed forward in another attempt to bite Luffy who once again moved to the side to avoid the sharp teeth.

Luffy stretched his arms and grabbed Johnny and Yosaku's swords.

"And when I can't do anything, I have others to help me!" Luffy replied as he pulled the swords toward him.

Arlong took two steps back as Luffy held the swords in front of him. "Shishishishsi!" The rubber man laughed a bit.

Nami's eyes widened a bit.

"Huh? He can use swords too?" Sanji asked.

"No…" Zoro deadpanned when he saw Luffy swinging the blades around with no swordsmanship whatsoever…

"Take that, and that, and that!" Luffy repeated as he kept swinging the swords around.

"Should have guessed it." Vergil said with a smirk on his face as he ducked under the blade and went to cut Krim in half from the left side. Krim was only waiting for that as the second blade appeared from the left knuckle cut. The water demon slashed from above with his currently free blade in order to try and cut Vergil. Vergil's smirk widened as witched the hold on the Dark Edge to his left hand and jabbed his right fist forward into Krim's ribcage. Krim grunted and stepped back, his blade never reached the target…

"What the hell are you doing now?" Arlong questioned as he moved back from the blades. "You are just waving them around." He blocked one of the swords with his nose thus making Luffy drop it. "I'm not interested in playing around with you."

Luffy swung the remaining sword toward Arlong's mouth, but the Fishman bit on it. The blade broke down under the pressure making Arlong smirk once again.

"This is boring." Arlong commented.

"Then eat this!" Luffy spun around and slammed his fist into Arlong's left cheek.

The force of the impact not only pushed Arlong back and made him lose his footing but also broke his teeth.

Villagers, Johnny, Yosaku and Nami could only watch as top two fighters of the Arlong Pirates seemed to get beaten up.

"Arlong's teeth broke!" Villagers exclaimed.

"Of course I don't know one thing about swords, you dumbass!" Luffy shouted as Arlong lied on the ground.

"Wha…? What is he talking about?" Usopp wondered.

"I can't use that demon stuff like Vergil. I don't know how to navigate, either. I can't cook. I can't even lie." Luffy explained.

"Hey." Usopp complained.

"I know that I need others to HELP me if I want to keep on living!" Rubber man stated.

"Shahaha. You sure are useless… How pitiful. And such a pathetic guy is their captain? They must really resent you. Why should they risk their lives to save someone like you? Someone they can't be proud of, why should you be their captain?" Arlong mocked, thus getting himself glares from Vergil and Zoro. "What can you do?"

"I can beat the crap out of you!" Luffy announced.

Nami smiled.

"That goes without saying, piece of shit." Sanji said.

"If you get yourself killed, I'll kill you." Zoro said.

"Yeah, I'll back you up!" Usopp assured him.

"Looks like it's time to start getting serious." Vergil muttered.

"Yeah! / All right! / Kick his ass, rubber man! / Go! Luffy-aniki! / Go get him!" Cheers resounded all over the place.

"SHUT UP! You've got to be joking, weaklings!" Arlong's broken teeth dropped down and another set grew.

"Eh?! His teeth grew back?!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Because I'm a shark. My teeth will grow back over and over with stronger ones every time." Arlong pulled out the set of teeth. "No matter how many times." Another set grew and he pulled that one out as well. "As many times as I need. This is the trait that the heavens have given me."

"COOL!" Luffy marveled.

"Now's not the time to be amazed!" Vergil snapped at him, the lack of attention made him jump back from Krim's attack with now a small cut on his left cheek.

"Are you beginning to understand just how superior I am?" Arlong asked as he held a set of teeth in each hand and then clacked them together. "**Tooth Gum**."

Arlong swung his arm toward Luffy who barely managed to dodge the teeth.

"Whoa, stop that!" Luffy demanded as he dodged again and again. He grabbed onto Arlong's right arm but then Arlong attacked again.

Vergil blocked the blood created blades and was unable to go and interfere with Arlong's rapid attacking.

"Luffy-aniki!" Johnny and Yosaku screamed.

Nami gasped as well and she had another reason. Krim's blades separated from his knuckles and the water demon jumped back as Vergil had to defend against rapid razor sharp boomerang like blades that flew around. From this point of view it looked like tables were turned.

Sanji had similar expression as Nami, Usopp screamed as he peeked at the scene through the small gaps between his fingers while Zoro gritted his teeth.

"A-Arlong-san. It hurts." A voice said.

Arlong's eyes widened as he realized that he was attacking his own comrade. "M-My brethren…!" He gasped.

"Seriously how did he not see that?" Vergil wondered as he got tired of the blades flying around. Though he did grunt a bit as he enveloped the black energy around his Devil Arm he broke the blood boomerangs down into tiny pieces with rather determined sword slashes.

Krim gritted his teeth as pieces formed into blood and returned to him.

Luffy let out a sigh of relief as he lowered the Fishman down.

"Why you, rubber bastard." Arlong hissed. "How dare you use one of my brethren as a shield?!"

"What are you talking about? You're the one who attacked him." Luffy said and well it was true. No one could deny that in the end it was Arlong's fault for not stopping.

Usopp wiped the sweat off of his forehead and let out a sigh of relief. "You had me worried there."

Nami watched carefully, the battle was still pretty much equal, besides the small cut on Vergil's cheek there was no visible sign of damage.

"Stand still, Rubber bastard." Arlong ordered as he clacked the teeth in his hands together.

"Heh, I just thought of a good idea." Luffy said as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"An idea?" Johnny repeated.

"What could it be?" Yosaku wondered.

"Does he have some kind of special attack?" Sanji asked.

"Doubt it." Zoro told him, besides Vergil he was with Luffy for the longest period of time, good idea probably wasn't so brilliant…

"**Tooth Gum**!" Luffy moved to the side, jumped above and ducked under the teeth sets before slamming his foot down on the ground with enough force to break the concrete. He then kicked Arlong on the head. Fishman dropped to the ground and another set of teeth fell out of his mouth.

"They came out!" Luffy cheered when he saw the set.

"Idiot, I told you that it doesn't matter how many times you break my teeth." Arlong said as he sat up and wiped away the blood that was on the corner of his mouth. "Don't you get it yet?!" He revealed yet another set of teeth.

"Luffy-aniki, could your idea have to do with…?" Yosaku muttered.

And Luffy now had Arlong's set of teeth between his own teeth… "Look! Now I have them too!"

There was a silence for a couple of moments as Yosaku and Johnny's jaws fell down.

"I-It wasn't a special attack…?" They asked.

"I figured he'd do something stupid like that…" Zoro muttered.

"Well… At least it's original…" Vergil tried to point out the brighter side.

"And you are the notorious Black Thunder? Why are you following such an idiot?" Krim asked.

"Heh, you better concern yourself with your own safety." Vergil said and charged his fist.

"Same goes for you. Kaltag-sama will give me a big reward for killing you." Krim said.

"How long do you intend to keep fooling around?!" Well if Luffy planned on angering Arlong he was doing a good job. The teeth connected with Luffy's flash, although only a little bit, but it was enough to send the rubber man flying.

"Ah! I was bit by a shark!" He cried out as he rolled on the ground.

"BECAUSE YOU ARE FOOLING AROUND!" Johnny and Yosaku yelled at him.

"Who's fooling around? I'm dead serious." Luffy defended himself.

"**Tooth Gum**!" Arlong attempted to collide his hand with Luffy's body but rubber man quickly jumped back thus making Arlong break the ground that he was previously lying on.

Again and again Luffy had no other choice but to dodge finally he was pushed into a corner and had only one option, to use a block of concrete to block the teeth armed palm.

Luffy jumped back and while still skidding backwards Arlong attacked, with nowhere to run Luffy was bit on the chest by Arlong's hand.

Luffy let out a scream.

"Luffy!" Vergil turned his full attention toward the captain.

"**Water Breath**!" Krim blasted Vergil dead on making the white haired demon skid across the ground and hit the remaining pieces of the column that Arlong bit through.

"They are losing!" Johnny and Yosaku screamed as Nami gasped.

Luffy wasn't giving up, he bit onto Arlong's shoulder thus making the Fishman scream and let go of him.

Similar situation was on Vergil's side. As Krim walked up to Vergil to land a finishing blow Vergil jumped up to his feet and hit Krim directly to the face with **Lightning Punch**.

Arlong clutched at the wound and so did Luffy.

"How's that? Getting bit by your own teeth?!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Even if they are mine…" Arlong began and pulled the set of teeth in his flesh out. "Your jaw's far too weak! Listen, sharks tear flesh and limbs from the body of its prey. That's what shark's true power is!" Arlong went to bite Luffy but the rubber man placed his elbow as a blockade.

"No! big bro's bones will be broken!" Yosaku screamed.

"Luffy!" Nami gasped as her eyes widened.

Luffy let out an even louder scream as the teeth dug into his flesh painfully slow. The entire crew could only watch as their captain came closer and closer to losing his arm.

Still Luffy grabbed the back of Arlong's head, raised his feet up and slammed Arlong down on to the ground.

The impact made Arlong let go of Luffy's arm and the rubber captain dropped to the ground not too far away from Arlong.

"I-Is his arm alright?" Usopp asked fearfully.

"He was one step away from being eaten." Genzo realized.

"I can't imagine what it feels like to be bitten by that beast's fangs." Sanji admitted.

"It's still not over." Zoro said as Arlong sat up and rubbed the back of his head.

"Big bro's elbow, do you think its okay?" Yosaku asked.

"Krim. How's the water?" He asked.

"You can take it. The electricity spread further through the ocean so it's barely noticeable right now." Krim said making Vergil's eyes widen.

"**Lightning**…" Vergil began and his aim was clearly the water.

"No you don't." Krim stepped in his way. "**Water**…"

"**Breath**!" There was no choice for Vergil at this point, he changed the course of his **Breath** and hit the water thus electrifying it again, but at the cost of getting hit by massive **Water Breath**.

"Vergil!" Nami shouted as the white haired demon hit the wall and broke through before falling down on the floor of Arlong Park.

"Tch, I didn't think he'd go that far to stop you from getting into the water. No point though, we can still do 'that'." Krim said making Arlong smirk.

"He's pretty much done for as well." Arlong stated.

Luffy pulled out the teeth set that was still on his waist from back when Arlong first grabbed him.

"Huh? Where's Vergil?" Luffy asked as Arlong walked up to Krim.

"In the rubble." Krim mocked.

"What rubble you bastard?" Vergil asked making Krim's eyes widen. "I'm right here Luffy." The white haired demon stepped out of the hole he created, he was bruised and had minor cuts here and there but he was pretty much fine.

"Well he is persistent…" Krim muttered.

"Doesn't matter, finish him off." Arlong instructed and prepared to continue the battle on his own. "**Shark On Darts**!" Arlong shot himself like a torpedo toward Luffy who barely managed to evade getting cut in half by Arlong's nose, he still got injured though.

"What the!" Usopp cried out.

"A torpedo?!" Sanji exclaimed.

Nojiko, Genzo and Nako looked terrified at what Arlong had just done.

Luffy fell face first onto the ground.

Vergil's eyes widened but he didn't have time to pay attention to that battle as he had to block two blood blades once again.

"You are slowly wasting your power. How much more do you even have, a bit over the half? I'm sure you know I have much more than you. Just give up." Krim mocked.

"Heh, believing that the one who has more power is the winner is nothing short of foolishness." Vergil replied.

Luffy was holding onto his wound as he tried to stand up once again.

"You dodged that well." Arlong said, he had climbed up to the roof while Luffy was on the ground and was ready to attack again.

Luffy turned to glare at the Fishman.

"But dodging is just dodging! The next one will send you to hell!" Arlong threatened. "**Shark On Darts**!" Luffy managed to roll back just in time to dodge to nose that stabbed into the ground, made a hole, then a crack which eventually broke a piece of concrete and made it fall into the water…

"W-What's that shark freak made of?!" Sanji exclaimed. "He even crushed the floor!"

"**Shark On Darts**!" Once again Arlong shot himself toward Luffy who was once again barely dodging. Luffy didn't even get time to recover when Arlong attacked again, it was only miracle that saved Luffy from getting torn in half as he rocketed upward and then landed on the floor.

"Hey, Luffy! Hide!" Usopp tried to give an advice but right now there weren't many places at which Luffy could hide.

"Big bro! Hurry and hide!" Yosaku yelled as Arlong smirked at Luffy.

"He's gonna attack again!" Johnny stated the obvious.

Nami clenched her fist as the intensity of the situation went higher.

"RUN!" Usopp yelled.

Luffy gritted his teeth. "No." He finally replied.

"What are you saying you moron!" Sanji yelled at him, Zoro just kept his eyes on the captain, something in his guts told him that it would be fine. "You wanna just stand there and be an easy target?! Go and hide!"

"And where is he supposed to hide now! Cut it out and believe in him!" Vergil snapped at them as he pushed Krim back and slammed his blade down toward Krim's shoulder. The water demon crossed his blades and blocked but Vergil let out a growl as he broke through them. Krim created a barrier of water in the very last moment and got away with a cut that went down from his shoulder to his chest, though it would have been much worse if he hadn't jumped back as well.

"I'm gonna break that nose of his!" Luffy declared. "Bring it on! Sharky!" Luffy challenged as steam puffed from his nose.

"Shahahaha! You've got guts! Or maybe you've finally realized that you have no escape?" Arlong said as he took the stance.

"What part of 'hiding' do you not understand?! Luffy!" Usopp yelled at him. "You just got lucky before and barely dodged it! But if he hits you this time you are doomed!" He shouted as he tried to persuade Luffy against the crazy act.

"**Gomu Gomu no**…" Luffy pulled at the fingers of his left hand and stretched them. "**Shield**!"

"What's that stance?" Yosaku asked.

"Does he really think that'll stop him?!" Johnny cried out.

"I'll pierce your heart this time! **Shark On Darts**!" It seemed like Arlong was aiming for Luffy's guts but Krim created a small stream of water that changed the direction toward Luffy's heart.

"Bastard…" Vergil hissed.

Arlong however didn't go past the fingers as Luffy's shield actually stopped him.

"Stabbed!" Yosaku cried out while Nami's eyes widened in horror.

"Not quite." Vergil and Zoro realized.

Luffy grinned at Arlong whose eyes widened at this. He managed to push himself to the side and evade the **Darts** that was now going upwards much more due to Krim's interference. Arlong stabbed into the third floor of his building.

"What? Is he dead?" Usopp asked.

"No, he got away in time!" Sanji assured him.

Luffy stepped on one of the roofs and grinned. "I stopped your little trick so I guess you can't use it any longer!"

"**Shark On Darts**!" He was proven wrong when Arlong darted from bellow making him jump away.

"You jerk! Haven't you used enough of that?!" Luffy yelled as he began falling down.

"You're finished!" Arlong darted once again.

"Take this!" Luffy's fingers intertwined n a net like pattern. "**Gomu Gomu no Net**!" He went and captured Arlong in the net of fingers. "Fishing! Let's fish!"

Now Arlong was the one bellow and Luffy spun around with his feet pressed together. "And now… **Spear**!"

"**Water** **Blockade**!" Krim created a shield of water that bounced Luffy's feet off of Arlong.

The Fishman smirked.

"Damn…" Luffy complained.

"Well if you are going to go with two on one we might as well make things more even." Vergil said as he Air Hiked to Luffy. Vergil placed his hand on Luffy's right shoulder and charged lightning. "Now you can use my 'demon stuff'." Vergil said with a smirk.

"So COOL!" Luffy exclaimed as lightning circled around his fist.

"Shit!" Krim realized.

"**Gomu Gomu no**…" Luffy threw his arm back. "**Thor Pistol**!" Lightning allowed Luffy's arm to pass through the barrier of water with no problem whatsoever and even got strengthened by the water. When he hit Arlong's guts it not only hit him hard but electrified him as well.

Vergil grinned as he realized the name Luffy gave to the punch. "_It's kinda funny now that I think about it._" He realized as he thought back to certain technique of his own.

Usopp's mouth went 'Chew like' as his eyes popped out of shock.

"He did it! / Good job!" People cheered.

Nami wasn't looking so happy, in fact she looked worried because she knew it wasn't the end yet.

"Oh? Is he dead?" Luffy asked as he and Vergil landed.

"Not yet." The white haired demon replied.

Arlong's eyes snapped open to reveal that he had gone berserk.

"Arlong's eyes have changed!" Genzo realized and Nojiko gasped as well.

"That's what people said happened to Sea King's eyes when they were attacked! That he changed and went berserk!" Sanji remembered.

"Arlong… With those eyes… I've never seen him like this!" Nami realized as the horror filled expression crossed her face and she brought her hands in front of her mouth.

"You inferior human!" Arlong grabbed Luffy, he began spinning the rubber man whole body extended while he was spun around like a rag. "How do you do this to me, a Fishman!" he threw Luffy at the rubble in front of him.

Due to being rubber this didn't exactly have an effect on Luffy who sat up. "Man, that shook me up." Luffy said. "I don't think he's hurt, but he sure is angry." He realized.

Arlong jumped toward Luffy who quickly jumped to the side to avoid the Fishman.

Arlong's fist went through the wall and he grabbed a handle of something before pulling it out along with his hand. It was a large black pole with six saw toothed patterned black blades resembling shark teeth. Its handle was that of a katana but without guard.

"What's that?" Luffy wondered. Even Krim moved away to avoid Arlong's rage.

"Kiribachi!" Nami gasped.

"That thing?" Vergil asked as he jumped to the side that was closer to Nami, it seemed like Krim wanted to halt the battle for now."

"Take it seriously he'll kill both of you now!" Nami snapped at him.

"Calm down Princess. How many times do I have to tell you to believe in us?" Vergil asked and Nami glared at him, well until she saw somehow hurt expression in his eyes. "It hurts a demon's feeling to know that one doesn't trust in his abilities…" He muttered childishly.

"I'm killing you after you get out of this mess." Nami said so coldly that it ran the chills down Usopp, Johnny and Yosaku's spines as well as down some of the villagers spines as well. But Vergil grinned.

"Sure." He simply said, to them it was a threat, to him it was indirect confession that she was now believing that they would win.

Luffy was forced to jump around in a way similar to how he dodged Krieg's spear back on Baratie as Arlong swung Kiribachi again and again.

"Luffy-aniki! / Run! / Watch out!" People shouted as Luffy kept dodging the blade.

"He won't stop! There's no way out of this!" Nako said.

Luffy finally found a small opening in Arlong's swing and kicked him back.

At that moment Krim **Demon Flashed** behind Vergil and Arlong sneaked up behind Luffy.

"Luffy! Vergil!" Nami cried out as Kiribachi and blood made blades closed in on the respective targets.

"**Gomu Gomu no**…" Just as Arlong and Krim were about to cut them down the two reacted, Luffy lashed his foot out while Vergil slashed with his sword. "**Stamp**! / **Drive**!" Luffy's feet slammed into Krim's face and Vergil sent a darkness made sword slash toward Arlong, it collided with Kiribachi and broke the first tooth as well as pushed Arlong away.

Captain and the first made grinned at each other as they turned back to their respective opponents.

Luffy was however forced to dodge again as Arlong swung now five toothed weapon forcing Luffy down to the ground. He placed the weapon next to Luffy's neck in a way it was between two blades.

"Did you really think I would let you take Nami? Nami you see, is our comrade." Arlong said.

"Comrade?" Luffy repeated.

"So stay out of our way. You rubber bastard." Luffy narrowed his eyes at this. "What? What's with that look?"

"She's… Nami is… Our navigator!" Luffy declared making Nami's eyes widen, hearing him say that felt good to her.

"Oh? You want her to pilot that crappy little boat of yours, eh?" Arlong guessed. "Heh. Her talent would only be wasted. Do you know how many people in the world can draw maps as perfect as hers? That girl is a genius. For that girl it's best for her to continue her work here. Her greatest happiness. For me to rule the world, Nami's maps are a necessity. She will keep drawing maps for the sake of my ambition. And once I have the maps of all the seas in the world, no one will be able to stand against me! The whole world will be mine! And it all starts here, on this island in East Blue. How could you possibly use her better than I can?!" Chills went down Nami's spine as she shivered because of Arlong's words.

Krim smirked as he saw her reaction.

Zoro glared at Arlong while Sanji looked furious as to how someone could treat a lady like that, hell even Usopp got angry. The villagers, Johnny and Yosaku couldn't actually do anything but they got a bit closer to Nami. Nojiko placed her hands on Nami's shoulder supportively making the orange haired girl stop shivering, Genzo took a step forward and Vergil, well he turned to Nami and then to Arlong, his eyes flashed with rage once again and he clenched his fists as he knew that this wasn't his battle to end, it was Luffy's.

Speaking of Luffy he moved his hand up and took a hold on the tooth in front of him.

Arlong's eyes widened as the realization hit him. "_What? I can't move the Kiribachi!_" He realized.

Luffy's teeth were clenched as he went and shattered the tooth with his bare hand.

"Wha…?" Arlong gasped.

Luffy glared at Arlong with cold fury in his eyes. "USE?!" He repeated.

"Luffy…" Nami muttered.

"What do you take her for?!" Luffy demanded.

Arlong chuckled. "Inferior race, but she's still a smart woman. If the rest of the human race is little rats, then she's a cunning cat. And she's cute one to boot." Arlong stated. "Here, she gets food and shelter. And we buy her all the clothes she wants. As long as she lives she will have nothing to worry about. As long as she keeps drawing maps for me, it's all good." He smirked. "She will forever be my TOOL!" Arlong declared. "No… my COMRADE! Shahahahaha!"

Nami's eyes widened as she started shivering again, all the years she spent with Arlong and his crew flashed in front of her eyes as she felt sick.

Luffy suddenly kicked Kiribachi with enough force to not only break the teeth but snap it out of Arlong's hands.

"You went too far! You rubber bastard!" Arlong but down on Luffy neck.

"Luffy!" Nami cried out.

Luffy grabbed onto Arlong's nose.

"I don't give a crap about how great you Fishmen are… I may not understand the situation about all this… But I know what needs to be done to help her! And we'll start by kicking your ass!" Luffy exclaimed and broke Arlong's nose making him scream.

Vergil smirked as he glanced at the building. "Leave that to me, Luffy." He said.

"**Gomu Gomu no**…" Luffy shot his leg upwards.

Arlong fixed his teeth and attacked again. "**Shark On Tooth**!" Arlong fired himself while spinning with his mouth open.

"**Axe**!" Luffy drove his leg down onto Arlong who just managed to bite him. Luffy drove his feet further down until Arlong's body broke through the concrete and created a massive destruction on the floor.

Krim's eyes widened as he realized that Arlong was defeated.

Vergil smirked and then turned to Krim, this was ending soon.

Luffy panted as he turned his attention toward Nami. "NAMI!" he yelled as the orange haired girl got over the shock.

"YOU ARE MY NAKAMA!" He yelled at a top of his voice.

Tears fell down Nami's face, the ones of happiness, they were one step closer, one gigantic step closer to the victory and she nodded. "Yes!" She replied as she wiped away the tears.

* * *

_**That's it, Luffy VS Arlong is finished, all that's left is Vergil VS Krim. In the end it wasn't Luffy who broke down the Arlong Park as you can see, I feel like what will happen at the end of Vergil VS Krim should be concealed from the villagers and to some extent from the crew. It was rather nice to write the scene where Luffy and Vergil worked together with Luffy being immune to lightning the two of them teaming up is kinda like always available Giant Thor Axe, thus the name like Gomu Gomu no Thor Pistol was born.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter - Mjollnir**_


	55. Mjollnir

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Guest – Thank you.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you very much.**_

_**Crosswald – Thanks.**_

_**Guest – Thank you.**_

_**Blazeinferno – Thank you for the review, I'm glad you liked it.**_

_**OPFan37 – Thank you for the reviews, glad to hear I did a good job on those two goals I had. Vergil is somewhat different from other demons, mainly because of Grom's influence, that part will slowly be explained later on, did he go out of his way to cheer Nami up, that's up to you and other readers to decide once the story goes further on. I never really thought about a shipping name for the two of them but I do like both names so thanks for coming up with them instead of me. Though i don't really think a writer should come up with a shipping name in the first place.**_

_**Either way as for Krim, well that's actually what I wanted to do, to make a scardy cat bully type of character. I fully intended to make exactly what you described. I'm setting him up as a low tier demon and if by any chance more of them come up they will have quite a dislikable personality. I'm trying to create a set of character demons of pretty much any kind, some downright evil, some similar to Krim, some neutral, some good, the next chapter will actually be a real test for me for certain reasons, well moving on.**_

_**Now the second review, glad to hear that you liked the fight, Vergil and Luffy will have moments where they team up, as the crew gets more scattered in the final battles throughout the future of the story that won't be too often but on most of the possible occasions they will either go with downright combinations or team work. Vergil's childish pout, well it's one of the rare downright childish aspects of Vergil's character, kinda like how Robin has wild imagination. (riding on Usopp's back across the lake for example.) Either way Vergil comes off as unlikable and character that one loves to hate at first as you mentioned in your first review, but as time passes I get to develop his character more so while retaining the flaws he also gets some likable aspects So in the end I'm kinda reversing the usual process of first revealing good and then bad things. There are indeed some revelations in this chapter and some foreshadowing as well, more of revelations will happen in the next chapters, as for Krim's reason, keep in mind that Krim is a rather weak character personality wise, so for him the revealed part is a good reason.**_

_**ShirayukiHime. SnowIce – Thank you very much. The butterfly was actually in the anime so it's not really original, at all. Glad to hear you like the humor.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 55 – Mjollnir**_

* * *

With Arlong defeated and Luffy exhausted Krim saw this as an opportunity to at the very least finish off the captain.

"Now where the hell are you going?" Vergil asked as he dashed in front of Krim and attempted to cut him in half. Krim jumped back and allowed blood to spill from his knuckles, it slowly spread thus creating a small pool under him.

"**Bloody Massacre**…" Krim muttered as the pool of blood around him formed into numerous needles that shot toward Vergil and indirectly toward Luffy.

"Massacre, yeah right." Vergil said as he charged his sword. "**Drive**!" The darkness blade hit the pool thus stopping the creation of the new needles, Krim had jumped back to avoid the blast but the needles created before were still heading toward Vergil. "**Lightning Tower**…" A tower of electricity erupted underneath Vergil thus sending him upwards and demolishing the blood needless as well.

Vergil smirked as he **Demon Slid** closer to Krim and slammed the Dark Edge down upon him.

"Bastard…" Krim cursed as he created the blood blades and managed to somehow block, until they reached the ground where the pressure from both bellow and above proved to be too much. Krim's blades shattered and Vergil made a decent gash on the water demon's body.

"That's it! Vergil-aniki!" Johnny and Yoskau cheered.

"He's winning!" Usopp added.

Luffy had used this time to easily reach his crew, just so Vergil would have more space to wreck.

Nami grinned slightly as she placed Luffy's straw hat back to here it belonged, on the rubber man's head.

"Shishishi. Vergil's gonna win." Luffy assured her as he sat down next to Zoro to watch the battle.

Nami smiled a bit and nodded. She turned her attention back to Vergil's battle.

Krim formed an actual blood claws and attempted to strike Vergil with them. Vergil casually slipped to the side and swung his sword toward Krim's neck. Claws disappeared and Krim made a blockade of water in front of him. The water managed to slow Vergil's blade just enough to allow Krim to crouch down.

Momentum didn't do much to Vergil as he stopped in his track and kicked Krim's chin thus sending him into the wall.

Krim fell down to his knees panting heavily as Vergil casually stood there ready for his next move.

"_That man helped me, if it wasn't for him I would no longer be able to make humans suffer_." Krim remembered.

-Flashback-

Nine years ago Krim was on the run, the 9th District's Demon Hunters were assigned to capture and execute him. He managed to slip away into a narrow street where he saw the very Despot in front of his eyes.

"You are… The Despot… What is someone of your rank doing here wasting his time on a criminal of my caliber?" Krim asked.

"Calm down. I'm offering you a slight training and then a safety in the Human World, you'll be able to do whatever you want as long as you complete the tasks I will give you from time to time." Kaltag said, there was something in those yellow eyes that made Krim lower himself down to one knee.

"Yes, Kaltag-sama." He said.

"Good…" Kaltag said as a smirk appeared on his face.

* * *

About a month passed and Krim was pretty much amazed. He had grown stronger and had gained more experience the Despot that had took him in for the last month was actually visiting him quite frequently, something that he had found unusual.

Krim opened the doors of his room, he and a certain number of other demons have been called to the, surprisingly, a memorial garden. He reached the garden and found out that only Kaltag was there.

"Kaltag-sama? Why are you here alone? I apologize for rudeness but why am I the only one here?" He asked.

"It's been a year and a half already. The defensive technique I've been teaching you is the defensive technique she used and perfected." Kaltag began.

"Who? If I may ask sir?" Krim asked.

"Xenia, she died a year and a half ago. That's not the point of this talk though. Soon enough the second stage of my plan will begin, so I need you among a couple of other demons to truly go to the Human World. You'll be there as a distraction just in case." Kaltag said. "It's going to be dangerous but you are among the only people I trust enough to do this. That's why I'm talking to you here, in the very memorial garden I made for my deceased beloved one."

"I understand sir, my life is all yours." Krim blindly followed the words of the Despot.

"I will do everything in my might to make sure you don't die Krim. But keep in mind, betray me and I'll kill you myself." Kaltag said.

"I will never betray you, Kaltag-sama." Krim obediently said. Kaltag smirked.

-Flashback ends-

"_His words and instructions have never failed me before! They won't fail this time either_. That demon… that demon entrusted me with being a part of his plan, he allowed me the honor to see a part of his life… I can't fail him here…" Krim assured himself as he fought back the fear he felt and stood up to finish the battle with Vergil once and for all.

He rushed forward and began his attack. The blood boomerangs served as a distraction as Vergil jumped above them to dodge Krim created a massive current of water and shot it toward Vergil.

"Heh, don't joke around." Vergil mocked, he didn't even bother to dodge when he saw that Krim had to be in contact with water to control it at this level. He allowed the water to hit him and charged electricity through it thus electrifying the water demon. Krim gasped as his technique lost quite a lot of its original power.

Krim jumped back to Arlong and slipped a descent amount of blood under the body of the Fishman.

Vergil landed on the ground and suddenly jumped back when a blood made spike erupted from the ground, it did make a small cut just a bit above his right elbow. Krim was panting as he saw an opening in Vergil's defense.

"**Water Breath**!" Krim yelled.

"You are getting desperate here, Krim." Vergil said. "**Darkness Shield**." There was no need to counter the **Breath**, it wasn't strong enough to break through Vergil's defense.

Vergil spun the Dark Edge around his hand once and then rushed to stab Krim, now there was no where left for the water demon to run to…

A puddle of blood under Arlong moved…

"Farewell." Krim muttered, after eight years this was how he was going to end it.

"No way…" Johnny, Yosaku and Usopp muttered, the villagers stood frozen in shock.

Vergil's eyes widened as Dark Edge thrust through Arlong's heart thus killing the Fishman whose body was supported by the blood.

"Just like Kaltag-sama said." Krim thought as he moved to Vergil's side and blasted him with **Water Breath**.

Vergil was blasted away and Krim used the opportunity to make a large cut on Vergil's abdomen.

"This is more than large enough." Krim said to himself as Nami's eyes widened in horror.

"DON'T!" She screamed but it was too late.

"**Heart Splatter**!" The technique that would kill Vergil was initiated.

"VERGIL!" Nami screamed, she saw the technique being done before, she knew there was no escape.

"Easy Princess. I'm fine." Vergil said as tears threatened to fall down her eyes.

"How?" Both Nami and Krim asked.

"No idea, but I ain't feeling your technique. It isn't going to kill me." Vergil said, though he had vague idea as to why it didn't work.

"It should work on almost any demon and pretty much all humans, you are in the end a common demon, it should kill you…" Krim breathed out as he fell down.

"Well it isn't working. Just accept it, you no longer have any aces up your sleeves." Vergil said making Krim laugh.

"I have one more, one that will make you kill that trash as well." Krim said making everyone confused.

"Is it normal for him to go crazy like this? Or did he finally snap today?" Vergil asked the orange haired girl Krim believed he would kill.

"Just look at this." Krim said and threw a roll of paper at Vergil.

"Why would I?" Vergil asked. "To humor a soon to be dead bastard?"

"It'll interest you. It is a map from six years ago. Back then it was used by Kaltag-sama and his fellow despots to push you into a corner." Krim revealed.

Vergil's eyes widened and so did Nami's as she remembered that she did draw a map of some area in the Demon World once.

"There's no way that's true!" Sanji defended her.

"It is." Nami said, she full expected Vergil to turn to her and turn his anger toward her, but he didn't.

"And your point is? Because I don't see one." Vergil said.

"You don't see it?! It's because of that map that their attack was successful!" Krim yelled, he was now trying desperately to reason with Vergil.

"The hell if I care about some six years old map. What happened there was solely, my fault." His fist clenched and the lightning sparked with such intensity that it burnt down the map.

Nami looked away, part of her made a silent promise that they would talk about this when they got some time alone.

"Then…" Krim realized.

"Yes. You just added more fuel to your funeral fire." Vergil said as he glared at Krim.

Two demons clashed for what seemed like a decisive moment, Vergil's Dark Edge cut through the water and then through the barrier of blood as Krim tried his best to stop him.

"Why defend humans?! They have no worth whatsoever to the demons!" Krim yelled as Vergil cut through his defense.

"Why should I answer you. It's useless to talk to someone who is so set on something." Vergil stated.

Krim went for all or nothing and stabbed his blades forward while Vergil slashed. In the end, Vergil made a cut on Krim's neck while Krim stabbed into Vergil's guts and made a descent scratch on his left forearm.

Nami bit onto her lower lip as bounty hunters cried out Vergil's name.

Krim tired to back away but Vergil blasted him with **Lightning Breath** thus pretty much sealing the deal.

Out of desperation Krim wanted to run away and he even attempted to do so by running toward the ocean.

"You aren't escaping." Vergil said as he **Demon Flashed** in front of Krim and punched him. He **Air Hiked** after Krim and kicked him toward the building. Krim broke through the window and dropped on the floor of the top floor.

"They went inside!" Sanji realized.

Nami's eyes widened as she realized where they were right now. "Top floor… left window." Her eyes wavered a bit. "That room is…" She breathed out.

-Inside of the room-

"Where are you going to run now, Krim?" Vergil asked as he stepped into the room, he glanced around and saw maps all round them. "This is Princess' room, isn't it?" He asked.

"Yes." Krim replied as he managed to stand up and then spat out blood. "I have quite fond memories of this room." Krim began sadistically only to get smashed against the wall when Vergil punched him directly in the face.

"Better watch your tongue if you want your death to be any less painful." Vergil hissed at him.

-Outside-

"Cartography room!" Nami looked at it as memories threatened to crawl back into her mind, she shook her head to get her focus back on the building.

-Inside-

Vergil took his time to glance around the room as Krim held onto his face, he had a couple of his teeth knocked down his throat from the force that Vergil used to punch him and his nose was probably broken as well. Not that it mattered, in a couple of minutes he'd die, that much was clear to him.

"How many years?" Vergil asked.

"Eight…" Krim breathed out.

Vergil glanced at the maps, some of them were dirty, some of them even stained with blood, the lightning demon walked up to the deck and Krim gulped as he noticed Vergil's gaze fixated at the blood stained pen. Vergil lifted it and held it in his right hand.

"You forced her to draw until her hands bled, didn't you?" Vergil asked.

"Y… Yes…" Krim barely whispered.

"And you enjoyed it, didn't you?" Came another question.

Krim knew that it was useless to lie now. "Yes. Every single moment of it. Every drop of blood she spilled, I enjoyed all of it." Krim said, he let out a pain filled scream as the pen drove through his right palm and stabbed into the floor.

Vergil ignored the scream and grabbed the desk.

-Outside-

Suddenly a desk crashed out of the window.

"What's that?!" Yosaku yelped.

"A desk?" Sanji realized.

"It's a desk!" Usopp agreed.

Two bounty hunters let out sighs of relief.

"Oh, it was just a desk." Johnny calmed down.

"That scared me… I thought it was going to be Vergil-aniki or something." Yosaku admitted.

"Hey, partner! Don't you have faith in Vergil-aniki's strength?! That Krim can no longer oppose to him!" Johnny scolded him.

"But Johnny, you were surprised too!" Yosaku defended.

"Dumbass! I was sure it was… Krim or something…" Johnny said.

"See! You are so full of it!" Yosaku snapped.

"What did you say? Like I said…" Two continued arguing.

"Vergil?" Nami muttered.

Part of the wall broke down and broken bookshelf followed closely behind the desk.

"What's going on?!" Usopp exclaimed. "What's up with all the furniture flying out?"

"Vergil is wrecking the place." Zoro and Luffy said.

Nami was looking at the desk and bookshelf while on the inside of the room Vergil cut down the maps one pile after another before finally blasting a huge pile with **Darkness Blast**.

_"Come. From today onwards, this is your room. Your deck, your pen. Everything you need is here."_ She remembered the first time she came into that room.

The maps were blown out of the room and were now slowly raining down upon the park.

-Flashback-

Arlong pressed Nami's head against the table. "You brat! You think you can fool me?! How dare you draw a fake map!" He pulled the map from under her and slapped her to the floor. "Oh you have time to draw crap like this, eh?"

Nami wanted to reach out for the paper but his glare froze her in place.

"If you ever try to cheat me again." He began and ripped apart the drawing of Bell-mere. "I'll get someone from your village and kill them right here, in front of you! Just like I did this one. Shahahaha!"

She sat at the table in a dim light as she drew the maps. "Bell-mere-san… Nojiko…" She muttered.

-Flashbacks end-

Nami brought her hand to her mouth. "_Thank you_…" She silently thanked him as tears appeared in here yes once again.

All they could all do was look at the building, the final moments of the battle have began…

-Inside-

"That should prove my point. I will never let anyone or anything take her freedom away. If someone locks her up, I'll tear that place apart, if they capture her, or force her to come with them, I'll tear their very souls apart…" The rage in his voice was evident by the slight tremor of the floor, whether he was doing it consciously or not he had made the building itself feel the power he had. "I'll destroy everything that's making her suffer." He stated as he grabbed a hold of Krim's neck.

Before the water demon could even register what was going on Vergil slammed his fist into his face, then came another punch followed by a lightning powered up one. The white haired demon kept slamming his fist into Krim's face over and over again, blood dripped down as lightning zapped the rest of Krim's body. Finally Vergil stopped punching him and grabbed the demon's ruined face before slamming him down so hard they both dropped down one level lower.

"You know, I could just torture you before I kill you. You sure as hell deserve even more than that. I could electrocute you until you are barely conscious, until your brain is half fried, or I could slowly cut you piece by piece without making you bleed out to death." Vergil hissed making Krim even more scared than he was up until now.

"But I won't do that." Vergil said.

The confusion was pretty much painted on Krim's face.

"Torturing people before killing them, that's not the way we do things." Vergil said.

"We?" Krim breathed out.

"The ones who follow in Grom's footsteps. If I, as his only actual student went and tortured you before killing you, he would turn in his grave." Vergil said. "So you better be thankful because I'm just going to obliterate you now." He stated.

Dark Edge cracked, the crack slowly became bigger.

Vergil's eyes flashed and turned completely golden as enormous amount of lightning erupted from Vergil's body, it began circling around the building itself before it generated around his right arm. It failed to take any specific form and the lightning itself actually hurt the very muscles of Vergil's own arm.

Horror struck Krim directly in the heart as he realized just how much damage this would make.

"No, please… I'll do anything… Have mercy…" The water demon pleaded.

"Too late for regret. Perish from this world when the thunder strikes, Krim." He said coldly as the lightning intensified. "**MJOLLNIR THUNDER**!"

Vergil drove his fist into Krim's body and then crashed all the way to the lowest floor of the Arlong Park, the lightning seemed to explode all around him as it broke down the structure of the building, now it was only a matter of moments before it would crumble.

-Outside-

The lightning blasted around the building making everyone look rather shocked and for certain rubber man to marvel at the circling lightning.

-Inside-

Blood was splattered all over the walls, Vergil had kept his word, there was nothing left of Krim to bury. The building was slowly starting to crumble and he knew he would have to get out if he wanted to get away with just his current injuries, but he fell onto his knees.

"Damn it…" He cursed, his voice betrayed the pain he was feeling inside of his very soul. The Dark Edge seemed to lose shape and Vergil began clutching his head. "Don't do this now damn it… Just go back in calmly…" He was almost pleading as the cracked weapon turned into a shapeless white matter and began slowly retreating under Vergil's skin the place of retreatment seemed to be Vergil's chest as the demon lowered his head to the ground to try and ease the pain.

He clutched his head even tighter as the white matter tried to envelop his body.

"Don't close your eyes." He heard in his head, the memories of words that were said to him by not only Xenia, but Grom as well.

"I won't…" He breathed out as he opened the golden eyes he didn't even realize were closed up until now. "I will never give up on it again so piss off you damned weapon!" He hissed, the matter seemed to somehow hear him as it retreated completely.

He began coughing and panting but the pain was slowly perishing, at least the one that was caused by Dark Edge retreating back into his body.

Finally, Vergil managed to push himself up to his feet just as Arlong Park completely crumbled down…

-Outside-

"Look! That last attack is making Arlong Park…!" Nako yelled.

"No way! It's collapsing! / Everyone run!" Villagers panicked as they ran to the safety.

Nami was however still standing there, a fear crossed her eyes.

"Nami-aneki hurry!" Johnny tried to pull her.

"But Vergil is still in there!" She reminded them. Luffy stepped in and pulled her.

"He'll be fine!" Luffy assured her.

"But Vergil… He is!" She tried to argue.

The Arlong Park crumbled down completely and she was sure he would have loved seeing this if it wasn't for one detail that currently made her feel scared and uneasy. "VERGIL!" She screamed his name.

The building was down and now all that was left was for the smoke to clear.

"Vergil…" She muttered fearing the worst.

"Vergil…" Sanji muttered as well, not a single person seemed sure as to what happened, with exceptions being only Luffy and Zoro.

"It's damn noisy… Just get out already." Zoro complained. "Vergil?" He seemed to somehow feel that something was wrong with Vergil's sword, he couldn't quite put what it was though.

"Arlong Park… is demolished…" Nako realized.

"I never thought I'd see this day but that demon…" Genzo muttered.

"He's fine." Luffy said.

"How do you know?" Nojiko wondered.

Luffy just shrugged it off.

"But… What happened inside?" Yosaku asked.

"It was lightning so Vergil won, probably." Sanji said.

"It happened so quickly. Could he…?" Genzo said.

"Vergil…" Usopp muttered.

Sun shone upon the people and demolished park when suddenly lightning shot into it out of blue. Nami's eyes widened as she saw a figure pushing through the rubble somewhere in the middle of it.

"Vergil!" She happily cried out.

"Big Brooooo!" Johnny and Yosaku cried.

The white haired demon in question seemed to be driven by adrenaline as he walked down the rubble without any specific troubles.

"Isn't it great? Big sister!" Sanji went to hug Nojiko but he hugged the air and dropped to the ground.

"Gen-san!" The reason why Sanji failed to hug Nojiko was because she had hugged Genzo.

"Are we… Are we dreaming?" Genzo wondered as the realization fully dawned upon him. "I can't believe this day has finally come." He admitted.

Villagers cheered as they grabbed Luffy and Vergil and began throwing them up and down while Luffy didn't fight it Vergil did, or well tried to.

"Let go damn it!" he tried to demand but the weakness finally kicked in as he slowly felt his consciousness fade away.

"You did it Luffy, Vergil! You deserve the praise! But if you let me have some I'd really appreciate it!" Usopp exclaimed.

"Man you had me worried there for a moment. Be a bit quicker next time, bastard." Sanji scolded him.

"He did the job, that's what's important." Zoro said.

"That's enough! Toss them around! Or at least Usopp!" Vergil agreed and finally managed to get free from the cheers, truthfully, while it was a bit strange to get this kind of cheering it wasn't so pleasant as his entire body screamed for him to just lose consciousness. Well that idea dropped when he saw Nami, she looked at him, his wounds and finally she looked him in the eyes.

"Something on your mind, Princess?" Vergil asked.

"Yeah, I guess. Are you going to be all right?" Nami asked.

Vergil smirked a bit. "Don't tell me I made you so worried." He teased.

"You seemed a bit annoyed back there." She ignored his words.

"Yeah. It kinda reminded me of back when I was kid, I always got frustrated when Grom did that to me." Vergil admitted.

"Grom?" Nami asked.

"My teacher." He simply replied with a fond smile on his face.

"I see." She said and chose not to press the topic and further.

They grinned at each other and then heard a thud.

The villagers have unintentionally dropped Luffy to the ground.

"Awesome." Luffy laughed.

The crew rejoiced in the success but the cheering has been abruptly stopped.

"That's enough scumbags!" Nezumi said as his marines stood behind him.

* * *

_**That's it. 'Turn in grave' part, well I don't know if there is a fitting phrase for that in English but in my native language the similar phase is used to express when a dead person would feel extreme shame because of the actions taken by the child or someone who was close to that person. It's not like 'that person wouldn't be able to rest in peace' or phrases of that kind, it's probably the strongest form of saying 'your (that person) would be ashamed of you' where I live. I'm leaving the Nezumi part for the next chapter, just because I'm a bit tired.**_

_**Either way I can't say if the battle between Vergil and Krim is that satisfying but it's what I wanted it to be. **_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Despot Of The Special Combat District**_


	56. Despot Of The Special Combat District

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you. Yes he had.**_

_**OPFan37 – Thank you very much. I listen to Skillet as well, Whispers in the Dark, well now that I think about it it kinda fits Vergil and Nami's relationship in the arc while the instrumental goes well with the battle. You know, like how Nami lied 'Despite the lies that you're making' or how she asks for help from Luffy and the Straw Hats 'the one that you run to' and so on, so yeah, the lyrics probably fit more to that but because of that an AMV with that song would be kinda nice to watch, if I could anyway. The memorial garden is for Xenia, I can't explain but it is for Xenia. Somewhat of an explanations, some revelations especially in the chapter after this one and the one after that. Nope my native language isn't English, I'm from Montenegro.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**Blazeinferno – Thank you, I'm glad you liked it, I can't explain that one yet and the bounty answer lies in this chapter.**_

_**Theboblinator – Yeah, he didn't mess around. Thank you very much, I'm happy to hear that. Well I think that making them a couple before even Robin joins would be ridiculous, in fact with the way things are I think anything prior to what I have in plan would be a bit too early. The biggest problem will be admitting to themselves, especially to Vergil for certain reasons. After all one is a demon and one is a human. Even when accepting it aside demon – human stuff will be a problem. I like the pairing name you came up with as well. Will there be moments between them before they get together? YES! Will there be many? No… Entire One Piece story format isn't that compatible with adding in fluff every other chapter or so. Arcs are often (roughly) separated into set up, action and aftermath. In set up and aftermaths I can put moments, in action part, rarely, especially when they scatter around like in Alabasta. So even when they get together their relationship won't be that much different, just more open so to speak.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 56 – Despot Of The Special Combat District**_

* * *

"That's enough scumbags!" Nezumi said as his marines stood behind him.

"Not him." One of the villagers complained.

"Chichichichi! Well this might be my lucky day! Nice work. I enjoyed the show." He praised them.

"Who is he?" Vergil asked.

"Marine who shot Nojiko, ruined Bell-mere-san's tangerine orchard and took my money." Nami said as she glared at the man.

"I see." Vergil replied, he had a vague guess that Bell-mere was someone important to nami and since he didn't see any woman exactly close to Nami besides Nojiko he guessed that the woman was dead.

"I never would've thought… That these Fishmen would be defeated by the likes of you silly pirates. But thanks to you, Arlong and Krim's bounties, as well as all of Arlong Park's riches, will be mine." Nezumi declared. "Everyone put down your weapons!"

Before he could say anything else Vergil dashed toward him and slammed him into the ground.

"Don't spoil the mood when people are trying to celebrate." Zoro hissed at him dangerously as he walked up to Vergil.

After a lot of punching, some kicking and some whacking of a hammer onto Nezumi's head the five pirates finally allowed him and his marines to lie down.

"I-If you hit me just one more time, I won't let you live…" He threatened through broken teeth and missing teeth.

"You're still talking?" Sanji asked as he rubbed the side of his head in slight irritation.

Nami walked up to the marine and crouched down before she lightly pulled at Nezumi's three whiskers. "This is for shooting Nojiko… And for messing up Bell-mere-san's tangerine grove. "

"Eh?"

Nami slammed her staff across Nezumi's cheek thus sending him skidding across the ocean surface.

"Captain!" Marines cried out.

Nami let out a small sigh as she felt slightly better after that.

"Thanks Nami." Nojiko smiled and winked at her. "That was satisfying."

"And there's thousand more where that came from, jerk!" Genzo added.

Nezumi emerged from the water all beaten up.

The suffering wasn't over though as Nami grabbed his whiskers and actually pulled at them this time. "Now. You guys will take care of cleaning up after Fishmen and help reconstruct the Gosa Village. But you will not touch even the slightest bit of the riches! They belong to the people of this island. Understand?" Nami told him.

"Ow! Ow! I'll bo (do) as you say…" Nezmi blurted out, due to missing and broken teeth he was unable to phrase some words correctly.

"And one more thing…" Nami added. "GIVE ME BACK MY MONEY!" She demanded as she glared at him.

"I'll gibe (give) it bac (back), honesly (honestly)! I don (don't) want it anymore..." He muttered.

A bit later Nezumi was swimming away as quickly as possible. "This won't be forgotten! You lousy pirates! Straw Hat guy! The name's Luffy, right? And you are Vergil?" Nezumi asked. "You are the captain and the first mate, right? Don't forget this! You're gonna be big after messing with me!"

"Maybe we should have broken more of his teeth." Vergil said loudly enough for Nezumi to hear and scram it.

"He said we are gonna be big." Sanji said.

"How'd he know I was going to become a Pirate King?" Luffy asked.

"He wasn't talking about that, you numbskull!" Zoro scolded him.

"What do we do now?" Usopp panicked. "If we become notorious what'll happen to us?!"

"Calm down its already noisy here." Vergil complained.

"Hey everyone!" Nako got the attention of the other villagers. "This isn't something to keep for ourselves! Carry the news to the whole island!"

"YEAH!" Villagers cheered as they grabbed the torn flag of the Arlong Pirates and ran to the closest village. "Arlong Park has…. Arlong Park has fallen!"

-With the crew-

"You were lying on the ground!" Luffy continued teasing the swordsman along with Vergil. Of course Zoro got mad as he growled at the duo.

The rest of the crew laughed though.

Nojiko, Nako and Genzo were carefully looking at Nami's face, the girl was laughing fom the bottom of her heart.

"Isn't it great, Nami?" Nojiko said to herself.

"Who would have thought we'd be saved by the pirates?" Genzo commented. "What's the world coming to?"

-Flashback-

Arlong's flag wavered on the wind and the villagers could only watch as Arlong and his crew approached the village.

"Greetings and salutations, my inferior little humans. From this moment on, this village… No this whole island will be my domain!" Arlong exclaimed making the villagers look at him with horror written all over their faces. Krim sadistically smirked as FIshmen roared in approval. "Listen carefully. On this day every month. You'll have to 'purchase' your very lives from me!" Arlong revealed.

* * *

At the same time villagers' efforts were easily stopped when Krim blasted them all with **Water Breath**, he however made sure that they only got hurt instead of getting killed.

"Pathetic humans." He smirked sadistically and went to kick around some of the lying villagers as he watched Arlong and Bell-mere from the corner of his eye.

* * *

"Gen-san, help me!" Nami pleaded.

"Don't you dare hurt those children!" Genzo yelled.

* * *

"Shahahahahahahaha!"

* * *

Nami forced his arms off of her shoulders and turned around. "Let go of me!"

"Nami?" Genzo breathed but then saw it…

"Nami!" Nojiko gasped, the Arlong crew's mark was on her left shoulder…

"T-That's Arlong's tattoo…!" Nako realized.

"You!" Genzo gasped.

"Nami…" Nojiko muttered.

* * *

Genzo walked up to her and pulled her into a hug thus making her eyes widen.

A tear fell down Genzo's cheek. "That's enough. We know what futility is like. You fought well for our sake. It must have been more painful for you to join that crew, more painful than it is to get hurt." Genzo's voice was trembling. "You fought well." He told her and tears fell down her cheeks.

"Gen-san…" She muttered.

-Flashback ends-

Arlong and Krim were dead, the other three main fighters, Chew, Kuroobi and Hachi were all defeated and unconscious. Arlong Park was in ruins, it was all finally over.

"Then it went 'Kaboom!'" Usopp said.

"We did well in the end, right?" Luffy asked.

"Told you so, Princess." Vergil added.

Bell-mere's smiling face flashed in front of Genzo's eyes.

"At long last Bell-mere's soul can ascend to heaven, in peace." Nako said.

-Somewhere else-

"Hello! Helloooo!" Nezumi yelled.

"Yes, Marine headquarters here." An answer came from a Den Den Mushi.

"Marine Headquarters, hello!" Nezumi yelled again. "This is the Marine's 16th Battalion Captain Nezumi! Marine Code! #00733! I have a report to make!"

"No need to yell, we can hear you." The one on the other side said.

"Listen up! There's a pirate wearing a straw hat called Luffy! And another demon pirate called Vergil! They and their four accomplices are all against the government!" He yelled.

"Luffy… Vergil…" Marine wrote on the paper.

"They were able to crumble Arlong Park and defeat the fearsome Fishman Arong and his first mate Krim as well as his Fishmen! We must beware of them! I wish to place a heavy bounty on the head of their captain, 'Straw Hat' Luffy and the first mate Vergil! I'm sending their pictures!" Nezumi once again yelled.

"Roger." Came a short reply.

"What's this?! Couldn't you find a better picture for the captain?!" Nezumi yelled at the marine.

"Not really. This is all we got." Marine said.

"The authenticity of the bounties will be reviewed later. After we send it to the higher-ups." Marine on the oher side replied.

"You got it?! They are villainous pirates! I want them DEAD OR ALIVE! I WANT HGH BOUNTIES ON THEIR HEADS!" Nezumi demanded.

Luffy's picture was that of him grinning widely and holding his hand up to greet whoever looked at the picture. Vergil's was a bit better as it was him looking rather coldly down at Nezumi who was just punched by him

-Demon World-

Despot of the 1st District, Val Zatar, 63 years old and the oldest Despot.

Despot of the 2nd District, Rator, 42 years old.

Despot of the 3rd District, Kagame, 28 years old, the youngest female.

Despot of the 4th District, Quing Fest, 27 years old.

Despot of the 5th District, Enla, 31 years old woman.

Despot of the 6th District, Dritan, the youngest Despot of them all, 25 years old.

Despot of the 7th District, Dhavlesh, 37 years old.

Despot of the 8th District, Tsubame, second youngest one, also 25 years old.

Despot of the 9th District, Gavran Kaltag, 29 years old.

Despot of the 10th District, Haidar, 34 years old.

Despot of the 11th District, Hideo Fujiko, 53 years old, the second oldest one and the oldest female.

Despot of the 12th District, Cassandra, 35 years old.

Despot of the 13th District, Nobitsura, 39 years old

Despot of the 14th District, Bovan, 47 years old.

Finally the Kagan himself, Togusa Warsfer, 41 years old.

All these demons were currently connected via communication system.

There was a short silence before finally Warsfer spoke up.

"Kaltag, you requested an urgent contact with all the Despots. Did something happen?" He asked.

"First of all, I thank all of you for responding to my call so quickly. Especially you, Kagame, I am aware that you are currently rather busy." Kaltag began.

"Nah, don't mention it Kaltag. Just make it quick." Kagame said.

"As you all know, Vergil has escaped about a month ago, the details of that have been known to all of us, we also believed that he would just go and attempt to rescue Blaiddmon. We were wrong, he had killed the low class criminal that was supposedly missing in action, Blood Puppeteer Krim. Knowing this we can assume that he has returned to his old habits." Kaltag presented the news.

"You are saying that like it's so bad. Wasn't Krim a criminal? At the end of it all Vergil actually did a favor to us." Dhavlesh pointed out.

"You are too soft on the impudent brat Dhavlesh. If we just let him do as he pleases he'll just stand in our way." Bovan argued.

"It wouldn't be the first time for him to attack us. I say we eliminate him." Enla suggested.

"For once I agree with her. Leonidas is vulnerable right now, if we want a chance this is the best one we'll get." Haidar agreed.

"Ah, but aren't you saying that just because you are too weak to face him on your own." A soft yet kinda arrogant voice spoke up.

"You are saying that you can do better than that, Tsubame?" Haidar asked.

"Why yes, anything you can do is insignificant to me and my abilities." Tsubame said.

"Why you…" Haidar hissed.

"Children please, we have more important things to do if all we are supposed to do here is listen to your argument." Fujiko stated.

"Yes Fujiko-san, we apologize." Haidar and Tsubame said.

"Now Kaltag-kun. What is the real problem behind Vergil-kun's return so to speak." Fujiko asked.

"Kaltag is just a bit scared, that's it." Cassandra spoke up.

"I am not. I am simply stating the potential problem." Kaltag said rather calmly.

"Don't beat around the bush Kaltag, this is why I preferred Vergil over you, when there was problem he bluntly stated it. Too bad he's no longer here. Not to mention that you two always seemed to be at some kind of mental war back in the days. Can't you just admit that you are angry at him and that you are at the very least a little bit scared of what he can do?" She said.

"Cassandra, I'd appreciate it if you didn't compare me to him. Especially when you are outnumbered here, most of the people here who were present at the time he was here disliked Vergil's attitude." Kaltag stated.

"Who cares? I was quite fond of the kid, still am to be honest. He had that edge to him, you know like how Grom had." Cassandra said.

"Edge? Yeah right, he was nothing but a combat machine back in those days." Rator disagreed.

"Until he met Blaiddmon." Nobitsura finally joined in. "One cannot argue with the fact that Vergil, after he met Blaiddmon returned back to being more and more like Grom. That is why we cannot allow ourselves to act now." Nobitsura stated as he remembered just what kind of person Grom was when things got really serious.

-Nobitsura's Flashback, 10 years ago-

Ten years ago, many things were different for Nobitsura ten years ago, he wasn't a Despot, he was ten years younger, had a life beyond just battles and duties to the Kagan, most importantly, he had a best friend…

"I keep telling you Grom! Mundus got him, there is no way you can save Vergil!" Nobitsura yelled at him as Grom prepared to leave.

"You should know by now. Nothing will stop me from keeping him safe." Grom stated.

"It's a fucking fortress that you plan on attacking!" Nobitsura reminded him.

"The hell if I care." Grom was getting irritated.

"You can't do this on your own damn it! What are you going to try? Kill whoever stands in your way?" Nobitsura challenged and Grom finally had enough of constant asking, attempts to persuade him against going and everything else Nobitsura tried…

"I'M GOING TO OBLITERATE THE DEATH ITSELF IF IT STANDS BETWEEN ME AND VERGIL!" Grom yelled cutting off any and all arguments as he stepped out.

-Flashback ends-

"Everything you said stands, but Kaltag-kun, what is the exact thing you are worried about? You still haven't told us." Zatar asked curiously.

"I am not worried about anything specific, I'm just stating that we should eliminate the cause of problem before it turns into trouble." Kaltag said.

"This doesn't sound like you at all, Kaltag. Vergil kills a criminal and you start getting all worried. Are you hiding something from us?" Dritan asked innocently.

"Of course he is, remember how he always remained silent after Xenia's murder. Or how he so desperately initiated an attack on Vergil and the Special Combat District's 'Black Crusader' squad six years ago. Or how many of the criminals his people were sent to kill kept popping up one after another after Vergil left and began working on his own. Wasn't Krim one of those as well?" Fest challenged.

"Don't speak so much out of your league Fest. You have nothing but assumption and I have no reason to turn against Vergil for no reason or out of fear. Most importantly, do not ever utter Xenia's name with your mouth." Kaltag ordered.

"You have no right to forbid me to speak of her, only Vergil has that right. Speaking of Vergil, he was for a reason unknown to any of us targeting you directly and another couple of demons who weren't Despots at the time, but out of Despots at that time, you were the only targeted one." Fest stated.

"I was guarding Blaiddmon, it's only natural that I was attacked as well. The other guards were killed by a lightning technique as well." Kaltag said.

"You are a lightning user as well." Dritan said.

"Haidar was doing the analyzes of the battle area, it was done by Vergil." Kaltag stated.

"That's enough. Kaltag, I understand your reasoning, however we will not take any counter measures right now. However to make sure both sides are satisfied I have taken all your statements into account and am proposing a suggestion. State your opinion on Leonidas Vergil's exile from the Districts." Warsfer said.

"Declined." Zatar stated.

"Accepted." Rator said.

"Accepted." Kagame said.

"Declined." Fest rejected.

"Accepted." Enla agreed.

"Declined." Dritan said.

"Neutral." Dhavlesh said.

"Declined." Tsubame said.

"Accepted." Kaltag answered.

"Accepted." Haidar agreed.

"Neutral." Fujiko said.

"Declined." Cassandra said.

"... Neutral." Nobitsura said after a short silence.

"Accepted." Bovan said thus sealing the deal.

"Three neutral, five for no and six for yes. It's decided then" Warsfer began. "Former Special Combat District Despot, Black Thunder, Leonidas Vergil is now exiled from any and all Districts." Warsfer stated.

-4th District-

Fest was one of those demons that were commonly referred to as handsome. Reddish brown neck length, straight hair. A slightly round face that made him look younger. He had a slender build with fairly little muscle. His attire was rather simple as well, he was wearing white turtleneck long sleeved shirt, right sleeve was rolled up to the elbow reveal a black wristband, he was also wearing black trousers.

"It's been six long years, I guess he made a progress after all." He muttered.

-Flashback-

Fest walked up to a prison cell and saw at that time 17 years old Vergil sitting inside.

"I never guessed I'd see you here." Fest admitted.

Vergil didn't reply, he was looking throughout the small window.

"He visited you, didn't he?" Fest realized.

"He looked more disturbed than he ever should." Vergil finally spoke up.

"You know right?" Fest began almost as if he tried to find the right words.

"He was captured, wasn't he?" Vergil blankly asked.

"Straight to the point, eh? That part of you never changes. I'll try to buy you some time." Fest assured the white haired demon.

Finally Vergil stood up and walked up to the doors of the cell. Fest's eyes widened, he wasn't met with cold emotionless eyes void of any life, but rather with determined ones.

"Help me get out of here. I'm going to save him." Vergil requested.

-Flashback ends-

"Maybe I should pay you a visit." Fest said.

-6th District-

When looking at Dritan one would never think he's a Despot, the slightly messy blonde hair was as wild and untamed as it was years ago, narrow golden eyes and a much smaller frame than Vergil for example. The 176 cm tall demon was currently sprawled on the ground in the middle of a grassy field, and this was one of the reasons he seemed unfit to be a Despot.

"Dritan-san! Please go back to your office!" One of the officers said.

"Just another five minutes, I'd like to think a bit." Dritan muttered as he opened his eyes and looked at the skies. "Did you know I took the Demon Hunter exam back when I was 11, there was this hot headed, amazing person with luck that would make Lady Luck itself envious. The very person that passed the written exams by picking the answers via nursery rhymes." He muttered.

"Sir, why are you telling this to me?" The officer asked.

"I'm not sure why, Seik, but I find myself singing that very nursery rhyme now, I'm deciding whether or not to do something." Dritan said.

"Sir these will not exclude you from your duty." Officer, revealed to be named Seik, reminded him.

"Well it's 'yes' after all." Dritan said as he stood up, a soft smile crossed his features.

"Dress properly as well." Seik added making Dritan look at his red shirt with blue 'Absent minded' written on it. Other than that it was all normal, at least he thought so.

* * *

_**That's it, now all the Despots and Kagan have appeared in a way so yeah… Kinda important chapter, hopefully you can get a feeling of what kind of relationship some of these characters had with Vergil.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Damaged Soul**_


	57. Damaged Soul

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**Piemaster981 – Thank you, though it will take a long time to reach those things, by the end of the year reaching some point of Alabasta Arc is all I can hope for when it comes to the pacing so yeah, it'll take a long time.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you very much, glad you liked it.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 57 – Damaged Soul**_

* * *

People of the Conomi Island had every right to be happy right now.

"ARLONG PARK HAS FALLEN!" One of the two that carried the flag exclaimed.

"We're FREE!" The second one yelled just as happily.

Suddenly there was a huge banquet in the middle of the Cocoyashi Village.

"We're free!" Another person cheered.

"Everyone! We're gonna dance and celebrate! Arlong Park has fallen! We've been living for this day for eight years! We've been living to rejoice upon this day!" One of the people had climbed onto the rooftop of one of the houses and exclaimed.

"YEAAAAHH!" People roared.

"Tomorrow and the next, let's party 'til we drop!" He said as people began dancing around and crying out of happiness.

Nojiko sat on one of the benches drinking on her own. She seemed relieved and happy even though she wasn't dancing around like many much older people.

"Big sister!" She heard someone calling her and turned to her left.

"Oh, Chabo." She acknowledged as the young boy ran up to her.

"I just had a look at Arlong Park. It's amazing! It's all smashed to bits!" He said happily.

"Pretty impressive, huh?" Nojiko asked.

"Yeah! Whoever did it must be an awesome guy! Who is it? He's still here rght? The man who defeated Arlong! And the one who defeated Krim as well!" Chabo wanted to meet them.

"Yeah, the one that defeated Arlong is right over there." Nojiko said as she motioned to the group of people.

"Which one? Who?" Chabo asked.

"The guy wearing a straw hat." Nojiko simply described as they saw Luffy sitting at the table stuffing his mouth with food.

The rubber man grabbed a plate with meat, but instead of just eating meat he accidentally swallowed the plate as well.

His eyes widened as he realized that the plate was now stuck in his throat and his face went green, it didn't take long before his entire body took on a rather dark shade of green as well.

"Is that really the guy who freed the village?" Chabo asked and not really many people could blame me, at first glance Luffy wasn't exactly looking like someone capable of defeating Arlong.

"I found it hard to believe." Nojiko admitted.

Being rubber man Luffy was in the end capable of gulping down the entire plat. "Meat! Meat! Isn't there anymore?!" He looked around for more to eat.

Sanji and Usopp on the other hand sat near the hospital window smoking his cigarette, currently the two members of the crew and bounty hunters were inside and well Zoro in quite a pain as Nako tended to the wound he got from MIhawk.

"They are still working on him?" Usopp asked.

"He looked pretty torn up, that Zoro." Sanji simply admitted.

"Well, duh. Any other guy would've taken a year or two to heal." The long nosed sniper pointed out.

Inside Zoro was breaking down in cold sweat as he tried to bear the pain.

"Fool!" Nako scolded, on other beds Johnny and Yosaku loudly snore while Vergil slept almost in a coma like sleep. "You tried to handle an injury this serious by yourself!"

"It hurts!" Zoro breathed through his teeth.

"Are you guys really pirates?" Nako asked in disbelief. "Don't you – have a doctor on your ship?"

"A doctor? Not a bad idea." Luffy chimed in from a window.

"Luffy…" Zoro acknowledged.

"But we need a musician first, right Zoro?" And he began again.

"Why?" Zoro questioned.

"Because, pirates love to sing. Don't you know?" Luffy obviously told him.

Zoro smirked out of frustration. "So, why is that more important?" He was simply frustrated.

"Why is Vergil still sleeping?" Luffy asked.

"I don't know. He's been like that ever since we got here, he just seemed to pass out." Zoro muttered.

Luffy glanced at the sleeping first mate and then turned to Nako. "Hey Doctor, where's Nami?" He asked. Nako looked a bit confused at the question. "I don't see her anywhere." Rubber man explained.

"Nami, huh? Well if she's not here, then she must be there." Nako said but didn't really say where she was directly.

"Huh?"

-With Nami-

While the party was still going Nami was sitting in front of Bell-mere's grave with Genzo standing nearby.

"What's with you, Nami? You're still here? They are looking for you, your nakama. Well most of them." Nojiko said.

"Hey, Nojiko…" Nami began as she turned to smile and look at them for a moment. "Gen-san… If Bell-mere-san was still alive, you think she'd stop me from being a pirate?"

"A pirate? Hm, are you kidding? She'd never let her precious little girl become a pirate!" Genzo told her.

"She wouldn't stop ya." Nojiko disagreed.

"NOJIKO!" Genzo yelled at the girl.

"And even if she did say 'no'. Would you listen?" Nojiko asked even though she knew the answer.

Nami stuck her tongue out. "NO WAY!" She said in a rather determined way.

Nojiko chuckled while Genzo just looked at the orange haired girl with his mouth slightly open.

"Now I get it…" He muttered and then began laughing loudly thus slightly creeping Nojiko out.

"What's with you, Gen-san?" Nojiko asked.

He stopped laughing as image of Bell-mere flashed in his mind.

"You two are without a doubt, Bell-mere's daughters." He said, he patted Nojiko on the shoulder, as he began walking away.

"Gen-san?" Nojiko asked.

"Nami, you've made up your mind already, huh? So just do what you feel is right. Just like your mother did. Bell-mere would've wanted no less." Genzo assured her.

Nami smiled as she looked toward the horizon.

-Third night of the party-

Well the crew has mostly recovered while the party still lasted, now the only one left recovering was Vergil who was yet to even wake up.

Zoro was drinking his sake when Sanji joined him.

"Boy, I'm full." The cook said. "It's nice to have someone feeding me for a change." He admitted. "How's your wound, Zoro?" He asked as he sat down and leaned against a wooden pillar.

"With rest and a good meal, I'll heal up soon enough." Zoro assured him.

"That's good." So far it seemed like the two would be descent and maybe even goof friends, the first impression did mislead people sometimes…

"Seriously, why is this stupid party still going on?" Zoro asked, well he had his drink so there wasn't much to complain but still… "It's been three days now."

"Ain't that a good thing? When you feel happy you should be able to enjoy yourself." Sanji stated and lit another cigarette.

All of a sudden Luffy came up to them with multiple pieces of meat in his hands and one in his mouth. "Hey Sanji! You were eating some kind of melon earlier. What was it?"

"What's about all that meat you've got there in your hands?" Zoro asked.

"Oh that. It's called Nama-Hamu melon because it had Nama-Hamu on top of it." Sanji told him.

"NAMA-HAMU MELON? Sounds tasty! W-Where was it?" Luffy asked now even more eager to eat it.

"Beats me. It's like a potluck party for the entire island so someone must have brought them…" Sanji tried to remember but Luffy was already gone.

"He's gone." Zoro told him.

"He's been eating like that for three days. Well, my stomach is full. So now it's time. TO PICK UP THE LADIES!" He exclaimed as he ran to a group of woman.

Zoro noticed that his mug was empty and shrugged it off before he went to sleep.

Usopp was on the other hand standing on a multiple tables placed one on top of the other thus making a small tower for Usopp to stand on. "Hi! I'm the one who defeated the invincible FIshmen The hero who fights bravely for the sake of love!" He yelled through a speaker. "SNIPER USOPP!"

"GO! Go!" Villagers cheered.

"So let's sing about the exploits of the brave Usopp! Who? Who? Who defeated the Fishman?" Usopp began singing.

"Man, this is so lame." Nojiko complained.

"What is?" Chabo asked as Usopp's singing provided a background music.

"I thought you'd be more like…" She made a pose of a frustrated child. "'It's not fair! Why couldn't this happen before my father had to die?' Or something." She teased him.

"Well I did think that at first." Chabo admitted. "But now I'm more concerned about my future."

"Your future?" Nojiko asked.

"See, we were saved by the Straw Hat big brothers. But starting tomorrow we are going to have to start taking care of ourselves on our own. We shouldn't forget the past but it's not important now. Rather the important thing now is the future. What do we do from now on? What did we learn? We are the future of this village." Chabo said as he expressed the sudden maturity, Nojiko fondly looked at the kid. "That's what I've been thinking about."

Nojiko pinched his cheek. "You're too mature!"

Chabo tossed around. "Why are you pinching me?! What did I do?!" He asked.

Nojiko finally let go of him and he held onto the pinched cheek. "Man I wanted to pick on you more." Nojiko complained.

"You ARE picking on me!" He yelled. "You, you tattooed skank!"

Nojiko laughed. "'Skank' is fine by me!"

-With Nami-

Currenly the only ones in Nako's hospital were the still sleeping Vergil, Nako and shirtless Nami lying on her stomach.

"Can it be removed?" She asked.

"Leave it to me, is what I'd like to say. But there will be some scarring, it's a tattoo after all." Nako admitted as he cleaned Nami's left shoulder, the one that no longer had Arlong's mark on it. "That's the nature of these things."

There was now a scar mostly if not completely from Nami stabbing herself and it would probably stay. "I was stupid. I knew I couldn't take it off." She said.

-Flashback-

"I don't want anyone to see this" This… This awful tattoo. The truth is, I'm not one of Arolong's nakama! I don't want to wear his mark!" Nami cried in front of Nojiko.

"Nami…" The older girl could only mutter that much.

* * *

"Nojiko, what's that?" Nami asked, she had returned from her stealing and saw that Nojiko now had tattoos.

"What? Oh, this? It's nothing, just some body arts." Nojiko said. "Just like Nami, right?"

Nojiko laughed and Nami couldn't help but laugh weakly as well though she had tears of happiness in her eyes she didn't cry…

-Flashback ends-

"Hey Doctor. I'd like you to make a new one for me." Nami said confusing and surprising the Doctor. She pulled out a piece of paper. "Of this."

-A bit later-

Nami put on her shirt and glanced at Vergil.

"He still hasn't woken up…" She muttered.

"If I didn't know any better I'd say he's in coma, well he is in a way." Nako admitted.

Nami walked up to the white haired demon and saw that most of his wounds have healed. She looked at his face, it was blank and then, she reached out and touched his right cheek. "How did you get this…?" She muttered softly.

Her hand was about to go further into his hair but she pulled it back.

Suddenly there was knocking on the doors and Nako, though surprised to get more visitors opened the doors. As soon as he saw who it was he slammed the doors shut.

"Marines?" Nami asked as Nako backed away from the doors in search of anything to use to defend himself, Nami and the unconscious demon.

"Worse, demons, two of them." He said making Nami pale. The doors opened and Fest and Dritan walked in.

"Don't worry. We aren't here to fight. Just to check on Vergil." Fest assured them, Nami cursed not taking her staff with her though she guessed that she would be unable to do anything.

"You won't take a step closer to him…" She hissed.

"Please calm down. We can wake him up." Dritan said as he glanced at Vergil.

"The idiot went and did that…" Fest complained, Nami lowered her guard a bit and allowed Dritan to walk up to Vergil, he did seem sincere about what he said.

Dritan pulled out a small bottle and made Vergil drink it. A couple of moments passed and Vergil coughed a bit before his eyes finally opened.

"Vergil!" Nami exclaimed.

"Damn… Too early…" Vergil muttered as he rubbed his temples and then glanced to his left where Nami was.

"Morning Princess." He greeted.

"Idiot it's night." Fest said before Nami could reply.

"Princess?" Dritan repeated.

"Damn it Fest, I'm not ready to face your damn mug this soon after I wake up. Long time no see, Dritan." Vergil said and unwillingly turned to the two demons.

"What was that?" Fest growled.

"Calm down Fest." Dritan tried to calm the situation. "It sure has been a while Vergil." He turned to Vergil with a grin on his face.

"You three know each other?" Nako asked.

"Yeah. The pleasant one is Dritan, the bastard is Quing Fest. They are both Despots." Vergil said.

"Why aren't you good with describing people." Fest commented as his eyebrow twitched.

"Why bother with descriptions, anyone with any common sense would easily see which one of you two is a bastard." Vergil said as the two demons glanced at each other's eyes. "Either way, small talk aside. There was a meeting of some sort, right?" Vergil guessed.

Fest sighed. "Yes. There are many things we need to tell you. Dritan will take care of that for the most part. I'm here to repair your soul." Fest said making both Nami and Nako look at him then at Vergil.

"Repair?" Nami repeated.

"I don't want to sound rude, but if you aren't in his crew, please step out." Fest requested. "Unlike Vergil I don't trust humans with this many information."

"I understand. Nami is on the same crew as him so she can stay, right?" Nako asked, if Vergil was comfortable with these demons then he would have to trust in his decisions.

"I would say 'no' but the idiot won't let me do that." Fest admitted as he gestured toward Vergil.

Nami sat on the bed next to Vergil's as Nako stepped out. "What did you mean by repair?" Nami asked.

Vergil's Dark Edge appeared, it was slightly cracked but much less than it was back during the finale of Vergil's battle against Krim.

"This isn't just any weapon. It's made from the user's soul. Once we reach zero energy we are capable of cracking the Devil Arm to gain a certain amount of power, however the more we take the more our very soul is cracking. If it's less than 15 % a demon can remain awake, if it's between 15 and 75% it's slumber, the higher the damage the more the state looks like coma and the time needed is also longer when damage is bigger. Over 75 % is coma, the Devil Arm breaks in half when that happens. And finally the complete cracking of the Devil Arm, when it breaks into tiny pieces, means unavoidable death." Vergil explained.

Nami glared furiously at him. "How much… How much did you break?" She hissed.

"We can talk about this after Dritan and Fest leave, let's just get this over with." Vergil said, he honestly hoped that Nami would just drop the topic by the time things were said and done here.

Dritan walked up to still raging Nami. "Please refrain yourself from being angry, Vergil knows what he's doing, also what Fest is about to do is going to be painful. Can you please leave the talk for later?" Dritan requested kindly.

Nami looked at him and then at Vergil who was mentally preparing himself and nodded. "You better not avoid me after this." She said.

"Fine." Vergil replied but since his attention was divided the sudden pain forced him to grunt as the pain coursed through his body yet again.

Nami's eyes widened, no matter how much Krim tried he never got an actual grunt out of Vergil so for him to express feeling the pain like this… It scared her.

"Concentrate idiot!" Fest scolded as strings formed of energy came out of his hand and fully latched onto Vergil's Devil Arm. The strings disappeared and the Devil Arm began forceful repairing.

"Shut it…!" Vergil hissed as he clenched his teeth and fists.

In the agonizing ten or so minutes Vergil had broken down in cold sweat, Dritan watched calmly and Nami turned away. Finally the white haired demon relaxed as Dark Edge disappeared looking as good as new.

"Well that went well." Fest said.

"Yeah, for you." Vergil breathed out.

"Don't be a child Vergil, it's not my fault you broke your Devil Arm." Fest stated.

"I'm killing you one of these days." Vergil threatened.

"Here, it'll ease the pain." Dritan said as he pulled out another small bottle.

"Why didn't you give it to him earlier then?!" Nami yelled at the blond.

"Calm down Princess. It would be a waste, there's no painkiller for soul, you can only make a potion to ease the aftereffects, the headache, pain in the entire chest area and stuff like that. Though it's nothing like the pain of getting the Devil Arm and soul repaired." Vergil assured her.

Nami was slowly getting more and more reasons to get angry over Vergil breaking the Devil Arm. "You are such an idiot!" Nami yelled and stomped out of the hospital, she remained near the window though.

"You didn't have to destroy all that, you didn't have to…" She muttered as she leaned against the wall next to the window that was closest to the three demons.

"You sure know how to make people mad." Fest commented.

"I know. I'll have to apologize. So, what brings you two here, other than torturing me that is." Vergil said, though one could see that he was thankful for what Fest did as he grinned and gave a thankful nod toward the oldest demon in the room.

All three of them were aware of Nami listening to them.

"Killing Krim got you in quite a trouble." Dritan began, Nami's eyes widened slightly as she paid more attention to their words now.

"Kaltag did that didn't he?" Vergil guessed.

"Bingo. Though he didn't get what he wanted. Either way Vergil, you've been exiled from the Districts." Fest said, Vergil had taken it quite well, he simply nodded, Nami on the other hand bit her lower lip.

"_He knew this would happen, he must have known!_" She thought bitterly and made a mental note to talk with him about that as well.

"One way or another you could have been in quite a trouble, but you still had only six Despots who accepted the exile suggestion. It was unfortunately enough, three were neutral…" Dritan said and then smiled a bit. "You probably don't feel like listening but it looks like we could seek potential allies."

"You'll tell me either way." Vergil said as he sat up.

Dritan laughed a bit and rubbed the back of his head. "I guess I would. Zatar-san was always quite fond of you so I think that when it counts he'll at the very least hear you out."

"I guess that doesn't surprise me." Vergil said.

"Rator is as you know still quite against you." Fest chimed in.

"'That good for nothing but killing is better off dead' or something like that." Vergil stated with a small smirk on his face.

"Well, kinda. Kagame doesn't even know you so you get the picture." Dritan moved on.

"So there are some new faces." Vergil realized.

"Not many, only her and Haidar." Fest said. "Enla still hates your guts with such passion." He said.

"The feeling is mutual." Vergil said.

"Dhavlesh, he's kinda confusing though I think he wouldn't attack you on spot. Fujiko-san neither. The one that surprised me was Cassandra, if she was a bit younger maybe the two of you, you know." Dritan listed.

"Don't put those images in my head. I will never be in that kind of relationship with a demon." Vergil said.

"So a human…?" Fest suggested.

"No." Vergil simply declined.

"Let's just finish this and then talk about other things. Nobitsura is seemingly confused. He said he was neutral but I think he was going to decline." Dritan listed the second to last Despot.

"I don't blame him. Grom died and he still can't decide on what to think about me. I wouldn't know either to be honest." The white haired demon let out a sigh. "Bovan was still going on about that 'impudent brat' thing, right?"

"Yes. Vergil you know it right Haidar is pretty much Kaltag's puppy, but you'll always, no matter what, be welcome at Fest, Tsubame and my District." Kerliran assured him.

"I know, though I don't like this situation at all, so far you could have just said that since we belong to pretty much same generation of Demon Hunters you decided to simply catch up with me and talk about the younger days. Now going against Warsfer's words means betraying them, I don't want that to happen." Vergil said earning himself a smack on the shoulder by Fest.

"Idiot. I see you haven't improved your brain much after our exams, I'm still wondering how I managed to pass with you as my partner." He scolded him.

"You took the words out of my mouth. You haven't changed a bit since then." Vergil hissed.

"Vergil was a great partner to me." Dritan stood in Vergil's defense.

"He still by some higher miracle passed the written exam by choosing the answers by singing a nursery rhyme!" Fest snapped. "And if he had more control he wouldn't have been suspended and would have probably end up being a Demon hunter at the age of seven."

"I won't deny that." Vergil muttered.

"But you wouldn't have passed the second exam if it wasn't for him so you wouldn't need to worry about that if you had a different partner." Dritan innocently pointed out.

"Now that one had to hurt." Vergil chuckled.

"Heh, at least I'm not getting so fond of humans. 'Princess' seriously Vergil?" Fest snarled, though it was more out of frustration. "She is cute though."

"Hands off you bastard." Vergil snarled back.

"Watch it Whitey." Fest growled.

"They should have named you after a dog." Vergil said with a smirk on his face.

"Please Vergil..." Dritan whined knowing that pleading to Fest would get him nowhere.

"Fine…" The white haired demon relented and stopped arguing with Fest.

"On the other hand you didn't deny it that strongly, you just said 'No.'" Dritan pointed out.

"No is a no. That aside, since I'm awake I might as well search the island, maybe Krim had something about Kaltag's plans hidden somewhere." Vergil said and stood up.

"We'll go back. Don't get yourself killed." Fest said.

"Yeah, take care of yourself." Dritan added.

"You too." Vergil replied.

A portal opened in the middle of the room and two demons left.

Vergil sighed and put on his jacket, now that he could once again use his power the demon hunter jacket has repaired itself.

He stepped out and saw Nami waiting for him.

"Princess." He acknowledged.

"I can take you to where Krim might have hidden something." She said, he nodded and followed her in a rather uncomfortable silence.

* * *

_**That's it, the next chapter or two will be completely original depending on how long things end up being.**_

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_**Next Chapter – Final Night In Cocoyashi**_


	58. Final Night In Cocoyashi

_**Answers on reviews:**_

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_**Guest – Thank you.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks, yeah I guess it is.**_

_**OPFan37 – Thank you for the review. Most of the Demon World saga is planned out and was actually planned even before I began the story for real since I needed the time to set it in, the circumstances and well I needed to plan that out first in order to avoid plot holes later on. Well I'm reading the list of the groups you are listening and I can't believe it, Linkin Park is my own all time favorite and I listen to Breaking Benjamin and Three Days Grace as well. Though not as much as I listen to RED, Pink Floyd and a couple of other groups amongst which are Thousand Foot Krutch, Disturbed, Arctic Monkeys and so on, either way, looks like we have a couple of things in common.**_

_**ShirayukiHime. SnowIce – Thanks for the review, people forget details, don't worry about it. You kinda jinxed me with the update compliment… One week without updates, yeah… Just kidding by the way.**_

_**Spirit – First of all thank you for the review, the 07 Ghost manga did influence me a bit, well a bit more then it was supposed to, with the designs of some Despots, if you checked the description on the very first picture I posted you probably noticed that I made no attempt to hide the similarity to Frau. I guess I kind of overdid it and fixed some of that in the past week.**_

_**Blazeinferno – Thank you, I'm glad you liked the chapter.**_

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_**Let's just cover a couple of things before I start this chapter, this chapter is this late because well I had technical and inspirational troubles so I couldn't exactly finish this chapter up until now, also I went and fixed some small details here and there, nothing too important but it took some time.**_

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_**Chapter 58 – Final Night In Cocoyashi**_

* * *

He stepped out and saw Nami waiting for him.

"Princess." He acknowledged.

"I can take you to where Krim might have hidden something." She said, he nodded and followed her in a rather uncomfortable silence.

Ten or so minutes passed in silence as the two walked through a forest when Vergil finally had enough.

"So you are going to stay silent?" Vergil finally spoke up.

"No. Just making sure no one can hear or see us." She said seemingly calm and then slapped him. "You got exiled and you put yourself in danger tell me, was it really necessary to go that far?" Nami asked him, it wasn't that she wasn't thankful but rather scared that he could go and do it again.

So when he just looked at her she went to slap him again, the déjà vu feeling overcame her when he caught her wrist. This time however he didn't push her but rather pull her.

"And why don't you just admit that it's not anger but fear that you are feeling?" Vergil asked as he pulled her toward him, it wasn't a hug but they were quite close.

"Did you know you'd get exiled?" Nami asked, she didn't refuse the soft embrace.

"I expected someone to get here to kill me to be honest." Vergil admitted.

"Kill you?!" She shrieked for more than one reason.

"Princess, calm down." He muttered softly.

"Why just for Krim?" Nami asked now slightly calmer.

"It's not actually about Krim, but rather about Kaltag, he is another Despot and the one who stood behind Krim and protected him from getting noticed. Kaltag most likely doesn't even care about what happened to Krim, he only wanted to get me killed. Krim or completely different demon, it would make no difference." Vergil explained. And Nami relaxed a bit.

"And your soul? Did you really have to do it? Why did you do it?" Nami asked, she glared at him and he sighed.

"Do I really need a reason? I do what I want to do and I told you I'd obliterate the bastard." Vergil stated.

"So breaking your soul was all you could think off?" She challenged.

"You are enough of a reason for me to break it, completely if needed." He admitted.

"That's not what I want you to do…" She confessed.

"Sometimes you have to sacrifice something to make sure you can protect what you care about." He muttered and then smiled at her just a little bit.

The two separated now feeling less uncomfortable with one another.

"We'll talk a bit more later." Nami said and led him further into the forest.

"We are here." Nami said and stopped to let Vergil pass her he glanced for a moment at the small hut and then turned back to Nami.

"You were here before, right?" He asked.

"Yeah…" She muttered. "Come on now, you didn't come here just to look at me." She teased making him chuckle.

"That wouldn't be so bad." He stated and turned around to go into the hut, Nami watched as he tried to open the doors but found out that they were locked.

"Let me." She said and took her lock picks.

Vergil nodded and moved away from the doors.

As Nami picked on the lock memories came back to her.

-Flashback-

Nami was pushed down against the floor of her cartography room by none other than Krim, she had just began making charts for Arlong and his crew and from time to time she would simply draw Bell-mere's face that is until now, Krim had found out about it and was now holding her harshly against the floor.

"You think we are playing around, lowly human?" Krim asked her, his tone was threatening and Nami fought hard against the pain.

"You are not free to do whatever you please you know. You are our possession." Krim told her and lifted her into the air, the demon was holding her by her neck slowly choking her.

"If I find you drawing that lowly marine bitch again I'll make sure you regret it for as long as you are alive." He told her and dropped her to the floor before leaving.

That night she had cried herself to sleep…

-Flashback ends-

She finally unlocked the doors and Vergil noticed that she was shaking slightly as she reached for the doorknob.

"Take it easy Princess." He said and gently grabbed hold of her wrist.

-Flashback-

Nami was once again locked in her room, Arlong was standing in the room alongside Krim.

"What was it that you wanted to talk about Krim?" Arlong asked curious as to why his first mate seemed so eager to make a bold move after 3 years of moving in the shadows and not attracting too much attention.

"It's been a year since Black Thunder attacked anyone, I assume it's safe to step out of the shadow, for that Nami, we need you to make new charts." Krim explained but then smirked at Nami.

"You better hurry up, if you don't finish the maps I've requested in seven days I'll bring you to our village and destroy it right in front of your eyes. Not to mention that I'll kill your dear sister and that stupid pinwheel man right in front of you." He threatened with a smirk.

"Shahahaha. You are as cruel as always I see." Arlong laughed as Nami fought hard not to cry, she promised after all, she wouldn't cry, not in front of them, not in front of Krim…

That week she spent all her time drawing maps, they were stained with blood, both the maps and her pen.

Krim smirked and then laughed when he walked into her room and saw the stained objects…

"Well won't you look at that, it looks like even trash can get useful once in a while." He mocked as he took the maps.

-Flashback ends-

The two entered the hut with Vergil followed her inside and saw that the hut had a bed, a table, chair and a table in the corner, there was a drawer that caught his attention. He reached out and opened it to see a couple of papers inside of it.

"That map I drew six years ago. After you found out about it, why aren't you angry about it?" She asked out of blue and he stopped flipping through the pages.

"I don't care about that map. It wasn't responsible for what happened six years ago, I'm the one who should be blamed for all that. Any map that you drew in the last eight years, I don't care about it, those weren't your maps, those were maps you were forced to draw." Vergil stated though he left one small part unsaid.

Nami looked at him. "You are confusing…" She finally said as she thought back to the making of that specific map.

-Flashback-

"Here you go little trash, make a map according to these information, and be quick about it, it's for demons." Krim told her as he set a pile of papers on her table.

"I don't want to…" She muttered.

"What was that?" Krim hissed.

"I don't want to make a map of that place!" She gathered the courage to say it, little did she know she would soon come to regret it.

"Fine, you don't have to." Krim surprisingly agreed.

An hour later she heard a scream and her doors opened.

A man from another village was pushed into her room and grabbed by throat.

"Now you'll see what happens when you oppose little trash." Krim said as he held the human.

Nami's eyes widened. "Wait please. I'll draw it. I'll draw the map!" She pleaded.

Krim smirked. "You need to learn your lesson, the next time you oppose I'll get someone from your village. This one though, will have to die, it was a random pick, a completely innocent person who paid the tribute and never tried to rebel is now going to die because of you." Krim said, the tears threatened more then ever to drop from Nami's eyes.

"Please don't! I've got family, my wife and children, please, we'll pay more just let me live." Man pleaded but Krim made a cut on his abdomen thus making him scream.

"**Heart Splatter**." For the first time Nami saw that technique and it terrified her…

Krim tossed the corpse on the floor.

"I might get Hachi to toss it out if you get to work right away, on the other hand it could stay here until you finish the map, you better hurry because you ain't getting out of here until it's done either." With no space left for argument Krim left the room. Hachi did come about an hour later, but the damage has already been done...

-Flashback ends-

Nami trembled at the memory, she would never forget that even if she tried her best…

Vergil noticed her state and walked up to her. "If you want to cry, then cry. Keeping it all inside will never make it disappear, it'll only keep building up inside you until it consumes you completely." He said and put his hand on her left shoulder to assure her that he was there.

In that moment it was no longer important that he was a demon, no that became irrelevant long ago, she buried her face in his chest and held onto the fabric of his jacket. In response he wrapped her arms around her protectively. The tears fell down for a couple of minutes and then she just remained in his embrace.

"I don't want to keep remembering it." She admitted.

"I can't erase it, this is as far as I can go to help you. Overcoming the past that's hunting you, that your job Princess." Vergil said and she nodded.

"Have you found anything?" Nami asked him all of a sudden.

"Nothing that important, even getting minor indications from what Krim had would be based solely on assumptions." He admitted.

"I see." She let go of his jacket and moved back as he complied and let go of her as well.

"Thanks, again." She said and smiled at him.

He grinned in response. "Come on, you've spent too much time in this place, I'm going to blow it up." Vergil said and led her out.

-The Demon World, prison at the unknown location-

A male covered with the darkness of the room sat on the chair in front of the prison cell.

"You still won't relent?" He asked.

"Nope, I thought you figured it out already." A child like voice spoke up.

"Your friend is causing some troubles for the Despots you know? He's still in the Human World though. Do you want to know something about his current state?" The man seemed to change the subject as small ears perked up and a small brownish puppy walked up to the bars.

"You've always been against him but is this really how you should act, he could be in danger for all you know." The small demon said.

"That does not concern me. He chose this eighteen years ago." The man simply said.

"You bastards." The dog hissed. "You are well aware that he didn't choose a thing back then! Yet you are still blaming him? What do you even know about Vergil?"

"Watch your mouth Blaiddmon." The man said.

"A good for nothing bastard like you can't silence me." Blaiddmon said.

"Don't forget who is the one that's losing this battle." The demon reminded him.

"Let me tell you one thing, we might be the one taking the beating now, but Mundus, Warsfer, each one of you has already been beaten. Try all you want you will never break Vergil." Blaiddmon said, there was a resolve in his eyes, rather strong one.

"We'll see about that." The demon left.

Blaiddmon walked up to the corner of the cell and lied down.

-Flashback-

Six years ago Blaiddmon joined the Special Combat District, well he was kind of scared when he found out that the one who would accompany him on his very first job would be the notorious Despot, Black Thunder, himself.

So he walked into the room to meet the Despot for the first time, or so he thought at the very least. He looked at the white haired teen and his eyes widened.

"It's you." He said.

Vergil didn't speak up, the only response Blaiddmon got was a glare.

"Well just so you know you are not that scary so I'm not afraid of you." Blaiddmon bravely said and was once again met with silence. He sighed and jumped on the table before lying down. "Fine fine… Maybe you are a bit scary and I am afraid of you but, you are not that bad, I can see that." He admitted.

Blaiddmon waited for the response, and waited. "Come on Vergil, say something!" He complained.

"You are noisy, pipe down." Vergil finally said.

"I don't want to!" To hell if he knew what was making him this set on making the demon in front of him angry but so far he was seemingly doing just that…

"Why did you come here?" Vergil asked and then they heard a long sigh of relief, it seemed like many people were eavesdropping on them and it seemed like they were holding their breath up until now for some reason.

"Don't you know?" Blaiddmon ignored them and looked at Vergil, the confusion was clearly present in the little demon's eyes. "You are supposed to go with me on a job."

"I know that. Why did you come to this place?" Vergil asked.

"You looked lonely when we first met." Blaiddmon said making Vergil's expression change from the completely emotionless one to a slightly surprised one.

"So you are scared of me, but you think I'm lonely so you came here?" Vergil asked.

"Yep. When you put it that way it's true." Blaiddmon admitted.

Well that was the first time Vergil actually showed some clear emotion, surprise, it was a good start in Blaiddmon's honest opinion.

-Flashback ends-

"Say, Vergil the sun may scatter the clouds around but in the end they always come back with a thunderstorm, right?" Blaiddmon muttered and fell asleep.

* * *

_**That's it. A bit more about what happened with Krim and Nami as promised and it ended up being one chapter in the end, quite a short one as well, I ended up switching things up a bit, more about that in Trivia though.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Leaving Cocoyashi**_


	59. Leaving Cocoyashi

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**Naroku – Thank you very much.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you for the review, glad you liked it.**_

_**mittensx7768 – Well here is some more.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 59 – Leaving Cocoyashi**_

* * *

Even before Fest and Labrador came by Johnny and Yosaku had joined the dancing with some baskets and chopsticks stuck in their mouths and noses…

People laughed not only at the two but simply because they enjoyed themselves.

"Those two can dance too!" Someone made a comment.

"Song #185 of 'The praise of Sniper Usopp'!" The said sniped exclaimed.

-With Genzo-

Genzo was standing in front of Bell-mere's grave and pouring down the bottle of sake onto the wooden grave.

"Hey, Bell-mere. Your daughters have grown into wonderful, strong individuals. Just like you were, long ago." He assured the deceased woman.

-Flahsback-

"What'd you say?!" Shocked Genzo yelled. "You are joining the marines?!"

"Yeah, don't try to stop me! 'Coz I'm going! My mind's made up." Bell-mere replied.

-Flashback ends-

Genzo grinned at the fond memory.

"We'll work hard to live our lives to the fullest. We've been through so many hardships. And so I think I'll laugh to my heart's content, until I look like a fool." He told her and then his peace was interrupted.

"NAMA-HAMU MELON!" Luffy yelled he had mouth full of meat and more of it in his hands… "Eh? There's nothing to eat here…" Yep once a Luffy, always a Luffy… "Guess I'm going back." He decided.

"WAIT KID!" Genzo yelled at him thus making the captain turn back and look at him.

"Huh? A grave? Someone died?" Luffy noticed the grave and asked.

"Yeah, a long time ago." Genzo confirmed.

"Oh, that's unfortunate. Then I should say 'Gochujousama Deshita' or was it 'Gosuchousama Deshita' or, 'Gotsujou', 'Gotodou'" He tried to remember the saying.

"'Goshuushou-sama Deshita.' (Condolences)" Genzo supplied.

"Yeah that '–Deshita.'" Luffy agreed.

"Listen boy. I know Nami is going to sail with you, to be a pirate. It's a dangerous journey. I know it can't be helped. That's okay. But if you ever take Nami's smile away, I'm going to hunt you down and kill you." Genzo stated.

"Well, I don't plan on stealing anything, so…" Luffy began.

"UNDERSTAND?!" Genzo yelled at him.

Luffy nodded. "I got it!" He quickly replied.

-In the town later that night-

"Sing it again…" Someone requested as most of the villagers fell asleep on the road.

Usopp's eyes were spinning as he barely kept consciousness. "Here comes the song #368 of 'The praise for the Sniper Usopp'!" Usopp began singing while Zoro slept while leaning against a house and Sanji slept with women in his arms. "Who is it? Who is it? The coolest guy in the woooooorld! Usopp!" He sang and then like everyone else fell asleep.

-With Nami and Vergil-

The two were still keeping each other a company as Vergil dragged the sack of treasure that Nezumi took from Nami.

Nami glanced at him briefly from time to time but they mostly remained silent with only the dragging sound of the sack and their own footsteps filling the night.

Finally they reached the tangerine orchard and Vergil placed the sack into Nami's house.

Nami placed a paper on it with 'I'm leaving this here, it belongs to everyone, -Nami' and Vergil grinned a bit.

"I'll wait for you outside." He assured her and walked out of the house.

Nami nodded and sat down before placing one leg over the other. She looked around and then at the table where the picture of herself, Nojiko and Bell-mere was. She stood up and took it.

-Flashback-

"Wow! The food looks delicious today!" Much younger Nami marveled at the food Bell-mere made.

"Hey you two, do you know what day it is today?" Bell-mere asked them. "It's the day I first met Nojiko and Nami. The day you became my daughters!"

Nami had a large smile on her face as Bell-mere said that.

* * *

The rain was pouring down and the trio was completely wet, the two girls were crying on Bell-mere's lap as they had towels over their wet heads.

"Now, now. Stop crying. It's just a storm. So what if our crops get ruined? You two need to be brave and strong girls! Happy times will come, they definitely will." The girls looked at her.

* * *

"Nami! Can you pass me the salt?" Bell-mere requested.

* * *

"This is something to brag about, Nami's maps are really amazing!" Bell-mere complimented as she opened the map Nami just drew. "After learning how to make sea maps I see you've also learnt how to do land."

Two girls smiled at that.

"This is map of this island, right?" Nojiko asked.

Bell-mere gently caressed the top of Nami's head. "No one would believe that such a small child made this."

Nami chuckled a bit. "I'm studying navigation right now." She revealed.

"Navigation too?" Bell-mere asked.

"It's Nami's dream, right?" Nojiko asked.

"Yeah. I'm going to sail around the world using my navigation skills. And then I'll make a world map of all the places I've seen!" She stated with a grin on her face.

"So?" Bell-mere began as she held the map up high. "This first island map will mark a first step toward your dream, right?" She guessed.

"Yeah!" Nami quickly nodded.

-Flashbacks end-

Nami folded the map, the very first one she drew and let out a sigh, she was happy though as she had a sincere, calming smile on her face.

Maybe, just maybe though, Bell-mere's spirit lingered there and was now sitting behind watching her fondly.

Nami turned around almost as if she could see her.

"It's finally over, Bell-mere-san." She began. "It took eight long years, but we are finally free. Me and everyone else. It's just like you said, Bell-mere-san. As long as you keep living the good times will eventually come again. It came true! And now everyone in the village is smiling from the bottom of their hearts." There was a short silence after that.

"Me? I've decided to leave the island!" Nami revealed. "Don't worry. I'll be okay. They are really good people, and pretty strong too! For the last eight years I've drawn many maps, but this is the only one I managed to save. From now on I'll draw maps only for myself. I want to see the world! Together with my nakama! That's my dream. So… So I'm not sure when I'll come back to this island." She trembled a bit and wiped away the tears before they could even leave her eyes.

"I'm going now, okay?" She said and opened the doors.

Suddenly she felt something, or rather someone push her forward, she stumbled but regained her footing, but she gasped a bit as she turned around. There was no one there but she knew it. She chuckled to herself thus getting Vergil's attention, the white haired demon was looking around the orchard at the damage that Nezumi and his marines did.

"_Make a mental note to kill the rat when I see him next time._" Vergil promised himself and then walked up to Nami.

"Is there any other place you'd like to go to?" He asked and she suddenly took his hand before leading him away from the house.

He looked at her hand and was honestly a bit confused as to why she insisted on pulling him by his wrist but then they reached the grave the one that he assumed was for the person that died eight years ago.

"Name?" Vergil suddenly asked.

"Bell-mere-san." Nami said with a fond smile on her face.

"Thanks, Bell-mere-san." Vergil said and bowed down slightly out of respect surprising Nami and well making her gasp a bit. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"You used honorific, thanked someone you never met and actually showed proper respect." She blurted out making a vein pop on Vergil's forehead.

"I can be respectful when I feel like it you know." He breathed out as his eyebrow twitched a bit.

"Y-you?" She held back a laugh. "Yeah once in a century." Well she was probably justified for the reaction, he was always blunt and rude up until now and well this was strange…

"Why you damn little…" He was getting annoyed.

Nami lightly smacked him on the shoulder and he had to grin.

"In all seriousness, a woman like her deserves respect from anyone. I'm not sure why but when I look at this grave, the only feeling that I find worthy is respect, no idea why though, guess because she managed to put up with you is part of the reason" He admitted earning himself a smack on the back of the head for the last part.

"By the way, was it really necessary to pull me like that?" He asked.

"No. You didn't like the touch?" She teased.

"Nah, I don't actually care. Kinda strange though." He said completely aware of the touch but clearly willing to piss her off a bit.

"Idiot." She muttered under her breath.

"Princess." He replied.

"That's not an insult." Nami reminded him.

"Neither is an 'idiot' when you say it in the way you just did." He pointed out.

"And how exactly did I say it?" She challenged.

"If I keep helping you figure something like that out you'll forget how to use your brain." Vergil denied her the answer and got another smack to the back of his head.

"Stupid demon." She walked away.

-Tomorrow-

The supplies were being placed on the Going Merry as the crew, minus Nami, began preparing to depart.

"Demon. No, Vergil." Genzo got Vergil's attention.

He didn't get a verbal response but Vergil's full attention was now on him.

"Watch over her for us." As selfish as the request was given the fact that Nami would now become an actual pirate Vergil nodded. As much as Genzo was fine with Nami being a pirate, with how dangerous it was he requested it, she was like a daughter to him after all.

"You have my word, she'll be fine." As arrogant as it was he thought it and he would make sure it comes true, that much he decided long before Genzo requested it.

Usopp took the box from Zoro "This is the last one, right?" He asked.

"Yeah." Zoro confirmed.

"Everything's on board?" Luffy asked as he, Vergil and Sanji stood on the deck.

"Yeah!" Usopp stated.

"Alright then. They've stocked us with food, looks like we are ready." Sanji said.

"We've only been here for a few days, but I feel like we've made so many memories on this island y'know?" Usopp added.

"Guess that's true." Vergil agreed.

"Yeah! Shishishi!" Luffy added.

Sanji suddenly realized something.

"Big bro's thanks. We owe you all so much. We are going back to our normal jobs as bounty hunters." Yosaku said.

"We'll bid our farewells for now." Johnny added. "Hopefully we'll meet again someday."

"Take care." Zoro said with a smirk on his face.

"You too, big bros." The bounty hunters said.

"All right, let's get going as well!" Usopp decided.

This got Sanji to finally voice it out. "H-Hey! Wait a minute! What about Nami-san?" He asked.

"I thought she wasn't coming." Zoro said making Vergil smirk.

Sanji gasped. "WHY NOT?! Bastard! You said something rude to her again didn't you?!" Sanji yelled at him.

"Why would I do that?" Zoro asked.

"Why else?!" Sanji argued.

"I see, that's true, he's got a point." Usopp admitted.

"You are trying to get in the way of mine and Nami-san's true love!" Sanji accused the swordsman.

"She doesn't have a reason to be a pirate any longer." Usopp pondered on it.

"Are you stupid or something?" Zoro asked.

"What'd you say?!" Sanji demanded.

"She'll probably be happier if she stayed here." Usopp kept talking to himself.

"WHAT ABOUT MY HAPPINESS?!" Sanji yelled at him and then turned to Luffy and Vergil. "IF NAMI-SAN DOESN'T GET ONBOARD, I LOSE 98,72% OF MY REASON TO BE HERE!"

"Damn noisy…" Vergil grumbled, as much as he felt better he was still a bit tired from the entire Devil Arm breaking.

"Hey! You know, I never found that Nama-Hamu Melon!" Luffy completely missed the subject and pointed an accusing finger at Sanji as if it was all cook's fault.

"Hey, where's Na-chan?" One of the villagers wondered.

"I haven't seen her since this morning." Another one stated.

"What did you say? She left all the money?" Genzo exclaimed getting the attention of the villagers. "The whole 100 million beri?"

"Yeah, she left it with a letter." Nojiko confirmed it once again.

"She's not planning on taking anything with her?" Nako asked. "But she worked so hard for it!"

"She said she'd just steal more." Nojiko simply told them, though she was a bit irritated. "Once she makes up her mind there's no changing it."

"This is ridiculous." Genzo said. "We didn't even get to thank her."

"Took you long enough." Vergil said as he noticed Nami stopping not too far away from them.

Sanji ran up to the railing and happily screamed. "Nami-san!"

The villagers turned and called out to the orange haired girl.

"SET SAIL!" Nami yelled and then to everyone's surprise started running.

"Huh? What's up with her? She started running?" Usopp wondered.

"She said to set sail." Luffy said as he and Vergil got to the point and began setting sail.

"B-But!" Usopp tired to protest.

"No 'but' get to work." Vergil cut off any argument.

"Wait that girl… Does she plan on leaving without hearing our thanks and appreciations?!" Genzo realized.

"She can't!" One of the villagers exclaimed.

"Lower the sails!" Luffy ordered.

The sails were lowered, Zoro raised the anchor and the ship set of.

"Hey, they are setting off!" The villagers realized.

"Wait! We haven't thanked you yet!" They yelled.

Nami kept running with her eyes closed.

"Stop Na-chan! / Let us thank you!" The villagers pleaded her to listen.

Genzo pushed through the crowd. "Wait right there! This is terribly rude! I will not allow it!" He declared.

"Hey, you sure you wanna let her leave this way?" Sanji asked.

"It's alright. It's her decision." Luffy stated.

Nami swiftly ran through the crowd while evading pretty much every villager.

"NAMI!" Nojiko called out to her as she ran by her and jumped.

They all gasped as Nami approached the ship.

"Why?" the villagers asked.

"Nami!" Genzo shouted.

The thief landed on the railing and then jumped to the deck. She stood there for a couple of moments before lifting her shirt up.

And then the realization hit everyone as wallets dropped down…

"Don't tell me?!" Genzo began searching for his wallet along with everyone else.

"My wallet's gone! / Mine too!" Villagers realized.

Nami pulled out a 10,000 Beri bill and kissed it. "Take care everyone!" She said.

"S- She robbed us!" The entire village yelled in synch.

"Hey, she hasn't changed a bit." Usopp said as he and Zoro frowned at her.

"Who knows when she'll turn on us again?" Zoro added.

"Nami-san, good!" Sanji gave her a thumb up.

Luffy laughed and Vergil remained silent.

"You li'l cat burglar!" Genzo yelled.

"Come back here with my wallet! / You bad girl!" the villagers demanded but then changed the tune to what they really thought.

"Come back anytime! / Take care! / Thank you so much!"

"BOY!" Genzo yelled as Luffy leaned against the railing and laughed his signature laugh. "Don't you dare forget our promise!" Genzo reminded him.

Luffy grinned and gave him a thumb up.

Nami on the other hand waved at them. "Goodbye everyone! I'm off!" She exclaimed happily.

Nojiko laughed as she sat on the ground. "She really did it! Unbelievable! She's my little sister and she still got me!" She said.

Genzo sat down on the ground.

"Have fun." Nojiko added.

Genzo chuckled a bit.

"Here, Genzo." Nako said and handed him a piece of paper.

"What's this Doctor? A piece of paper?" Genzo asked as he took and unfolded it.

"That silly girl. She hasn't changed. She even got another tattoo." Nako said.

"What's this symbol?" Genzo asked as he looked at it.

"She said it was tangerine and pinwheel." Nako explained.

Nojiko then noticed that there was something off with Genzo. "Gen-san, where did you pinwheel go?" She asked.

He chuckled a bit. "No need for it anymore." He admitted.

Nami was still smiling as she glanced toward bell-mere's grave. "_I'm off_…" She thought.

Genzo was grinning and Nojiko had tears in her eyes that threatened to fall down.

-Flashback-

Bell-mere was holding the crying Nami.

"Hey, Gen-san! Don't get so close to Nami!" Bell-mere demanded.

"But, I only wanted to see her smile!" Genzo said.

"Gen-san your face is too scary! It's making her cry." Bell-mere told him.

"But what can I do about that?" He asked and then an idea came up to him.

He put a pinwheel on his hat.

"I got it! Maybe if I did this? I'll just keep it right here!" He decided. "How about it? Nami-chaaaan?!2 He sang the last part.

"You've got to be kidding me. It's just a pinwheel, Nami's no going to…" But before Bell-mere could finish saying that Nami wouldn't smile the girl actually laughed. "Ah, she's laughing."

-Flashback ends-

The pinwheel spun at Bell-mere's grave.

-On Going Merry-

Vergil's eyes lingered a bit on her waist back when Nami showcased her stolen wallets, the fact didn't go unnoticed by the girl.

"_I'll be damned_…" He realized as she walked up to him.

"The next time you stare at me…" She began clearly referring to him looking at her when she lifted her shirt up. "You are going to pay, a lot."

"Yep, the death of me…" He confirmed it and nodded.

* * *

_**Arlong Park Arc – Finished**_

* * *

_**That's it, the Arlong Park is finally over. I kept the Japanese words because in the condolences scene because I find it somewhat better. Also the last part about Vergil looking at Nami, well he is 23 years old, pretty much an adult, I think it is a normal thing for him to cast a glance in that situation.**_

* * *

_**Trivia:**_

_**-Krim's name is the first name partly based on the word from my first language, 'Kr' in Krim is derived from the word 'krv' that translates to blood. (not actually a trivia, rather a fun fact) One could say that the name can be taken from the word 'Kriminal' meaning crime but the word 'blood' was the originator of his name.**_

_**-At a couple of occasions I thought about making Vergil get to the Arlong Park prior to the actual walk to the park.**_

_**-The battle between Krim and Vergil was supposed to be longer. It was changed in order to avoid making Vergil too powerful all of a sudden.**_

_**-Originally there were two occasions at which Vergil and Krim fought inside of the Arlong Park, the first inside of Nami's room and second one a bit later. On the first time Vergil was supposed to get kicked out of the room and blast it entirely with Lightning Breath.**_

_**-Blaiddmon was supposed to appear a couple of chapters later as a part of the reaction to the first bounties.**_

_**-Nami and Vergil were supposed to have more of a 'hot' rather than the 'comforting' moment in the hut.**_

_**-In the very first plans for the story Krim attacked Nami after Vergil killed Arlong.**_

_**-This would have led to Vergil jumping in and losing his right arm, in the end I decided that it would forever ruin Vergil's character to lose an arm to a lame character such as Krim.**_

_**-In the same plans cracking the Devil Arm also resulted in Vergil transforming for a brief couple of moments.**_

* * *

_**Next Arc – TV Special 1**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Ocean's Navel**_


	60. Ocean's Navel

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you.**_

_**Naroku – Thank you for the review, the changes that Vergil makes, well he will make changes throughout the canon story, some bigger some more minor. Now as much as one would appreciate the bigger changes and breaking away from the canon there is only so much one character can do so the changes will happen, there will be some bigger ones, but it will be appropriate amount in my opinion. He certainly won't be all knowing that much I can tell you so yeah, I get what you are saying.**_

_**zaga – Thank you very much.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review. I'm glad you liked the moments.**_

* * *

_**By the way I forgot to point out how to pronounce Blaiddmon's name since there may be some of you who could have troubles with it. It's pronounced Bl-eye-the-mon**_

* * *

_**Arc 7.5 – TV Special 1**_

* * *

_**Chapter 60 – Ocean's Navel**_

* * *

It wasn't too long ago, but once, in an unknown location, most likely some kind of cave a group of people, more precisely pirates was trying to break through the doors.

"Heave! Ho!" They slammed the battering ram into the doors thus slowly making cracks.

They would take steps back and then ram it again.

"One last time!" Finally the actual crack appeared on the doors.

A man with something similar to needle machine gun, like the one Krieg had, on his left arm stepped in front of them.

A single shot was fired and the doors broke. The man chuckled to himself evilly.

He licked his weapon and then began walking toward the stairs, not too far from him an altar and most of the stairs soaked in reddish light. He and his crew began running up the stairs while laughing, they failed to notice a couple of pairs of red eyes around them.

Suddenly all the happiness and joy the man felt faded away as he felt pain in his back ad through his chest…

He was stabbed by one of his own…

The first sword was followed by multiple ones right through the pirate captain's upper body.

He slowly turned his head toward his traitorous crew.

"You… B-bastards…!" He hissed with is last breath.

His crew was smirking…

"Mutiny?!" He fully realized. "Against me?!"

The captain was in the air, the blades held by his crew were what was holding him there and he laughed.

He fired twice and then the blood stained his weapon.

-Present time, Going Merry-

Luffy yawned, it was quite a boring day and he had a fishing duty to complete. Then the nature itself called him and he began pissing into an ocean.

All the while Vergil leaned against the wall and looked at the sky, Zoro was sleeping, Usopp was working on something, Sanji was leaning against the railing on the other side of the ship and finally Nami was drawing her new map. The only female on the crew heard the sound of Luffy urinating and got annoyed.

She slammed the doors open making the captain panic a bit.

Nami began stomping toward Luffy. "Not again! I told you to stop pissing in the water while you are fishing! We won't be able to eat the fish!" She scolded him for who knows which time.

"They'll still taste good!" Luffy said without a hint of doubt.

"That's all very well to you, but what about us?! Honestly!" She scoffed.

"Hey, how long are you going to take anyhow?" Usopp asked.

Luffy got a slightly defeated and confused look on his face. "Hm… I don't get it." He admitted as he pulled the rope a bit. He turned to the crew. "I used lots of bait… Do I need more or something?" He asked.

Nami face faulted as she realized just what the bait was… "No way…!" She exclaimed. "You've been using those sponges?"

"Sponges?" Vergil asked as he made his way to the duo and noticed a bucket full of brown sponges. "Should have guessed it… What Luffy, they looked like hamburgers?" He asked, his tone defeated.

"Shishishi! That's right!" Luffy confirmed it. "Looks pretty tasty doesn't it?"

"You are the only person in the entire world who would think that they look tasty!" Nami snapped.

"Give it up Princess, let's get a bit away from here and I'll go get us some fish. I ain't jumping in the urinated water." Vergil said.

Just as he said that the rope was abruptly pulled and then Merry got pulled by whatever got caught.

Zoro remained asleep while Usopp and Sanji turned their attention toward what was going on. Vergil helped Nami remain on her feet, the orange haired girl held onto Vergil's dark blue T-shirt and regained the balance as Luffy began pulling the rope.

"Thanks." She muttered to him and Vergil nodded as he let go of her shoulders.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey! I caught something!" The rubber captain exclaimed. "It's a big one! Pull, pull, pull, pull, pull!"

The pulling idea maybe wasn't going to be that good as Merry sailed into the cloud of thick mist.

-The altar-

On the place where the pirate captain was killed years ago a bat was trying to get out of the ribcage made prison, it had somehow gotten into the pirate captain's ribcage and was now trying to get out.

-Going Merry-

And whatever it was that Luffy caught it was still far away so Nami leaned against the railing.

"Hey. What exactly were you planning to catch?" She asked now slightly annoyed.

"Something to fill me up." Luffy simply replied.

Nami buried her fingers into her hair out of frustration. "You are such an idiot."

Finally the caught object appeared, it was a chest stuck to a rock. Going merry collided with the rock while Nami's scream filled the air.

Luffy and Nami were about to fall over but Vergil managed to grab them by the backs of their shirts.

"Well that's not food." Vergil said, nonetheless Luffy jumped down.

"Is everyone alright?" Sanji asked as he and Usopp joined them. Zoro was still sleeping.

"Hey, what's going on?" Usopp asked.

"We are fine, Luffy caught a chest." Vergil summed it up.

"What's this? Can I eat it?" Luffy wondered as he held the chest. He began biting into it without success.

The awake members of his crew watched in annoyance and disbelief as he kept biting the chest again and again.

"It's terrible." He complained as he stuck his tongue out to show how bad the chest tasted.

"Would you look at that, he does find some things to be bad tasting." Vergil said with a grin on his face.

"Chuck it!" With that Luffy threw the chest into the water.

Nami gasped in horror and jumped overboard and into the water.

"Nami-san!" Sanji called out to her.

"Eh?" Luffy was confused by her action though he probably should have expected it.

Nami finally broke the surface with the chest safely in her arms.

"Don't throw it away!" She yelled as her teeth got a shark teeth shape. "What if there's treasure or something inside?!"

"But it doesn't taste good."Luffy reasoned.

"Whether you can eat it or not has nothing to do with it!" She snapped at him again. Usopp nodded in agreement.

"If I can't eat it, I don't want it." Luffy remained firm to his beliefs.

"Luffy. We need treasure." Vergil butted in. The rubber captain turned to his first mate. "You know we need money to buy supplies, even if you can't eat it you can spend it to buy food to eat." He reasoned with the captain.

"But we can't buy anything here." Luffy pouted.

"Well you are right but you can buy it when we reach some island. Think of it this way the tasty meet needs time to get prepared so think of the money like wood to get the fire to burn. The more money you can get the bigger the fire is, so you'll get more meat." This seemed to click right with Luffy even though Sanji and Usopp face palmed.

"Don't give him an idea of setting our money on fire!" Nami shrieked at Vergil.

"Money is your responsibility." Vergil simply said.

"Shishishi open the treasure chest Nami!" He ordered now eager as well.

Nami let out a sigh but took a knife to pry it open, finally it gave away and broke down. "That did it." Nami said to herself and threw the lock away. She opened the treasure chest with a grin on her face but then the grin faded away and was replaced by confusion.

-Altar-

The bat from before finally managed to slip through the ribcage and fly away.

-With the crew-

Nami's confusion turned to disappointment and annoyance as she began drifting away.

"Nami! What's in it?" Usopp asked. "Hurry, let me see it too!"

"Alright, alright, here you go!" Nami threw whatever was in the chest to Usopp.

"Hooray! Alright!" Usopp cheered as he caught the… Skull…

And then the panic and shrieking began.

"I-It's… It's a s-skull…" From his own trembling made the teeth of the skull cackle.

"So we can't buy meat with it?" Luffy asked.

"Seems like it." Vergil agreed.

Suddenly the current's flowing changed and the only thing that prevented Nami from getting dragged away by it was the fact that she was holding onto the chest.

"The current's flowing…" She realized and then turned to her back. "And I didn't really notice before but what is that sound?"

"What sound?" Luffy asked.

Vergil seemed to notice it as well. "No idea, but now that you mention it…" He muttered.

Usopp seemed to notice something written on the back of the skull. "'Plunge into the Ocean's Navel, therein lies the secret to make your dreams come true…' -Captain Joke?" He read. "The Ocean's Navel…?" He repeated and looked forward. "Plunge into it?" He wondered.

"Well ain't we lucky?" Vergil said as they saw a large hole in the ocean just about twenty or so meters away from the rock that stopped the Going Merry.

"What's that?" Nami asked, there was a slight hint of fear in her voice. "How can there be a hole in the middle of an ocean?!" She demanded an explanation.

"'Therein lies the secret to make your dreams come true. -Captain Joke!'" Usopp read again.

The previously trapped bat was now flying toward the surface of the ocean indicating that wherever the pirate captain whose ribcage was serving as its prison was it was in the mysterious hole in the ocean, it also indicated that the person was, or was connected to 'Captain Joke'.

Either way the most reasonable approach for the crew seemed to be searching the hole. Nami, Usopp and Sanji were in the large barrel that was made as a makeshift submarine big enough for three people to be inside of it at most.

Nami pumped her fist in front of her. "The 'secret to make your dreams come true' will be mine!" She declared.

Sanji lit his cigarette next to her and then scooted to Nami in a flirting way. "Nami-san, even in the deepest depths, I'll be with you!" He assured her, though he look on Nami's face gave away that she was at the very least a bit annoyed by something and it was proven when the orange haired girl slammed her forearm against Sanji's stomach.

"It's cramped enough in here, don't start smoking!" She scolded him.

Sanji though quickly got over it and turned to his lady loving nature. "Ah~! Nami-san, the whip of your love is wonderful-"

He was cut off by Nami punching him in the face.

Usopp got in front of a small window. "Okay Luffy, lower us down!" Usopp said through a communication system they had made.

"Okay!" Luffy said and began lowering down the barrel by rolling the pedal, Vergil was sitting next to him just in case.

"Luffy, take care of things while we're gone! Vergil watch over him!" Nami instructed.

"Sure thing Princess." Vergil agreed.

"Aw man, I wanted to ride down there too." Luffy complained.

"Well I guess it can't be helped, that thing is cramped with the three of them inside of it." Vergil said.

Not even three minutes passed and Luffy was already bored.

"Aw… It's boring." Luffy complained.

"Wanna play something?" Vergil suggested knowing full well that if he didn't suggest that he'd be in for a long day of Luffy complaining about how bored he was.

"Really? Yeah, yeah!" Luffy quickly agreed.

Time passed and Zoro yawned as he changed his position a bit in his sleep. Luffy was rolling the pedal with his foot.

"Rock, Paper, Scissors!" Vergil and Luffy both played a rock.

"It's getting boring again." Luffy complained. "I'm getting hungry… Not to mention thirsty too." The rubber boy's complained continued.

Suddenly their attention was taken by something flying over them. They looked up and saw a bottle. Then came another one, soon the entire sky was filled with bottles.

"What the?" Luffy asked.

"They are coming from the hole." Vergil noticed.

"Ooo! A bunch of drinks are flying this way!" Luffy exclaimed happily.

He quickly grabbed one of the bottles and opened it. "Let's drink!" He happily exclaimed but not a single drop of anything came out.

"It's empty." Vergil muttered

Luffy looked at the inside of the bottle with one eye closed and noticed a paper inside of it.

"What?" He questioned.

-Under the water-

Usopp was looking out the small window rather amazed, this of course perked up Sanji and Nami's interest as well.

"What did you see?" Sanji asked as he pushed Usopp a bit to the side and watched through the window.

"Well he didn't get too look too much as Nami pushed both of them to the side. "Hey, let me see too!" She complained. Her mouth opened a bit wider as she looked at the sight in front of them.

"Get outta my way! I wanna see too!" Usopp complained.

They could only watch as they broke through the water and truly got into the hole, the only thing stopping them from hitting the bottom at the neck breaking speed was the rope.

"W-What is this place?" Nami asked.

"Luffy! Luffy! You there?" Usopp called. "We have discovered a large cavity inside the Ocean's Navel. We are now descending into the abyss. Luffy, you listening? Please respond! Vergil say something instead!" Usopp called.

"We hear you. Be careful though." Vergil said.

"Sure, sure. Now lower us more, we found something big." Nami said.

Unknowingly to them while Vergil wasn't watching Luffy stuck his finger into the bottle to reach for the paper and now it wasn't coming out.

"I-I-It's not coming out!" Luffy realized as he now tried to pull his finger out.

"What?" Vergil asked and then the hell broke loose as Luffy began spinning the pedal quicker and quicker until he could no longer stop it.

Nami's scream was echoing both in the barrel and on Going Merry as Vergil's eyebrow twitched and he slammed the pedal to a stop, it did a couple of rotations backwards thus making the trio inside the barrel get back up a couple of meters all of a sudden.

Captain and the First mate heard the tumbling and hitting against the wood of the barrel as things seemed to calm down.

"She'll kill us when she gets back. Vergil blankly said when he heard Nami's growl Luffy just let out a sigh of relief that they stopped the barrel and then looked at his still stuck finger.

"What in the world do you two idiots think you are doing?!" She snapped. Before Vergil or Luffy could respond she continued. "I swear the two of you can't take any responsibility seriously!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say." Vergil brushed it off not exactly being in the mood to apologize.

"You wanna say that when I get back as well?!" Nami snapped.

"Sure, I'll say it when you get back as well." Vergil confirmed.

"Yeah because you demons have no sense of shame whatsoever." Nami blurted out.

"And you humans overreact over every little thing!" Vergil hissed. "_And here I thought we stopped with this kind of fights._"

"Little thing?! We were falling!" Nami snapped.

"You didn't fall so who cares!" Vergil demanded.

"Nami calm down…" Usopp tried to calm her down, with the way she was raging the sniper feared she would went her rage on him and Sanji, and the space was cramped enough without this.

"Nami-san is loving even when she is yelling!" Sanji exclaimed in a head over heels kind of voice.

"Shut it you two!" Nami snapped. "In case you didn't notice I care. You because you don't care about my life and well being it doesn't mean that I don't!" She bit her lower lip when she realized what she said. "_I crossed the line…_" She thought, her suspicion was confirmed when she was met with silence.

"Yeah, I can see that." He finally said.

"Vergil listen…" She began.

"Don't care." He simply stated.

Nami let out a sigh and ran her fingers through her hair. "Just great…" She muttered to herself.

Luffy began spinning the paddle again, with his foot, while he tried to get his finger out and watched Vergil's retreating form.

"I'm going to get a glass of water. I'll get one for you too." Vergil stated.

"Thanks Vergil!" The happy go lucky tone of Luffy thanking him for something so simple made Vergil's eyes widen.

'Thanks Verge!' Blaiddmon's voice echoed in his thoughts.

"Been a while since I heard that nickname…" He muttered to himself as he looked up to the sky, truth be told out of everyone currently alive only Blaiddmon called him 'Verge', right now after so many days and weeks spent away from the younger demon he found that he missed the small antics more than he probably should.

He walked down to the lower deck when Zoro was yawning, the swordsman has finally woken up.

"Ah, good nap!" Zoro exclaimed.

"Morning." Vergil greeted.

"Morning." Zoro replied, both were aware that it was any time of the day but morning, not that they cared though.

Vergil walked into the kitchen. He took two glasses and poured water into them, the first one he gulped down. He was about to take the second glass and leave but then he took a mug, poured sake into it and came out with a mug and a glass.

"Here, figured you'd want a drink after all that sleeping." Vergil said and gave Zoro a mug.

Zoro glanced at him for a moment then drank down the sake. "Tastes as good as always." Zoro said.

Vergil climbed up the stairs and gave the glass to Luffy.

"Thanks. Shishishi!" The captain laughed a bit and then poured the water down his throat.

"Luffy! We reached the bottom!" Usopp told them.

"Got it!" Luffy quickly responded.

-The Ocean's Navel-

The bat descended back down to the trio.

Usopp finally took a look at their surrounding and immediately got scared when he saw a ship wrecked down.

Sanji moved him a bit to see but his place was quickly taken by Nami. "N-Nami-san…" He tried to say something.

Nami gasped at what she saw, it wasn't just one, but many wreckages all around them.

"Could these be…? The pirate ships of those who came after the treasure? Looks like we've come across a very dangerous place…" She realized, suddenly the bat got in her sight.

A couple of moments later Usopp opened the small opening in the bottom of the barrel and looked outside.

He heard a laugh and quickly got back into the barrel before lowering his head down through the opening in a bat like fashion yet again. "Who's there?" He asked quietly.

The bat was laughing, but then its laugh was lamely stopped by a fit of coughing.

Nami and Sanji joined Usopp in the observation.

"This is a pirate graveyard. Looks like you three will die seeking the treasure as well." Bat spoke up.

Nami's eyes were wide in horror and so were Usopp's, Sanji remained unaffected by any surprise o fear throughout the course of their small trip.

"T-the bat…!" Usopp began.

"…is talking!" Nami finished.

Bat laughed again and then began flying. "I am the bat that guides those brave souls to the treasure of the Ocean's Navel. But first you guys should probably think of moving." The bat warned them and flew away.

There was no time for confusion as something began wrecking through the wreckage.

Usopp got out first. "Wha…?" He muttered.

Nami got out as well. "What's with that sound?" She asked, seemingly over her fight with Vergil for now, though she made a mental not to apologize for the last thing she said.

The large mass of something emerged making both of them shriek in fear while Sanji began getting out as well.

"What's going on out there?" Sanji asked but then he was pushed back in by the duo. "H-hey wait!" Sanji told them.

Driven by her fear Nami screamed as she clung to Sanji's chest.

The cook seemed delighted by this. "What's the matter Nami-san? You seem to be frightened…!"

"L-Luffy pull us up!" Usopp demanded while Nami kept screaming. "We are in trouble! PLEASE!"

"Vergil do something!" Nami screamed as the green gigantic octopus looking thing approached them.

The bat seemed to smirk.

-Up at the surface-

"Luffy!" They heard Usopp's scream.

Vergil gritted his teeth and began spinning the pedal.

Zoro walked up to them. "What's Usopp screaming about this much?" He asked.

"He won't be screaming any longer if we get him up now." Vergil said. "Help Luffy with that stuck finger." He added when he saw that the rubber man was still trying hard to set his finger free, well he knew that Vergil would get the crew up as quickly as he would so he concentrated on his finger.

"How the hell am I supposed to get this off?!" Luffy complained as his finger stretched every time he tried to pull it out. He placed the bottle on the railing and then tried to pull it out.

Zoro placed his foot on it. "Here, lemme help." He said.

"Ah, thanks Zoro…" Luffy thanked him with a big grin on his face but then he opened his eyes and saw the axe…

Luffy screamed making Vergil glance at the two and see Zoro cutting the bottle in half and Luffy, out of fear for his finger pulling it out and puffing at it.

"What? You pulled it out?" Zoro asked.

"ZORO! YOU PSYCHO!" Luffy yelled at him making Vergil chuckle a bit.

"So what do we have here?" Zoro asked as he pulled out the paper. "Hm, it's some kind of note?"

"Gimme that!" Luffy demanded.

"Can you read it!" Zoro asked.

"Nope, you read it Vergil!" Luffy said as he shoved the note in front of Vergil's face.

"Bug Zoro about it." Vergil said.

"Fine. Zoro you read it." Luffy turned to the swordsman.

-Ocean's Navel-

"LUFFY-CHAN! ANYTIME PLEASE!" Usopp cried as they continued getting lifted up. "LUFFY-SAMA! PLEASE PULL US UP!" He continued.

"Just calm down I'll get deaf here!" They heard Vergil snapping at them.

"VERGIL-SAMA HURRY UP!" Usopp screamed.

"Now I'm hoping I'll go deaf…" Vergil complained and it got even worse for him when Nami's screams joined in.

Suddenly even with Vergil pulling them up a tentacle grabbed onto the barrel.

-Surface-

Vergil's eyes widened as he noticed the change in weight he was pulling.

"Usopp! What happened?!" He yelled.

"WE'VE BEEN CAUGHT! WE ARE GOING TO DIE!" Usopp screamed and for once the white haired demon paid no mind to the screaming, his eyes widened at the words his nakama had said.

Vergil made a move toward the railing but Zoro pulled him by the neck of his shirt.

"Don't lose your cool now Vergil! You'll die if you jump in from this height. Then you'll be no good to them." Zoro said and Vergil gritted his teeth knowing that he was right, no matter what he did to ease his fall he'd either die or become unable to fight the moment he crashed into anything.

"Shit." He cursed they were stuck here, pulling was not an option, too much force could potentially snap the rope and thus the only way to pull them up.

"Find a way to get free, somehow!" Vergil instructed as he tried to keep the cool head.

-Ocean's Navel-

Sanji looked through the window as soon as Vergil told them to find a way to get free.

"What is that thing?" Sanji asked.

"He's caught us! We're done for!" Usopp screamed.

Sanji quickly jumped out and ran up the octopus' body before jumping over its head. "Don't you dare make Nami-san… CRY ANY LONGER!" With that Sanji slammed his foot over the top of the creature's head.

The tentacles loosed but were yet to fall off. The bat grinned.

"Now that's someone I can rely on. Unlike certain other people." Nami finished the last part bitterly.

"Who would that be?" Usopp asked thinking that she was talking about him.

"Certain demon for example." She hissed.

Sanji lit his cigarette. "Heh. Because of Luffy, we skipped breakfast. Nami-san! How about some giant octopus steak for lunch?" He offered.

As soon as he said that though a tentacle wrapped around him and then tightened around the barrel.

Sanji let out a scream that made the other two panic.

"I-I-I-I-It's still alive! And it's pissed off!" Usopp realized the obvious.

The bat could only watch…

* * *

_**That's it. Nami and Vergil's fight, well one chapter away from the Arlong Park and here they fight again. Nami was always prone to frustration in the series not to mention to overreacting as well so I think it's justified to get this when Vergil isn't the one to back away.**_

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_**Next Chapter – Captain Joke**_


	61. Captain Joke

_**Answers on reviews:**_

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_**blazeinferno – Thank you for the review, kinda, in a romance aspect of it anyway.**_

_**Guest – Well chapter 8 has been updates, the next one, I'm not sure. Though please refrain from asking about the updates for one story on the second one. This goes for everyone, I'll update a story when I have time and I will not abandon it. **_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you for the review.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**alexc123 – Not always, but from time to time, there will be some more intense moments and even after they get together they'll have small arguments, you know lover quarrel kind of thing because let's be real they exist in every relationship, the healthy, meaningless, easy to forget or laugh at later, quarrels.**_

_**zaga – Well it's not a main point of the story but yeah, glad you say that.**_

_**Ryujin – Thank you for the review. **_

* * *

_**Well holy hell, over 300 reviews. Thank you everyone.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 61 – Captain Joke**_

* * *

While Sanji, Nami and Usopp had troubles with the octopus the Going Merry got pulled off the rock as well.

"Now what?" Zoro asked as the ship began sailing toward the hole.

"Whatever caught them is pulling us down as well now." Vergil realized and grabbed onto the railing.

"This is bad!" Zoro realized.

"Huh, what is?" Luffy asked and joined the two. "Oh, I see your point."

"Numbskull!" Zoro scolded him once he realized that Luffy wasn't exactly reacting the way he should. "Run for it Luffy!" He instructed as they began running toward the other end of the ship.

"Vergil come on!" Luffy called.

"Yeah." The white haired demon joined them.

"The rock! Grab it Luffy." Zoro urged the captain.

Luffy stretched his hand out and grabbed it.

Merry began falling down while Luffy, Vergil and Zoro dropped into the water.

"Shit." Zoro cursed.

"Sorry Zoro, Vergil." Luffy suddenly apologized.

"No need to apologize." Vergil assured him.

"Hm?" Zoro was confused.

"All my strength is gone…" Was the explanation he got before Luffy's arm got back to normal.

"Luffy! Luffy!" Zoro yelled to get the captain to move but it was useless, he tried to swim back to the surface.

"Save your strength, there's nothing we can do now." Vergil scolded him as they finally followed Merry into the hole.

-Ocean's Navel-

The situation for the other half of the crew wasn't looking so good.

"H-Hey Sanji, can't you do something?!" Usopp panicked.

Well as much as Sanji wanted to he honestly couldn't move as the bone shattering grip on his body tightened.

"I-I guess not." Usopp said more to himself than anything else.

Usopp's eyes widened a bit when he noticed the rope coming down more and more. "It can't be." He realized and then the miracle in form of a falling ship known as Going Merry dropped down onto gigantic octopus' head.

The bat happily looked at the scene as the octopus lost consciousness and its red eyes became black.

Near the altar, the skeleton's arm was reformed…

Usopp peeked out. "W-what? What happened?" He asked though he still acted rather carefully and then he saw their miracle. "Aahh! The G-Going Merry!" He yelped but then laughed. "Haha! See that? Everything went just as I planned!" He bragged and quickly jumped to the railing of the ship.

"What happened?" Nami asked. "What on earth were they doing up there?" She complained.

"Nahahaha nahahaha!" The bat laughed as it flew behind Nami who looked rather pissed at him. Or at the rest of the crew… Or both… "And now onward to the treasure!" He declared.

And just like that the frustration was gone. "To… To the treasure!" She pumped her fist and declared happily.

Sanji lit up a cigarette.

"He's right! We don't have time to be sitting around here!" Nami said.

"Nami-san." Sanji called her and as she turned to him he breathed out the cigarette smoke. "Why don't you guys go on ahead?" He suggested, his voice betrayed the pain he felt.

Nami got serious due to both his tone and words.

"I'm going to rest here for a bit." He told her.

"Wait… You weren't…" She realized as the concern slipped into her voice. "Are you okay?"

"Of course, nothing to worry about." Sanji assured her.

"Hey I'm guiding here!" The bat reminded them.

"Nami! Luffy, Zoro and Vergil aren't there. Let's just get outta here for now!" Usopp told her and ran off after the bat.

"Y-Yeah." Nami responded and then turned to Sanji. "Wait here, Sanji-kun. No matter what happens."

"Sure thing." Sanji obeyed without a question, well he probably couldn't move that well now. This was proven when he grunted and lowered his arm down. "Damn, I can't move a muscle." He complained to himself as Nami and Usopp ran after the laughing bat.

-Somewhere else-

Contrary to common sense, there was a town in this hole. The people had worried, even devastated expressions on their faces as they looked at the bottles that held the message, their call for help. They watched from what were supposed to be windows, yet those were nothing more than opening in the walls with wooden boards providing certain kind of barrier.

Among those people one woman opened the doors and pooled on a hood of her pretty much ruined cloak over her head to protect herself form the rain. She ran into a small hut where a brown haired teen looked as the bottles.

"Hamu! What'll you do if they find you?" She scolded the boy.

She threw the teen to the corner of the room where numerous bottles lied, it seemed like he was the one sending the bottles.

"What do you plan to achieve by doing all this?" She demanded to know. "Stop it. Give it up already! Even if one of your letters reaches someone in the outside world, do you think there's anyone who would come all the way down here to save us? You know what we decided? 10 years ago… At that time. That we would stay here. That even though we would have no peace. We would be satisfied with what little way of life we had left. We all swore!" The woman reminded him.

"I won't!" Hamu exclaimed getting her to look at him. "I won't accept it… I'm… Meroie, I'm not going to just wait it out like you! I don't want to live like this anymore!" Hamu declared, he was crying but there was a descent amount of determination in his eyes.

Suddenly a bell in the hut rang and their eyes widened in horror.

A large shadow stepped in front of the village in a form of crab like creature.

Hamu quickly stopped the bell ringing and Meroie opened the trap doors.

"Who's there? What are you trying to do?!" She demanded angrily.

Her eyes widened when she noticed Vergil holding Luffy on the surface while Zoro pulled at the rope of the bell.

"W-Who are you?" Meroie asked.

"People? We're saved." Zoro said.

"Potentially." Vergil said and then looked up, he took in the appearance of the two humans. "Guess you are right."

"That…" Hamu muttered when he noticed the note Luffy was still holding onto. "That note…!"

"Something wrong kid?" Vergil asked.

The creature walked through the village.

With a bit help from Meroie and Hamu Vergil and Zoro got Luffy into the hut.

"Are you ok? Can you stand?" Meroie asked.

"Yeah, we'll be fine." Zoro assured her.

"Hamu, open the doors." Meroie instructed.

Hamu obeyed and got out, but as soon as he got out he was greeted by a rather unwelcoming sight, the red lobster looking monster was ready to attack.

With tears in his eyes he turned to them. "R-Run!" He warned. They managed to run out of the hut just before it got destroyed by the lobster.

Zoro grabbed a harpoon that was in his way while Vergil carried Luffy on his back.

Vergil smirked as Zoro halted and stopped the lobster's advance.

Albeit with certain amount of effort Zoro managed to push back and eventually throw the lobster away from them.

"I-Incredible!" Hamu gasped.

Lobster was ready to attack again though. "Later." Zoro said and threw harpoon at the creature.

"That's awesome! You've really came to save us! Our town!" Hamu cheered.

Zoro began falling down.

"Not exactly. Not intentionally anyway." Vergil said as he eased Zoro's fall.

"I'm beat." Zoro complained as he got lowered to the wooden floor. "I'm sleepin'." He added.

Vergil smirked a bit and picked up Zoro's sleeping body by his shirt. "Do you know any place where we can rest for a bit?" He asked.

-A bit later-

Place to rest ended up being Meroie and Hamu's house and now with Luffy and Zoro awake her supplies were quickly being diminished.

"Hey, you guys? Did you really come to save us? After reading his note?" Meroie asked.

Vergil swallowed and turned to her. "I've already answered that. We didn't." He bluntly answered.

Luffy however showed them the note. "This note?" He asked.

"Yeah!" Hamu said, he was rather hopeful.

"What does it say? I can't read it." Luffy said without hesitation.

"I've already told you." Vergil reminded him.

-Flashback-

"Vergil read it!" Luffy kept bugging him.

"Fine, fine…" Vergil relented and took the note. "It's a call for help from what I can see." Vergil said.

"Help?" Luffy asked.

"Yeah, guess someone is looking for nakama to help him about saving his town." Vergil explained.

-Flashback ends-

"Wait a second? Then what are you doing in this place?" Meroie asked.

"We fell." Luffy answered.

"Fell?" She asked.

"Yep, while we were looking for some treasure or something." He explained.

"Treasure? Does that mean you are…" Meroie realized.

"We are pirates after all!" Luffy confirmed it before Meroie even had time to say it. He stopped eating for a moment and with a large grin on his face he declared. "I'm gonna be the Pirate King."

"Pirates?" Both Meroie and Hamu repeated.

"What's wrong?" Luffy asked.

"I thought you could fight alongside me… I thought you were the nakama I needed… But… But… You're just a bunch of pirates!" Hamu yelled the last part through tears and an out.

"Hamu!" Meroie called.

"What's eating him?" Luffy asked.

"You have to leave. Right now!" She turned to them. "We despise pirates."

"If I got a beri every time I heard that and similar sentences I'd be rich." Vergil commented.

"You forgot about Nami." Zoro reminded him.

"You are right, she'd take every single one of them." The white haired demon agreed.

"Eh?" Luffy looked at her in a somewhat confused way.

"Everyone here shared the same hate for pirates." Meroie stated.

"You saved our lives. Even pirates know how to repay a debt." Zoro told her, she seemed to struggle in her mind over what to do now. "You can at least tell us what's going on."

"You're right. After all you three seem pretty strong." She them pointed outside toward a large ship. "It started 10 years ago. A gang of pirates came after the secret of Ocean's Navel. That was Captain Joke."

"That name sounds kinda familiar…" Luffy said.

"Never heard of him." Zoro said.

"Because you were sleeping, it's the name from that skull that Princess found. Because of that they went down to find the treasure." Vergil said and then turned to Meroie. "Can you tell us something else?"

"The fiends utterly ravaged the entire town. It was horrible." She was remembering the destruction the pirates caused ten years ago. "They eventually set out to the Mountain of God where the secret of dreams was supposedly hidden and there they awakened the wrath of God upon themselves."

"Oh. So what happened to them?" Luffy asked.

"I don't care!" Meroie snapped.

"Eh?"

"I don't want to know either. Captain Joke got what he deserved. Whether it was treasure or death. However, whatever happened, because they unleashed the Beasts of God… We've been suffering for ten years unable to connect to the outside world!" She breathed out in anger. "We have no choice but to live on a tiny speck of peace that remains. That's why… That's why the townsfolk will always remember with unremitting hatred."

"The Beasts of God?" Zoro repeated. "You mean there's more like the one I killed just now?"

Meroie nodded. "So… Even though you guys are pirates, are there chances you'll still help us?" She asked.

"I dunno… You did give us a free meal." Zoro said.

"He said he was looking for nakama, didn't he?" Luffy suddenly asked.

"You're referring to Hamu?" Meroie asked.

"Yep." Vergil confirmed instead of Luffy.

"Hamu? Like Nama Hamu Melon?" Luffy remembered the food that he failed to try on Conomi island. "Just kidding." He added.

While they were talking, Hamu was kneeling in front of a makeshift grave.

"He… Lost his mother, the only blood relative he had. So now, I look after him. The chief of this village, Hamu's mother that is, knew that this would happen. What would happen to the town if the pirates broke seal on the Mountain of God. So she went to the mountain alone to stop Captain Joke and his men. She never came back. So now… Now Hamu wants revenge. Revenge for his mother." She explained.

Hamu greeted his teeth at the grave.

"So he… Wants to find nakama to help him fulfill his revenge, eh?" Luffy asked.

"Right." Meroie confirmed it.

"A fool." Luffy said and put on his straw hat.

"Both of them." Vergil said coldly.

"Yeah, you're right." Meroie agreed though mostly with Luffy. "The biggest fool there is." She was talking about Hamu. "Trying to take revenge on the pirates that are long dead."

"He's dead? That Captain Joke?" Zoro asked.

"We found the skull…" Vergil reminded him blankly.

"That laugh of his… It's like I can still hear it." Meroie admitted.

She wasn't the only one, Hamu seemed to hear it as well…

-With Nami and Usopp-

"Nahahaha Nahahahaha!" The bat kept laughing as he led Nami and Usopp further and further away from Merry.

Nami halted for a moment though.

"What'cha worried for? The treasure is right on top of this mountain." He urged her.

Usopp grinned. "You mean it? This is gonna be easy!" The usually scared sniper seemed rather confident about that.

"Well actually it's not going to be that easy." The bat admitted once Usopp began running up the stairs.

This made Usopp stop and turn to the bat. "W-What?" He asked.

"To get to the treasure you need to defeat two more monsters like the last one." The bat revealed.

"You HAVE to be kidding!" Usopp snapped.

"Nahahaha!" The bat laughed but then stopped when Nami stretched his ears.

"And why didn't you mention this before?" She asked.

"Because you never asked." Bat told her in matter of fact kind of voice.

"We are so close to the treasure now. What's that Luffy doing now when we need him?" She complained.

"Or Vergil and Zoro for that matter…" Usopp added out of fear.

Nami ignored him. "Let's go." She ordered.

"H-Hey, are you serious?" He asked frantically. "Just the two of us?"

"Well Luffy and Zoro aren't here and it's not like Vergil would care about something like this." She told him.

"Nami! Let's go back!" He pleaded. "Or at least let's go find Luffy and others first!"

"Shut it!" Nami snapped at him and kept going up the stairs.

The bat flew away laughing.

-The town-

Luffy, Vergil and Zoro had the same cloaks as Meroie as they followed her up the stairs.

"This is the edge of the town." Meroie informed them. "You can get to the Mountain of God through here." They found themselves in a small clearing with numerous swords stabbed into the ground or lying on it.

"Luffy, you really want to go to the mountain?" Zoro asked.

"Yeah, I wanna meet this Captain Joke or whoever. If he's alive he must have held that same treasure for the ten years… Maybe. And…" Luffy turned his head back slightly as he saw Hamu hiding behind the closest house. "And plus we did get a free meal." With that he continued onward to the mountain.

"You're right about that." Zoro agreed and followed along with Vergil and Meroie.

"I highly doubt Joke is alive, either way we should go. Princess, Usopp and Sanji are most likely there as well, as soon as Princess finds out about some treasure she won't stop until she gets it." Vergil added.

Suddenly Zoro and Vergil noticed the lobster from before.

"Get back!" Zoro pushed Meroie away.

"**Devil Arms: Dark Edge**." Vergil's eyes widened when he realized that his Devil Arm wasn't appearing, he pushed Zoro aside in the last moment and took the hit.

He dropped down to the ground grunting slightly from the impact and collision with the wall.

"Vergil! You okay?" Luffy asked as he and Zoro ran up to Vergil who managed to stand up.

"I'm fine." He assured them. "I don't get it… Why isn't my Devil Arm appearing?" Vergil hissed as he looked at his empty hands.

Meroie panicked as the lobster returned to attack again.

"I'll deal with it!" Luffy decided.

"Stop! This one is mine! You and Vergil go forward. The two of us already began our battle before." Zoro decided as he took two old swords with his hands and another one with his mouth.

Lobster attacked once again but this time Zoro managed to stop it with the swords. His feet dug into the ground as the lobster kept pushing.

"Will you be fine on your own?" Vergil asked.

"Yeah, go now." Zoro told them.

"Sure." Luffy agreed.

At that moment though the two swords broke down but Zoro managed to evade the blow by jumping to the side.

"Shit, are these rusty swords going to be enough?" He wondered as he picked up two other swords. Either way he ran toward the lobster.

"Yosh! We are going to the mountain! We'll run WHOLE way there!" Luffy declared and began running.

"Nice way to strengthen the kid's resolve." Vergil commented.

"Shishishi."

Hamu ran off after them as soon as they got a bit away.

"Hamu!" Meroie called after him but the young teen was already on his way.

Zoro sliced the lobster a couple of times and it let out a painful screech, still it didn't fall…

* * *

_**That's it.**_

* * *

_**Next chapter – Hamu's Fight**_


	62. Hamu's Fight

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**20th Cboys fan – Thank you, you are right, I'll explain it soon.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review, it wasn't much of a fight, but I'm glad you like it. The devil arm thing will be explained later.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 62 – Hamu's Fight**_

* * *

Nami and Usopp steadily advanced forward to the treasure unaware that Luffy and Vergil were quickly catching up to them.

They reached the top of the stairs and Usopp let out a tired sigh.

"We're here…" Nami realized.

"H-Huh?" Usopp somehow couldn't believe it.

"Nahahaha! Nahahaha! Congratulations on making it here." The bat told them. "This is it! The cave where the treasure lies!"

The two slowly passed through one of the openings in the cave and saw something similar to a labyrinth map carved in the floor.

"This…" Usopp knelt down and touched it. "Is this… a map of the cave?" He wondered. "It looks more like a maze."

"Nahaha! Right on." Bat said.

Nami walked to the middle of the map. "So that means… The treasure is right here in the center right?" She was quite certain it was true but she asked either way.

"Good guess! IF you can make it through the maze that is." Bat told them.

"Then that's easy." Usopp said confidently. "If we run into wall all we have to do is turn back right? We are bound to find the right path sooner or later"

Suddenly a sound of something closing in on them got their attention. The bat kept laughing since he knew something that the two didn't…

"That's IF you can turn back!" Bat said.

"What?" Usopp snapped at the animal.

"Shh! Usopp! Something's coming." Nami warned him.

The two screamed when the cause of the noise, a gigantic sea urchin approached them rather quickly. The needles were sharp enough to stab into the stone and if they made contact with them it would most likely be the end of the two…

Nami went to the exit but Usopp grabbed her. "N-N-Nami, r-r-run for it!" He pulled her to the other side.

They fell on the ground face first, alive and with Usopp's arm over Nami's back.

"Tell me Usopp. Why didn't you…" She began in a rather irritated tone.

"Huh?"

"…jump outside the cave?!" She snapped.

Well it was too late for that… The urchin was back…

"W-w-well… NEVERMIND THAT JUST RUN!" Usopp yelled as he pulled Nami and began running away from the monster.

-With Zoro-

Zoro stabbed yet another sword into the monster and jumped back down as it let out a pain-filled roar. The lobster tried to hit Zoro who quickly rolled away from it.

"It's still alive? Need a katana…" He muttered to himself but he was pretty much out of rusty swords, most if not all of them in the area were broken or in the body of the monstrous lobster.

As if on cue two katana were stabbed in front of him.

"Katana? We've got plenty." Meroie assured him and to prove that she was holding a couple of the katana in her arms.

"Heh. Thanks." Zoro smirked and grabbed the two katana

Meroie kept watching as Zoro sliced at the lobster again and again.

-With Luffy and Vergil-

The two finally reached the place where Nami and Usopp were just some time ago.

"Where are we now? Looks like a pretty cool place." Luffy looked around.

At that moment they heard Hamu catching up with them.

"Well, he's got some guts." Vergil commented with a smirk on his face.

Hamu reached the top of the stairs and began panting as he held onto his knees.

"Yosh! Here we go!" Luffy exclaimed and took off once again along with Vergil.

Hamu didn't waste time and went after them again.

-With Usopp and Nami-

Well if anyone considered carrying a pretty girl on his shoulders while running away from a deadly gigantic sea urchin a great way to spend your time, then Usopp was having a time of his life.

Not that he shared the opinion though. "W-Why the hell… D-Do I have to carry y-you?!" He stuttered.

"Quit talking! Just keep running!" Well Nami wasn't all that pleased with the turn of events either so Usopp's complaining wasn't something she exactly appreciated. "LEFT! To the left!" She ordered.

"I heard you!" Usopp said quickly and closed his eyes. "Left. Left. Left. Left. Left…" He kept muttering and when he opened his eyes he saw a path to his left. "Woo-hoo! Left!" He rejoiced. "Left, left, left!"

Usopp turned around the corner and then a certain someone came up.

"RIGHT!" Luffy yelled. "Right-right-right-right-right! RIGHT!" The straw hat wearing captain and the sniper were about to collide.

Vergil quickly snatched Nami from Usopp's shoulders as the said sniper collided with Luffy.

Navigator and the first mate watched as the two of their nakama rolled across the ground into another tunnel.

"Well, you certainly know how to throw a party." Vergil said as he saw the urchin pass by earning himself a frustration filled slap to the back of the head.

Nami took a good look at his face and noticed a certain amount of irritation cross his features for a moment. Did she have time to ponder on it? Nope. Vergil grabbed her waist and ran off after Usopp and Luffy.

"Vergil let me down!" Nami yelled into his ear but then noticed the urchin that came back for them. "On the second thought just run and don't let me go!" She screamed again.

"Make up your mind damn it…" Vergil muttered, from the corner of his eye he saw that Hamu was still following them.

"It's chasing us." Luffy pointed out as they all ran, well other than Nami.

"What? Wha… Wha… What IS THAT?!" Usopp screamed getting the others to look as well.

"A dead end." Vergil deadpanned.

"Shut it! We can see that!" Nami snapped at him. Seriously, how could the demon be so calm when they were going to die here!

"How can there be a dead end?!" Usopp wailed as he and Nami cried at the wall.

"I told you to go outside!" Nami yelled as she pulled his cheeks.

Either they couldn't care less about it or didn't notice it but they were surrounded by skeletons and Nami and Usopp weren't exactly reacting.

"Wow. How did these guys die?" Luffy asked.

"What kind of stupid question is that?!" Nami demanded angrily. "The answer is right behind you! Back there!"

"Behind me?" Luffy repeated and then turned around, indeed the answer was behind him.

"Oh, a giant sea urchin!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Darkness Breath!" Vergil halted its advancing with the Breath. With his hand he motioned them to run away and well it didn't take long for Nami and Usopp to comply to the order.

"Vergil!" Usopp cheered.

"Good goin'!" Nami added.

As soon as Vergil's attack stopped the urchin kept going, albeit a bit slower now.

"IT'S STILL ALIVE!" Nami and Usopp screamed when they saw the urchin still going strong.

"Damn thing sure is persistent." Vergil gritted his teeth.

"Leave it to me! The rest of you run for it!" Luffy ran forward.

"Damn it…" Vergil cursed. "Let's go, Captain's orders!" He exclaimed only to find that Nami and Usopp were already running…

"Come on Hamu." He urged the boy but the brown haired kid was frozen in fear. "Me and my damn luck." Vergil muttered and grabbed Hamu, the last thing he saw from Luffy was the rubber man latching onto one of the spikes as he somehow made his way between the spikes with Hamu in his arms.

-With Zoro-

The lobster's eyes finally stopped shining and it came down crashing into the ground with a combination of deafening screech and cloud of dust that was formed when it crashed down.

At the altar the bat laughed again as the skeletal left leg reformed on the skeleton of the rib cage he was in just some time ago.

Zoro stabbed the rusty sword into the ground and leaned onto it. "It's finally dead." He said, his voice gave away the annoyance he felt at the endurance the monster showcased.

Meroie dropped to her knees but she was happy, after all these years she could see hope for the better tomorrow.

"What a fine state of affairs." A new voice spoke up and Zoro looked at the lobster. "Sure took you long enough." The one who spoke up was Sanji, the blond lit up his cigarette and smirked at Zoro. "Though, I had the pleasure of the final blow."

Zoro smirked and sat down. "Really. You are the one who was slow getting here." He pulled of his bandanna. "But, at least you helped."

"Miss… I trust you are not hurt." And Sanji's full attention was on Meroie now as he helped her stand up and held her hand.

"Yes." Meroie assured him.

"What?!" Zoro couldn't believe it, he was starting to realize that Sanji was going to act like this around every single woman…

"If I may ask, would you accompany me for dinner?" He offered, it seemed like his charm was working as Meroie had a blush on her face.

"You bastard! Quit playing around!" Zoro snapped.

-With Vergil-

Vergil and Namu strolled toward the center of the labyrinth where the treasure was.

"How could you leave your nakama?" Hamu finally asked.

"So that's what was bothering you, huh? Who said anything about leaving him? Luffy is my captain, if I don't believe in him how am I supposed to believe in others, or expect others to believe in him. You see as our captain and more importantly our nakama Luffy showed us what he can do, he showed us that we can rely on him. When you find your own nakama, make sure to show them that as well, show them what you can do." Vergil encouraged the younger boy.

-The altar-

"Nahahaha! Just one more of those guardian beasts to beat and then my body will be…!" He cheered happily.

Nami and Usopp entered the large area in front of the stairs.

"Usopp we made it." Nami said.

"This place, could it be?"

"Of course it has to be! YOSH! Treasure GET!" Nami cheered happily.

"W-What?" The bat was surprised by this. "STOP! W-Wait! H-hey I told you to hold it!" The bat flew after the two.

Nami stopped for a moment. "Eh? What's all the commotion?" She was so close to her treasure, so she wasn't in the mood for any delays.

"To get a hold of the treasure you have to beat the last monster! You can't just run up and grab it!" The bat scolded them.

"And why is that? The treasure is right here in front of there some rule that we can't take it first?" Nami asked.

"Don't bother bat! Even if there is some rule she'll just ignore it." Vergil spoke up from behind them as he and Hamu walked in.

"Who is he?" Usopp and Nami asked when they saw Hamu.

"Hamu." Vergil simply stated.

Before they could continue the conversation they heard rumbling sound of something closing in on them.

"Nahahaha! Look! It's coming to greet the guests!" Bat cheered.

"You are awfully happy about that." Vergil noticed as Nami and Usopp screamed.

"Vergil you take it down!" Usopp yelled.

"There's no need for that." Vergil blankly stated.

"What?!" Nami and Usopp yelled at him.

There was no more space for arguments as the urchin with only one spike came through the opening.

"Calm down." Vergil hissed as he knew the screams were incoming and his words were downright successful as Nami and Usopp began screaming.

Suddenly the last spike broke down. "I BROKE 'EM ALL!" Luffy yelled but then fell down due to being tired.

"L-Luffy?" Usopp realized.

The captain was pretty much asleep now and it was confirmed when he started snoring.

"Nahahaha!" The bat laughed as the urchin lost consciousness and the skeleton's left arm was regained. The hand squeezed the handle of the gun.

"What in the…" Vergil looked at the scene feeling rather confused. Skeletons certainly weren't supposed to move around, once dead people can't come back no matter what. Or so he believed.

"Captain…" Hamu realized. "JOKE!" He yelled out.

The bat disappeared into red dust.

"Usopp what are you waiting for? Let's grab the treasure!" Nami urged the sniper.

The two began running up the stairs.

"Wait!" Vergil exclaimed when he saw the skeleton move and aim at the two.

Usopp and Nami almost fell on their faces when they heard blasts from behind them. The small stumble did cause the skull to fall out of Usopp's satchel and it rolled to the bottom of the stairs.

Nami's eyes widened as she realized that she wasn't hit.

"Vergil…" She muttered and saw that he took the blasts for her and Usopp.

"I swear the two of you…" He growled, for some reason he was getting extremely tired.

The skeleton picked the skull up and connected it to his body, the eyes glowed bright red and he began laughing, though the bones of his jaw cackled as he did so.

"Behold! My body, my arms, my legs, they're all back!" Joke exclaimed.

"Your bones idiot, just your bones." Vergil said.

Joke ignored the white haired demon. "Those bastards had it all separated… My body…" He fired at the urchin. "Nahahaha! I never expected you guys to take them all down!" Joke admitted. "But thanks to you, now I'm revived. Nahahaha!"

Joke walked by Hamu and went up the stairs.

"Hey now. Why are you guys lying there all pathetic-like?" He asked his former comrades who were now nothing more than bones. "Oh yeah, you all betrayed be that day, huh?" He crashed one of the skulls. "That's right! Every single one of you! Nahahaha! And what a fitting end! You all ended up stone dead! But of course, I'm different. For these 10 years, I've endured. For this day, the entire time! Now grant me my wish!" Joke began walking toward the altar. "Give me power! THE SECRET OF THE OCEAN'S NAVEL!"

"Vergil do something He's take my treasure!" Nami yelled at the white haired demon.

"Yes sir, no sir, three bags full sir…" Vergil muttered but relented anyway and stood up.

"JOKE!" Before Vergil could act Hamu got Joke's attention and also woke Luffy up.

"Who's there?!" Joke demanded the answer, though he didn't wait for it as he began shooting at Hamu who somehow managed to escape uninjured.

"Lucky kid." Joke commented. The round of his weapon dropped and he placed another one. "But I have plenty of rounds left."

As Joke turned to shoot at Hamu again he saw that the brat was nowhere to be found.

"Joke!" Hamu yelled as he attacked from behind, still it wasn't enough as Joke easily swatted him back.

"Hamu!" Luffy called out but couldn't exactly move.

The boy was caught by Vergil and set back to his feet.

"Ho-ho. To think that there were still people in that village with the courage to face me. Hm? Come to think of it I think I've seen you before…" Joke realized. "Oh." He remembered Hamu's mother and the scared look on Hamu's face. "That's it! You're that kid! Since that time!" He placed a needle gun in front of Hamu's face. "You've gotten a bit braver huh?"

"Get that away from his face…" Vergil growled as he forced the needle gun up.

"What are you interfering for? The kid is here to avenge his mother." Joke mocked. "That foolish woman who tried to take me on alone."

Hamu greeted his teeth.

"Yeah, I bet you'd like to see it. That woman's final moments! Your mother's final moments!" Joke exclaimed as he turned back to Hamu. "Take a good look." He encouraged the boy.

The image of woman being shot and then falling down were clearly shown in front of Hamu's eyes.

"Bastard…" Vergil muttered and was about to attack.

"YOU'RE WRONG!" Hamu yelled halting everything.

"Huh?" Luffy looked at him.

"I… I haven't come to avenge my mother!" Hamu declared.

"Hamu…" Luffy muttered.

"_Are you sure?_" Vergil thought as he eyed the younger boy.

"My mother fought alone for the sake of the town. When she set out alone, she knew it'd be useless. That's why I've been looking for nakama, to fight by my side! So that I could protect the towm like my mother did!" He declared and raised up his sword.

Luffy grinned.

"_Good_." Vergil thought.

"Nakama?" Joke repeated. "Nahahaha! And where are these nakama now?" Joke mocked.

"We are here." Vergil spoke up and Joke's eyes widened. He was held down by Vergil, Luffy, Usopp and Nami.

"Mother, lend me your courage. Mother, your courage!" Hamu made one final request before the attack and the red light behind him turned blue.

"What's this light?" Joke demanded but then saw Hamu's mother in front of himself. "No, you can't be!" He realized. The gun fired and hit the altar causing the explosion.

"_Well, guess that in the end no matter what happens the real parent is always watching over the child_…" Vergil thought when he noticed the way situation was proceeding.

"Hmph. Impossible, huh? To have nakama like this…" Joke began as the sword ran through his head slowly took away the last remains of his life. The tears streamed down Hamu's face. "I would have liked to have some too…" Joke admitted and turned to dust.

Vergil dropped down next to Nami as he and Luffy took a long breath to regain some strength, though he was kinda worried. Luffy, he could somewhat understand, all of them he could understand, but he was feeling awfully tired without doing pretty much anything… The feeling was somehow familiar though… Just like ten years ago, when his Devil Arm changed…

"I did it…" Hamu said thus forcing Vergil out of his thoughts. "I did it, mother…" He dropped the sword and continued crying.

"What's wrong?" Luffy asked.

"Come on now, what are you crying for? We all made it, didn't we?" Usopp asked.

"Let the kid cry, he's happy." Vergil defended him.

"I'm alive… Because you all saved me… Because you all fought by my side…" He said.

"I don't recall being here to help you." Nami cut down the happy moment. "I'm here for the treasure…!"

"Don't know if I should call her greedy, cold hearted or oblivious…" Vergil said thus getting another hit on the head.

"I'm greedy but quit it with the last two!"Nami snapped at him.

"There's nothing here…" Nami realized as she saw that the altar was empty. "the secret that makes dreams come true in the Ocean's Navel… It's gone!" And she was having a meltdown…

"It was you wasn't it? What did you do with it?!" She grabbed Hamu and began trashing him back and forth. "It was shining so brightly just seconds ago! HAND IT OVER!"

"Karma is a bitch, ain't she?" Vergil teased.

"Go to hell!" Nami yelled and tuned her anger to the unfortunate demon.

-Later-

With hell of a lot more sails the Going Merry went upwards back to the surface. "Forward!" Luffy exclaimed.

"There they go." Meroie said.

"Come to think of it, I never asked them their names." Hamu noticed.

"Who cares… They are just a bunch of pirates." Just a bunch of pirates that she grew kinda fond of, either way she was thankful to them.

"Yeah, you're right. They are just a bunch of pirates." Hamu agreed.

"I'M GONNA BE THE PIRATE KING!" Luffy declared as they got back to the surface.

-Altar-

The red light was back and so were the beasts guarding it…

-That night-

Nami tossed and turned in her bed.

-Flashback-

"In case you didn't notice I care. Just because you don't care about my life and well being it doesn't mean that I don't!" She bit her lower lip when she realized what she said. "_I crossed the line…_" She thought, her suspicion was confirmed when she was met with silence.

"Yeah, I can see that." He finally said.

"Vergil listen…" She began.

"Don't care." He simply stated.

-Flashback ends-

She frowned and stood up with enough resolve and frustration running through her blood she strolled to the room where the male part of the crew slept. Opened the doors without a single care in the world and walked up to Vergil who was sleeping, well not so calmly. She took a good look at his face and would dare to say that he looked disturbed by something.

She considered voicing her presence, she really did, but knowing that it might wake the others up she did one thing… Went to slap the demon.

A second later she found out that it was indeed a bad idea…

Nami let out a groan as she took in her situation, she was lying on a cold floor, with her arms pinned above her head with seemingly only one arm holding them with a rather strong grip. Slowly she opened her eyes and was met with a fist in front of her face, just about an inch away from it to be precise. She gulped and with a worried expression she turned her head a bit to the side to look at him. As she took in the full picture of their current situation she blushed.

Vergil was feeling quite a lot of emotions right now. He was startled, somewhat angry, utterly speechless, greatly relieved but mostly confused. The hell was Nami doing in here trying to slap him awake? Why was she blushing in this kind of situation? And then a blush crept up to his face as well.

Take out the fist in front of her face that had just retreated and their position was rather implicating. He was using his left hand to pin her arms down. That alone wouldn't be so bad if she could move away, the problem was she couldn't go left or right with her waist between his knees… Yep, he was almost sitting on top of her, almost…

The situation just screamed awkward.

"What are you doing?!" Usopp blurted out making their eyes widened. In a flash and quicker than Nami thought she could she jolted to the side as soon as Vergil jumped up.

"Bow down to mighty Captain Usopp!" And he was just sleeping…

As one the first mate and the navigator let out a long sigh of relief. They glanced at each other and Vergil motioned for her to step out of the room along with him.

"So…" He began as they climbed to her tangerine trees. "Guess I owe you an apology for our little awkward moment." He said. "So, I'm sorry."

"Yeah… I shouldn't have tried to slap you either…" Nami for once took part of the blame.

Nami sat on the railing and sighed. "Vergil…" She began.

"No need for words, Princess." He assured her and it was enough, just him calling her 'Princess', it was enough for her to know that he wasn't angry, or at least that angry.

They remained silent and then he noticed her eyes on the scar on his face.

"That scar…" She began and he knew what she wanted from the look in her eyes.

"I don't want to talk about it." Vergil said without a moment of hesitation.

"Fine. Have it your way." She hid the fact that she was hurt by the way he halted all the conversation on the topic.

"_Not now_." He added to himself as he saw her expression. Right now he was simply not ready to talk about his past…

* * *

_**TV Special 1 Arc - Finished**_

_**And that's it. Honestly I can't say I like this special that much, either way I wrote it down.**_

* * *

_**Trivia:**_

_**-Vergil was supposed to attempt the summoning of Dark Edge against Joke.**_

* * *

_**Next Arc – Loguetown Arc**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter - Wanted**_


	63. Wanted

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review, well it wasn't much of a fight yet again but glad you like it.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks for the review.**_

_**Guest – Thank you.**_

_**Naroku – Thanks for the review, yeah it wasn't much. Bad terms isn't exactly what I'd say, sure they fight a lot, but I wouldn't say I left them on bad terms a lot, a bit distanced yes, but bad not really. Orange Town began badly but ended in a decent way, Ganzack special left it at neutral sort of, Syrup village was more comical than anything, in the last scene of the previous arc I tried to show that Vergil isn't ready to talk and that albeit a bit angry at the start he at that point feels like there is no need for apology because he is no longer angry. As for Nami I tried to show her short and easily ignited fuse and later regret because let's think about it, it's rare for Nami to go too far, sure she beats up, she yells, but she rarely hits where it hurts, frustration coupled with a bit of tension resulted in the fight, in the last scene I went to show that she is hurt to some extent by what seems like lack of trust from Vergil's side when. Now of course compared to Arlong Park where they even hugged those scenes seem less emotional and it's true that they aren't but the scene in Arlong Park diminishes the effect even further. We can agree to disagree though.**_

_**WakeL – Thank you I will do my best.**_

* * *

_**Arc 8 – Loguetown Arc**_

* * *

_**Chapter 63 – Wanted**_

* * *

Two days passed since the small adventure in the Ocean's Navel and the crew was sailing closer and closer to the Grand Line.

"They raised the price again?" Nami was busy arguing with a kinda sad looking bird that nodded. "Don't you think that's a little too high? Why you…" She placed the coin and took the newspapers, two of them to be precise. "Next time the price is raised, I won't buy it, you hear?" She stated firmly.

"Geez it's just a newspaper." Usopp scolded her as he mixed something up.

"But if you get it all the time it adds up!" Nami countered.

"But you don't have to save up to buy your village from Arlong anymore. So why keep worrying about money?" Usopp asked her.

"Idiot! That's exactly why! I don't have that obligation anymore, so from now on it's all for myself." She lifted her head up and placed her hands on her waist. "I can't go around being some cheapskate pirate, can I?"

It seemed like Usopp didn't care about that too much as he sniffed the red ball and regretted it right away. "Hey, keep it down! I'm in the middle of formulating my **Sure Kill Tabasco Star** here!" He told her.

A certain hand reached out for a tangerine.

"_With this, if I shoot it into enemy's eyes_..." Usopp thought and almost as if he jinxed himself Luffy crashed into him thus making the Tabasco spill into his eyes.

It took the long nosed sniper a tiny second to realize what happened and then he screamed as the flames burst out of his eyes.

"What? Come on, just one?" Luffy complained while ignoring the screaming sniper.

"NO!" Sanji firmly held to his refusal. "This is Nami-san's tangerine grove. I won't allow you to lay a finger on it." And then he turned to 'love mode' "Nami-san! The security guard of love is on duty!" He turned to Nami with heart in his eye and arms spread wide.

"Hm. Thank you, Sanji-kun." She thanked him, there was a smile on her face.

"I doubt you ever had someone wrapped around your finger without effort." Vergil muttered as he looked toward Nami who glanced at him and stuck her tongue out.

"She uses him like a tool, that dork Sanji." Zoro spoke up in an annoyed manner.

A bit later Usopp was lying down with a wet cloth over his eyes, Nami sat on her chair while Luffy and Vergil sat on the railing.

"What the hell? It's just one little tangerine!" Luffy insisted. "Stingy Sanji." And he stuck his tongue out.

"I said no!" Sanji reminded him.

Luffy quickly got over the refusal. "Oh well, whatever. I'm in a good mood." The grin on his face was the proof of that.

Nami turned the page. "The world is in such chaos right now. There was another coup-de-tat in Villa." She muttered to herself. As she turned the next page two flyers dropped down.

"Hm? Flyers?" Luffy pointed out as he followed the flyers with his eyes.

Usopp glanced at them as well as they landed in between the group.

Nami, Usopp, Luffy and Vergil's eyes widened, Zoro snored and Sanji turned to look at the flyers as well.

Most of the crew let out a loud scream, the once that didn't were Zoro and Vergil.

-Marine HQ-

Numerous high ranking marines were having a meeting.

"So, it seems to me, that what you are saying is that they won't be defeated by simply dispatching a military force." One of the marines inquired.

"Correct. Since their forming and subsequent defeat of Captain Axe-Hand Morgan, they have been quite active. Clown Buggy, 15 million, Pirate Fleet Leader, Don Krieg, 17 million, lastly Fishmen Pirate top two, Blood Puppeteer Krim, 15 million and Saw Tooth Arlong, 20 million. Keeping in mind that the average bounty in East Blue is 3 million… These are big league pirates that are worth over 10 million. Other than Blood Puppeteer Krim he has taken them all down and his first mate took down the Blood Puppeteer. The initial prices on their heads will be 30 and 18 million beri respectively, the 30 million one being the record figure but a reasonable one. We also have information that the first mate is 'Black Thunder' Leonidas Vergil, notorious for his crimes in the Demon World. It would be wisest to take care of them quickly. To pluck this seed of evil before it takes root." The rather long explanation was finally over.

"Absolutely." For such a long speech the response was short but quite fitting.

The marine most likely quite high up in the ranks, maybe even the highest ranking one amongst the currently present ones got out on the balcony to speak with his follower marines.

"Anyone who wants to run, do it now! For there is no room for weakness here in the fortress of peace during the Pirate Age. It's not a crime for civilians to be weak. We are the heart of Justice! If there is deadly evil upon the seas, we the Marines, will exterminate it! In the name of ABSOLUTE JUSTICE!" The marine spoke to them and got a loud response of confirmation from his people.

-Fusha Village-

The people of the Fusha Village gathered around the Party's Bar.

"Hey did you hear? There's a price on Luffy's head." One of the villagers spoke to another one.

"Way to go!" The second one cheered.

"Hah, this village may get known for producing an infamous pirate." The third one added.

"Not bad!" The fourth one agreed.

"YOU FOOLS!" Apparently there was one person who didn't share the enjoyment of the village, the Mayor Woop Slap. "Stop all this ruckus!"

"Mayor!" The villagers yelped.

"What's so happy about a villain coming from our village?!" He scolded them.

Well the outside of the bar wasn't the only place that celebrated Luffy's wanted poster.

"A toast!" The atmosphere inside was even better, or worse in Woop Slap's opinion.

"YEAH!" The people cheered.

Woop Slap sat on one chair either way. "Geez… Everyone's getting into it…" He muttered as Makino placed his drink in front of him.

"Look, Mayor-san." She began as she held Luffy's wanted poster. "Luffy looks so happy."

"A pirate is a pirate." Woop Slap remained stubborn.

"I'm gonna be a pirate!" The image of much younger grinning Luffy came to his mind, the grin Luffy wore on the poster wasn't any different form the one back then.

"But, that's his dream." Makino reminded him. "Are you worried?" She asked.

Woop Slap sighed. "A dream? Or fate?" The Mayor wondered.

-Shell town-

While other chore boys were busy cleaning Coby looked at Luffy and Vergil's wanted posters.

"At last. At last. At last! Luffy-san is moving on with his dream! Vergil-san as well!" He spoke up in an excited way.

-Flashback-

"I'm Leonidas Vergil. A demon that will take down the Demon World's King." Vergil announced earning a gasp of shock from Coby. An open mouth from Zoro and a grin from Luffy.

* * *

"Shishishi. I'm Monkey D. Luffy. A man that will become the Pirate King." Luffy announced as he turned and grinned at Zoro and Coby.

* * *

Luffy punched Morgan's axe as the battle to set Zoro free continued.

* * *

"Luffy-san! Vergil-san!" They suddenly heard and turned back to see Coby, Rika and her mother.

"Thank you very much! This marine will never forget you!" Coby exclaimed as he saluted to them.

"We'll see you again! Coby!" Luffy shouted.

"Luffy-san…" Coby muttered as Rika waved to Luffy as well.

"Goodbye!" Rika yelled.

"Everyone, salute!" Suddenly they heard Ripper's voice as the marines all saluted to the three leaving pirates.

"See ya!" Luffy shouted.

-Flashback ends-

"But… The next time we meet we may be enemies!" He knew that all too well, as much as he owed to Luffy he was a marine now…

-Prison cell-

Marine walked up to one of the prison cells and showed the posters to none other than Morgan.

Morgan's eyes widened in pure rage.

-With Rika-

Rika washed the dishes at the moment, but just a couple of moments earlier she saw the wanted posters.

-Flashback-

"You were really amazing back there!" Rika said to Luffy who was still eating.

"Yeah! I'm great! I'll be even more awesome, after all I'm going to become the Pirate King. I found a new nakama as well!" Luffy told her as he turned to look at Zoro who was looking at him curiously before giving him a half grin.

-Flashback ends-

Rika smiled at the memory.

-Orange Town-

The town was back to normal now that Buggy was no longer there and mayor Boodle was sitting with ChouChou.

"Those two kids are wanted now." Was all he said, the small dog let out a happy bark as it watched Vergil and Luffy's wanted posters.

-With Medaka-

"Pirates are evil!" One of the boys argued with Medaka.

"Not all of them!" Medaka snapped back, the new posters reached her told as well and she saw the two familiar faces…

-Syrup village-

The news spread even further as Merry ran up the stairs. "My lady! Lady Kaya!" He yelled and burst through Kaya's doors. "My lady!"

"What's wrong, Merry?" Kaya asked feeling clearly confused at Merry's behavior.

"Please, look." He told her and showed the two wanted posters.

But Kaya saw something other than the main point of the posters. "Usopp-san!" Well she was rather observant.

Merry turned the posters to him and then after some looking spotted the back of Usopp's head.

"That back profile, is without a doubt Usopp-san!" She exclaimed happily.

"It does seem to be, yes…" Merry agreed.

Kaya cheered up even more and ran up to the window, Usopp was living his dream and she knew it. Opening the window she remembered Usopp and well imagined him.

Imaginary Usopp turned to face her. "Yo! You look a lot healthier today, Kaya. What story should I tell you?"

"Usopp-san is pursuing his dream…" She smiled as Merry walked up to her. "I'm studying to become doctor, so that I can help people. My dream and Usopp-san's dream… The day when they'll meet again and become one will arrive someday… I'm sure of it." She said.

-Somewhere in the ocean-

The Black Cat pirate took the newspapers and saw the bounties. His eyes widened. "CAPTAIN!" He yelled and ran toward the cabin.

Kuro adjusted his glasses as he thought about the two freshly wanted pirates…

-Unknown island-

Diana read the newspapers like most of the people but unlike most of the people she was happy to see the faces on the wanted posters.

"Dinahi! Come here!" She called.

The boy stopped playing with the girl close to his age and got to his mother.

"Take a look." She said before the boy, now human and with a normal life, could ask what was going on. Dinahi's eyes widened and he took Vergil's wanted poster.

"What do you think about him?" Diana asked, Dihani didn't need to ask who 'he' was.

-Flashback-

"Can't you show some compassion?! He is a child!" Nami yelled as she smacked Vergil's head, her punch though had no effect whatsoever.

"The most painful hard truth is better than the sweetest lie. You are no longer half demon, now you are pure blooded human. Your mother and you should leave this island and find a new life." Vergil said and stood up before walking up to Dinahi.

"Why did dad leave us? Was it because of me?" Dinahi asked.

"Children, they always find the fault to be their own when they can't understand the fact that it's the adult's fault." Vergil sighed and patted Dinahi's head. "Look, Dinahi, I have no idea who your father is, why he left you or anything else about him, but I can tell you this, after what your mother told me I can easily state that he never cared. Forget about it, it may be hard to just forget it but that's all you can do, you cannot let something like that hold you down." He stated, he may have sounded harsh and he may have not wanted to cause this but Dinahi had started crying.

Out of blue Dinahi lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Vergil's waist.

To say that Vergil was surprised would be one hell of an understatement as he stood there completely frozen at the sudden showcasing of emotions…

"Uh, Dinahi…?" Vergil breathed out slowly. "I'm not that much of a fan when it comes to cuddly stuff…" He stated and softly moved the crying boy away before kneeling down in front of him.

"Sorry." Dinahi apologized, he sniffed and wiped away tears, he tried his best to stop them.

* * *

"Is there anything you'd want to do?" He asked making Dinahi's smile widen.

"Play with me!" Boy requested. Vergil was taken aback by a sudden request but grinned and stood up.

"What kind of game?" He asked. He could feel Diana's warn look on his back as he allowed Dinahi to lead him out of the house.

-Flashback ends-

"Big brother Vergil is awesome!" Dinahi told her. Diana smiled at him.

-Gaimon's island-

Gaimon looked at the sky, for some reason he felt really happy right now, though he couldn't exactly explain why.

-Ganzo's Oden restaurant-

"Thank you very much." Tobio took the money from the customer, the business was still quite same but now he was willing to help out his grandfather. He looked back and saw the wanted posters resting on the wooden wall.

-Baratie-

The restaurant was full as always and right there for everyone to see were two wanted posters.

Zeff finished cooking up a meal.

-Flashback-

"The one who will become a Pirate King is ME!" Luffy declared to Krieg.

* * *

"Seems like there's a lot of stupid dreams around…" Sanji spoke up. "I'll go for my own sake!"

-Flashbacks end-

Zeff finished serving the meal and stepped out of the kitchen with a serious expression on his face. Maybe only for the sake of a couple of peaceful moments he stood by the railing.

-Flashback-

"Hey. You ever heard of All Blue?" Sanji asked, there was no way not to see the excited look on the blonde's face.

* * *

"OWNER ZEFF!" Sanji screamed. He fell onto his knees and bowed down to the man that saved his life. "All this time, I owe you hell of a lot! What you've done for me, I shall never forget!"

-Flashback ends-

Zeff had a content smile on his face.

-Somewhere on the ocean-

Gin sat in his room on Krieg's new ship looking at the posters.

"Already this much." Gin was impressed, 30 and 18 million beri bounties right of the bat were impressive, especially by East Blue standards.

-Cocoyashi Village-

Nojiko finished taking care of tangerines and sat down, she expected something to happen with the Straw Hats because of Arlong and Krim's defeat and she guessed it right. The new wanted posters.

She frowned a bit for a moment, wanted posters meant bounty hunters and marines, pirate hunters and marines meant that Nami could be in danger, her frown pretty much jumped off her face when she remembered that the crew she was with was in no way weak.

-Flashback-

"Do us a favor. Don't meddle with this village's business anymore. Leave Nami alone. I'll tell you the reason why." Nojiko requested.

"The reason?" Sanji asked.

"You mean why she stays with the Fishmen?" Usopp guessed.

"Yes. Once you hear the reason you must leave this place." Nojiko stated.

"All right then tell us the reason or whatever." Usopp accepted.

"I'll pass." Luffy simply declined the offer as he began walking away.

"Hey." Usopp called him.

"I don't care about her past." Luffy simply stated.

"Where are you going Luffy?" Sanji asked.

"A walk." Luffy simply replied.

"What do you mean a walk? You are not going to listen to the story?" Usopp asked.

"Yeah, I'll pass." Raven haired captain replied, once again in a rather simple way.

"What's with him?" Nojiko asked.

"Don't mind him. That's just what he's like." Zoro assured her as he sat under a tree. "We'll listen to the story. Although it probably won't change anything."

"I'll listen too. I want to understand what's going on here." Usopp said.

"Me too. I want to know everything about Nami-san!" Sanji said.

Zoro just fell asleep.

"He's sleeping." Nojiko pointed out.

"Don't sleep if you said you'd listen!" Usopp snapped at him.

* * *

"I'm Nojiko, Nami's sister." She could easily see surprise written all over his face, but then his posture relaxed.

"I see. And particular reason for walking up to me?" Vergil asked.

"I'll tell you Nami's reason for being with those pirates, after that leave this island." Nojiko requested.

"Not interested and I'm not leaving." The demon simply stated.

"You'll ruin everything she worked for. Don't make this any harder for her." Nojiko told him.

"Look, I have no need to meddle with this island, I don't care about it to be honest. But Princess is suffering, no matter what I won't let that continue." Vergil said.

"Princess?" Nojiko asked.

Vergil sighed. "Nami." He deadpanned.

"Your crew can't stop Arlong and you can't defeat Krim." Nojiko said as she tried to persuade him.

"That's up to me to decide. I will not be killed by the likes of Krim, even if I do get killed I'm dragging him down with me." He admitted slightly surprising Nojiko.

"You are saying you'd die for Nami? That's absurd coming from a demon." Nojiko said.

"Dying for her? Yeah, it does sound like a good reason to die for to me. So yes, if you want me to put it that way I don't mind dying for her." He admitted.

-Flashbacks end-

Nojiko smiled at the memories, Nami found a good crew, strange but good.

-Ocean's Navel-

By mistake the bird dropped the newspapers into the Ocean's Navel.

"Hamu, looks like we found out the names of those pirates." Meroie said as she showed him the bounties.

"Straw Hat, Monkey D. Luffy and Black Thunder Leonidas Vergil? Who cares anyway? They are just a bunch of pirates." Hamu said but he was smiling fondly.

-Going Merry-

"Shishishi!" Luffy laughed as he held two wanted posters. "Check it out, we are WANTED!" He exclaimed happily.

"Wanted… Dead or Alive 30 million and 18 million beri!" Usopp exclaimed.

"30 million beri! 18 million beri! YEAH!" Luffy shouted and then laughed again.

"Look! Even my back is famous now! Damn, I've got it going on…" Usopp added as he pointed at the poster.

Sanji was right away in front of Luffy's poster. "What?! They don't have my picture, yet they have Long Nose's? Hey where where? I don't see you!" Sanji tried to find Usopp.

"Seeeee?" On purpose he stretched it out to rub the salt on the wound and Sanji was now sitting on the deck sulking.

"It's just the back of your head, it doesn't count." Sanji muttered.

"Hey now, don't be jealous! Someday you could get one too and be famous like me even if you aren't a captain or a first mate." Usopp tried to comfort him, although the grin on his face and the tone he used weren't doing the good job.

"Really?" Sanji immediately felt better though.

"Well, if you work hard…" Usopp said.

Luffy kept laughing as he handed Vergil's poster to the white haired demon, behind him Sanji and Usopp were sort of dancing.

"All right crew! We are going to the GRAND LINE!" Luffy ordered.

Nami wasn't so happy. "You guys… Once again you don't understand the seriousness of this situation! She dug her fingers into her hair. "Don't you see this means they are coming for our heads?" She asked them and then turned to Vergil. "Do something about it." Was the request she had, honestly she knew in the corner of her mind that Vergil would do nothing, yet she hoped. "After this… I don't think we'll be able to lounge anywhere in East Blue."

"Luffy is going to be a Pirate King. Do you really think he can get there without a bounty on his head. Either way I doubt there are many people in East Blue that can take Luffy down." Vergil assured her.

Nami sighed. "_I should have seen it coming_." She glanced at Vergil's picture. "You look kinda scary." She commented.

"I do?" He asked in a somewhat of a joking manner.

"If you don't soften up a bit you'll never get a girl." She teased.

"Who knows, maybe there is a girl somewhere out there that likes the scary demon type." He countered.

"Scary, I could believe, but demon, not a chance." Nami said but unintentionally brushed her hair behind her ear.

"Guess you are right." He unintentionally glanced at her just a moment longer than he planned to.

Zoro was looking at the skies while he pondered on their situation.

"_30 and 18 million beri… With that much on their heads even the top marines be looking for us. And tough bounty hunters after the money. From now on we'll be on a whole new league_." He thought.

"Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's go! Let's! to the Grand Line! Let's! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! Go! To the Grand Line!" Luffy, Usopp and Sanji cheered.

-Somewhere near them-

A battered, junk looking marine ship still managed to sail, though the people on it were complete unmotivated.

The bird that carried the newspapers saw the ship and flew toward it.

In one of the only cabins none other than Fullbody drunk the wine, a bad one…

"Crap! Cheap wine tastes like shit." He complained as he sat at the table with his legs raised on it, he was pretty much a mess. "Ah, how I miss the days when I used to sample fine vintages, with lovely ladies.

-Flashback-

"Hey… Where are you taking me today?" She asked.

"To the greatest restaurant in the world." Marine stated. He was an average size person wearing a white pinstripe suit. His pink hair was well combed and he had a scar under his right eye. The name of the marine was Fullbody.

"Don't tell me, it's in the middle of an ocean?" She asked.

Fullbody chuckled a bit. "To your beauty. Cheers." He said as they cheered, on his hands he had iron knuckles with bolts attached to them. "Well just look forward to it." He told her.

* * *

On that day he was bleeding into the spilled soup beaten up…

-Flashback ends-

"One bad waiter ruined my life! I was demoted from my high position of Lieutenant, to this crappy post with this crappy fleet." He complained.

Suddenly he heard a knock on his doors and the doors fell down.

"What? You're so noisy!" He snapped at the marine.

"Um… It's a new wanted list." Marine informed him.

Fullbody lowered his legs down. "Yeah, whatever. Put it there." He showed at the table. "Not that it would have anything to do with us anyway." Oh it sure did.

He saw Luffy and Vergil's faces. "Those faces… I've seen those faces somewhere before.

-Flashback-

Both ships sailed toward Baratie and Fullbody stepped out onto his ship's deck. "I've never seen your pirate flag before." He stated.

"Oh, no." Johnny cursed as he hid behind the doors and then peeked along with Yosaku. "We aren't pirates, you know?"

"I'm Marine Lieutenant, Iron Fist Fullbody. Hey who is your captain, show yourself!" Fullbody demanded loudly.

"I am Luffy!" Luffy stepped out.

"I am the sniper, Usopp!" Usopp added.

"Now that's more like it, sniper." Vergil commented to himself.

Luffy grinned. "Our pirate mark was just made a week ago!"

"I painted it on the sails!" Usopp added.

-Flashback ends-

"Oh yeah, I remember that time!" Well how wouldn't he, he lost pretty much everything on that day. "Yes! He's given me a chance to escape this boring, lousy post! Those two will be so easy to catch! I'll use them to get my position back!" And then he kicked the freshly repaired doors down and shattered them into pieces. "ALL HANDS!"

With those two words a group of around ten good for nothing, with little to no fighting capabilities marines stood in front of him.

Fullbody gathered his bearings. "MEN, WE ARE SETTING OFF!"

"Um setting off? Where to?" marine asked a surprisingly good question given the circumstances.

Fullbody halted for a moment and started thinking. "Um… Er…" He tried to think of the potential place where the Straw Hats could be. "Well they should be near the sea restaurant…"

"Ooh! Restaurant! / Oh boy! Yummy!" The two marines rejoiced.

"Is the captain going to treat?" One asked while others cheered happily.

"No! I…" He was about to burst their bubble when Going Merry sailed right by them.

"It's him!" Fullbody realized as the ships passed one another. "Full stop! Hard to starboard, 180 degrees!"

And the ship came back.

"Are those pirates? Using a scrapped marine boat?" Luffy asked.

"How wasteful, the marines are. Just throwing them away as scrap." Usopp added.

Fullbody stepped on the railing. "WE ARE NOT SCRAP! Are you idiots blind? How could you forget this Fullbody, the 'iron Fist'!" Fullbody yelled.

"Shut it or I'll electrocute you!" Vergil snapped dangerously.

Fullbody was about to snap but the angry look in Vergil's eyes made him bite his tongue and pipe down.

"Well you sure have your way with words." Nami commented as she read the newspapers, Vergil sat back down on the deck next to her.

"Why thank you." He decided to go with the tune.

"Ah! It's that marine old man! Are you in trouble? Do you need us to save you?" Luffy offered.

"Stop kidding around!" Fullbody wanted to yell but he chose to simply his at Luffy. "Destiny has placed you into my hands. MONKEY D. LUFFY! LEONIDAS VERGIL! You are under arrest!" He declared.

"Cool! My picture looks good!" And Luffy completely ignored the declaration, not that he needed to pay attention to it anyway.

"And the back of my head looks good, too!" Usopp added.

"Dead or alive…" Fullbody said maliciously. "LOAD CANNON!" He ordered.

Nami peeked from her newspapers. "They are still so noisy." She complained.

"Is there anything interesting you found?" Vergil asked.

"Well I'm reading one article that might get you interested. There was a protest in the Demon World, about 500 demons gathered in front of the castle of the Demon King, the cause of the protest was left out the demons were… killed on spot to preserve the peace…" Nami read, the last part she read made her look at Vergil slightly more worried then she should have been.

"Does it say by who?" Vergil asked.

"By the Pklat Kaiser…" Nami said.

"Him, huh? Pklat Kaiser is just a title, he is the second only to Mundus, the only one who ever came to his level, even among the Despots was Grom. Not even Kagan can go up against him. For him to act the cause of protest must have been something that would do harm to Mundus in some way." Vergil informed her. "I'm going to take a nap, wake me up if something important comes up." He cut off the further conversation and closed his eyes.

Inside of the kitchen Sanji was cooking up the meal.

On the other side of Merry Usopp was downright horrified while Luffy just calmly sat there.

"What're they doing? Attacking us?" He asked even though it was obvious.

"They are aiming right at us…" Usopp informed him and began backing away. "This is not good!" All the commotion made Zoro open one of his eyes and stand up with his sword safely in his hand.

"Alright! Lemme at 'em! I'll bounce it right back!" Luffy declared.

"Luffy, I'll handle it." Zoro walked up behind Luffy with a rather determined look on his face.

"Right, right! You stand back." And he had Usopp's support.

"W-w-why? Why?" Luffy asked.

"Don't get involved." Usopp ordered him. "Hey, this way, this way…"

"Sink them." Fullbody ordered and the cannon fired.

The plan failed though as Zoro cut the cannonball in half. Usopp screamed as expected.

"Wow! Awesome!" Luffy complimented.

The marines looked ready for a heart attack.

"No way, that's crazy!" Fullbody yelped.

-The kitchen-

The noise got Sanji's attention as well.

"What? It's been so shitty noisy out there…" He muttered to himself.

-The deck-

Zoro sheathed his sword. "You shouldn't bug people trying to take a nap." He scolded them.

And Fullbody got furious… "How many shots can you stand?! Fire!" He ordered but the cannon didn't fire…

"Er… not good." Even Luffy could see it.

"Not good?" Usopp asked while silently wondering what was bad that he couldn't notice and Luffy actually could.

The cannon exploded thus lifting a huge cloud of black smoke, when it disappeared it left charred marines.

"See? The cannon had a crack in it." Luffy explained.

"Yeah, that's definitely not good." Usopp agreed. "_But for them, not for us, idiot. For us it's good_." He added inwardly.

The marine ship collided with Merry. "Listen, you brats! Do not look down on marine ex-lieutenant! We'll defeat you in close combat! Let's go men!" With that Fullbody jumped onto Merry with his marines, or well tried to…

Usopp ran to the side when he noticed Fullbody rushing toward him and Luffy.

"I'll have your head!" He yelled at Luffy who received his punch. The neck stretched, the hat fell overboard, but the stretched hand grabbed it.

"**Gomu Gomu no… Bell**!" And it hit dead on.

Fullbody landed on his ass and could only watch as his marines got kicked off of the ship. He looked to see who did that and screamed right away.

"How dare you interrupt a cook in the middle of his work? You shitty jerk. We're not serving soup today. You wanna lick the deck?" Sanji offered.

While letting out monkey sounding screams Fullbody backed away as much as possible. "Why is that waiter here?!" He didn't wait for an answer as he followed in his followers steps, jumped to his ship and then into the water.

"Huh? It's over already?" Luffy asked as he placed the hat on.

"Hmph. He's all talk." Usopp said.

"That guy's still a jackass." Sanji added.

Nami wanted to scold them but she realized by the constant shifting, albeit barely noticeable one that the white haired demon was actually awake all the time.

"Vergil…" She called him. "Could you defeat him?" She suddenly asked, not really knowing why she asked that.

"If I can't take him down I sure as hell can't take down Mundus…" Vergil stated, she knew he was right, before she could say anything she was interrupted.

"NAMI-SAN! THE FOOD IS READY!" Sanji informed her lovingly and loudly.

"Really? I'm starved!" Luffy cheered up even more at the news. "Food! Food! Foo-food! Food!" He repeated.

"Let's go." Nami urged the demon.

"Sure. After you, Princess." He said as he stood up, she really thought that he would let her pass and then stand there for a bit longer but he didn't he followed right away.

-Unknown island-

On a most likely uninhabited island two people were watching out for the potential threats. And they sure saw something or rather someone that could be a threat. None other than Hawk Eyes Mihawk was approaching the island.

"What the hell's that?" The first one asked.

"Huh? Lemme see." The second one looked and saw the man… The rather expected scream followed the discovery of who exactly was approaching.

The people, most likely pirates moved out of the way to let Mihawk pass.

One of the brave souls pointed the shaky sword at the Shichibukai.

"Hawk Eyes! What are you doing here?!" He demanded to know.

"Shut up." Mihawk simply said. "I have no business with you. Where are your superiors?" He asked and Mihawk sure as hell didn't ask twice…

The man that pointed the sword run, most likely to where the superiors were.

"Camping on an island like this… He's much too casual." Mihawk commented.

"Booooss!" The man was out of breath because of the running he just did and he dropped to his knees in front of a group of people.

Someone placed a mug in front of the man and he drank the content right away. The crew he was in front of was none other than Shanks and his crew…

"Hawk Eyes!" The pirate blurted out but Mihawk was already behind him.

"Yo, Hawk Eyes. Long time no see. I'm not feeling too good right now. You come for a match?" Shanks asked, there was no hint of any particular emotion in his voice, but he was pretty much relaxed.

"Hm. I have no interest in challenging a one-armed man such as yourself." Mihawk replied. The swordsman pulled out the wanted posters. "However, I came across some interesting pirates. And it reminded me of something you told me a long time ago. A story about a small village, and an amusing little kid." He unfolded the posters.

Shanks eyes widened when he saw Luffy.

Lucky's eyes widened. "No way…!" He wasn't the only surprised one, Yasopp and Benn Beckman were just as surprised.

Shanks on the other hand grinned. "So you've come, Luffy." He lowered his gaze slightly. "Well then, Hawk Eyes…" This got Mihawk's attention as Shanks' grin widened and he looked at swordsman's eyes. "I can't let you go just like that."

As ominous as the sentence sounded Shanks had other ideas… He poured alcohol in a mug. "Dahahahaha! So, Hawk Eyes! Come on, drink up! Drink! Drink! We're gonna party today!" Shanks declared though he looked pretty much drunk already.

"You seem to have already done so." Mihawk obviously noticed that.

"Don't mind me. This is a time to celebrate! C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon! CHUG! CHUG! CHUG!" He urged the swordsman to drink. Finally Mihawk drank the sake. "Dahahahaha! I like it! PARTY! PARTY!"

"But boss! You just said that you had a hangover from drinking too much!" Lucky reminded him.

"Dumbass! Don't go ruining my fun here!" Shanks exclaimed.

"Don't you think it's too early?" Came a question.

"Don't worry about it! Dahahaha! Let's get WASTED!" Shanks shouted.

-With Blaiddmon-

Blaiddmon, due to being Vergil's friend had the right to know some minor things about Vergil, at least that's the favor Mundus decided to offer him and the dog demon accepted it.

He had a big grin on his face as he looked at Vergil and Luffy's bounties. "Great going Verge." He was honestly happy for Vergil and he even felt proud.

-Somewhere else-

"Great, idiot went and began officially disobeying the law again." The white haired male looking somewhat like an older version of Vergil muttered to himself as he glared at Vergil's wanted poster.

"Well he was more attached to his mother. Not that you ever acted like a father." Came a reply as a black haired woman, Silvia, came into the room.

"I guess you are right, neither to him nor Xenia." The Leonidas stated but then stood up and pulled the woman into a kiss. "I'm a bit ashamed of my son's actions, mind helping me drown the shame?" He whispered into her ear.

"With pleasure." The woman replied.

The situation between the two demons got hotter but there was one thing on Acharon's mind, one that had no concerns with what he was currently doing. "_I know you'd be proud if you could see him now, Irene…_" He thought, figuring that he could spare a second he subtly glanced at the picture at the nightstand.

It was taken 19 years ago, on Xenia's eight birthday, the picture showed Acharon dressed in a common clothing, looking like a family man for once with a blonde woman next to him, he had his arm wrapped around her waist. In front of them were their children, Xenia and Vergil, the two kids looked happy, grinning just for the hell of it with Xenia ruffling Vergil's white hair.

"_I'm so sorry, Irene_…" He thought and while his heart tore between pulling away from Silvia and pulling her closer he chose to pull closer ignoring the ache in his heart caused by guilt.

* * *

_**And that's it, I have to say that I am honestly ashamed of the amount of chapters I've updated during this month, so I apologize for that.**_

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_**Next Chapter – Town Of The Beginning And The End**_


	64. Town Of The Beginning And The End

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Guest – Thank you.**_

_**Hawkeye – I have seen it but Jango is dead so it kinda beats the purpose of writing it down. Sorry.**_

_**20th Cboys fan – Thank you, glad you liked it.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review. I'm glad you liked it, I guess that I did get a bit carried away with the flashback thing.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 64 – Town Of The Beginning And The End**_

* * *

The meal has ended and now the crew was surrounding a map lied down on the deck with Nami pointing at their current location. "We are getting very close to the Grand Line. The only way to get there is to go through 'Reverse Mountain'." She summed it up.

"That's a pain in the ass. Can't we just go straight there from the sea?" Zoro asked.

"Nope. According to the old man's stories, it's the only way to get to the Grand Line." Sanji revealed.

"Hm? Why?" Usopp was a bit confused.

"It's extremely dangerous." Sanji simply replied.

"That's why I asked! Why?" Usopp asked again.

"I don't know any more than that!" Sanji replied feeling frustrated over both the lack of information he could give and Usopp's persistence.

"The reason is-"

"OK! I got it! Let's go head on through the front!" And Luffy rudely interrupted Nami who was about to explain the reason…

Nami scowled out of annoyance. "Are you even listening to me?!" She hissed at him.

"Because won't it be more interesting? It'll definitely be more exciting that way!" And that was all the logic Luffy needed, dangerous equals adventure and adventure equals good…

"Ah…" Nami sighed as she placed a palm over her face. "Trying to explain things to you is driving me insane!" She admitted the well known fact.

"But what's most important is, we should stop at an island and buy some meat. Meat, meat!" He added yet another priority to the list.

Nami suddenly pointed at the spot on the map thus getting the captain's interest. "On this island, there is a famous city. Loguetown." She stated.

"Loguetown? Are they famous for their meat?" Was the first question.

"It's called 'The Town of the Beginning and the End'. Or so I've heard." Zoro was the one to answer.

"Hm?"

"It's the place where the Pirate King, Gold Roger, was born. And also the place where he was executed." Nami was the one to finish the explanation, the entire crew looked at her completely concentrated.

"The place where the Pirate King died…" Luffy repeated, he fully understood the meaning of those words.

"Wanna go?" Nami asked as she turned to him, there was a smile on her face.

"Yeah, I want to see it. The man who owned One Piece. The man who had everything in the world. The place where he was born and died…" Was the only response the crew needed.

"Then it's all settled." Vergil said as he stood up. "Princess, mind telling us the course?"

Unknowingly to Luffy and Vergil, as well as the entire crew two people that the wanted members of the crew knew were looking at the posters.

-Next morning-

The sun was yet to come out when the crew was awake and ready to continue the journey.

"RAISE ANCHOR!" Came the direct order from Luffy. Though captain one would easily mistake Luffy for any other crewmate as he and Vergil got the anchor up.

Zoro used a rope to get a hold of it and pull it up to the railing.

"SET SAIL!" Just a moment later Luffy's voice echoed and Sanji and Usopp did as they were told.

The cook and sniper ran to the nest as Merry began moving.

"We're good to set sail!" Luffy yelled to inform his nakama.

"Idiot! Don't shake it Sanji!" Usopp scolded out of fear.

"Full speed ahead to that town!" Luffy ordered.

"It's Loguetown Luffy." Vergil reminded the captain.

"Yeah that one!"

Above Sanji finally paid attention to Usopp's scolding. "Eh? Quit whinin'. If you are scared, then don't come up here" The blond began getting down.

"S-S-Scared! Don't be ridiculous!" Usopp denied it.

"Sanji! FOOD, food!" Luffy demanded.

"Alright, alright! Wait until I make it already!" Sanji said.

A minute or two later Nami came out.

"Good morning, Nami-san." Sanji greeted her happily.

"Good morning, Sanji-kun." She greeted back with a smile on her face.

"Hey. How did you sleep?" Her attention was turned to Vergil who walked up to her.

"Great. How about you?" Nami replied.

"Fine." He replied and leaned against the railing next to her. She smiled as leaned as well, for a couple of moments her eyes lingered on the white haired demon.

Vergil suddenly grinned and turned to look at Nami, his grin faded just a tiny little bit when he saw her slightly confused face.

Before the orange haired girl could ask any question he motioned with his eyes to Luffy and Zoro.

"Aw, c'mon Zoro, let's play tag." The rubber captain persisted.

"Huh?!" To say that Zoro was surprised at how immature his captain thought he was would have been an understatement.

The mention of tag also got Usopp to run up to them. "What? What? I wanna play. Let's do it! Let's do it!"

"Are you retarded? How old are you?" Zoro snapped at them.

Nami was smiling at the trio rather fondly.

"I'm gonna take my pre-breakfast nap." Zoro decided as he let out a yawn.

To his misfortune Usopp knew exactly how to annoy and get Zoro to play. With a taunting look on his face Usopp mocked. "He's afraid he's gonna lose."

A vein popped on Zoro's forehead. "What did you say ya bastard? That is not why!" Zoro defended his honor.

"Ha! Look how mad he's getting!" Usopp continued.

"Whaaat?!" And that did it. Luffy ran to the mast ready to play. "Come back here you son of a bitch!" Zoro ran after Usopp.

"Oh and name calling now too eh? Whoo! Naana!" Usopp taunted him.

"YOU!" Zoro ran after him.

-Flashback-

"Hey Buggy! **Gomu Gomu no**…"

"I'm dead." Buggy realized.

"**Bazooka**!" Luffy exclaimed, the attack hit Buggy dead on and sent him flying far away. Nami sweat dropped as Luffy lifted his arms up and cheered. "I win!"

* * *

"Thank you, Nami!" Luffy thanked her cheerfully. "All right! I've finally got the map to the Grand Line!" As the rubber captain cheered and celebrated Nami smiled, kind of sadly though, it didn't went unnoticed by Vergil who looked at her. "Does that mean you'll be joining us?" Luffy asked eagerly.

"Didn't I tell you that I won't become a pirate." She retorted, her hands were on his hips but after a short pause. "But, It's okay, being with you guys will earn me a lot of money. I'm only working with you, okay?" Nami stated and Luffy nodded.

-Flashback ends-

Nami kept smiling as she remembered the time she joined Luffy and others.

"Zoro-san, over here!" Usopp kept on with his taunting and teasing.

"Zoro no fair! You have to play with me too!" Luffy complained.

"I AM NOT PLAYING!" Zoro yelled at him.

"Oh, well, fine." Luffy gave up way too quickly and then turned to his misfortunate next victim. "Vergil! You join in too!" Before Vergil could blink he was pulled by a stretched rubbery arm, he fell over the railing and dropped face first on the deck.

Well Vergil certainly wasn't allowing this slide and he stood up with a smirk on his face. "You're… On!" And with that he began chasing Luffy around as the captain and the first mate played tag along with the sniper and, not participating for the game purpose, swordsman.

Sanji came out. "Nami-san, the breakfast is served." He told her and then turned to the four males. "Hey you losers! Time for grub!"

"AYE!" Luffy and Usopp exclaimed.

"Get your ass back here! I'm not finished with you!" Zoro yelled at Usopp.

"He said that to me, even back then." Nami suddenly spoke in somewhat of a sad tone.

"Hm? What is it, Nami-san?" Sanji asked.

"Oh, nothing." And there was a wide smile on her face covering any and all other emotions she could feel at the moment. "Ah! I'm so hungry!" She casually strolled into the kitchen.

"Food! Food-food!" Luffy chanted.

As soon as Luffy, Nami and Vergil got in Luffy set his eyes on the food. "Looks tasty!" He cheered.

"By the way, what do you suppose happened to Buggy?" Nami asked out of blue.

Vergil gave her a bit of a confused look.

"Buggy? Oh that Buggy!" Luffy remembered who she was talking about. "Who knows. Maybe he is off in the ocean somewhere."

"It's hard to say." Zoro joined in as he dragged Usopp by his nose. "When it comes to pirates, they are all different." Finally he let go of the sniper's nose.

"Is that so?" Luffy asked.

"Bastard! What's your problem?! You started it!" Usopp demanded.

Zoro simply grinned. "I was a pirate hunter for a long time. I know a lot about them."

"Are you just going to stand there Usopp? Your food is disappearing." Sanji informed him. "Here Nami-san. A special yogurt treat just for you."

"Luffy! You ate all my food again!" Usopp yelled.

"Thank you Sanji-kun." Nami politely thanked for the yogurt.

"Give it back, jerk!" Usopp demanded.

Vergil turned his attention to Nami. "What made you think about that? Buggy I mean." He asked.

She smiled a bit uncomfortably. "Nothing really. It just kinda popped in my head." She said.

"If you say so…" Vergil gave in and continued eating.

-That night-

"Sanji… gimme food…" Luffy sleepily requested.

"You just ate… Have some… Self-control." Sanji scolded him.

"You are wasting your breath…" Vergil said in the same sleepy manner as the two of them.

"You guys, shut the hell up." Zoro told them. "How am I supposed to get any rest…?"

"You freakin' sleep all the time. Help out a little, will ya?" Usopp told him.

In her room Nami was listening to the sleepy conversation with an annoyed look on her face.

"Arguing with each other in their sleep… They're such weird guys." She commented to herself. "Well, I guess I should go to sleep too." She decided and lied down on her bed. She smiled at the picture of her family. "Good night."

-Next morning-

Forgetting all about the night time argument the crew returned to the normal activities.

All of a sudden Zoro sneezed.

"Zoro. If you always sleep outside on the deck you are gonna catch a cold you know." Luffy warned him.

"I get battle wounds but I don't get sick." Zoro countered.

"Come to think of it… I never get stuff like headaches either." Luffy realized.

"Someone must be talking about how great of a swordsman I am." Zoro reasoned with himself.

"I see…" Luffy seemed to agree with that.

Zoro wasn't the only one who sneezed as Nami did so too.

"Somebody must be talking about me behind my back." She guessed.

"Hm?" Usopp turned to her.

Either way the orange haired girl brushed the strand of hair behind her ear. "Really… It's hard being this beautiful. I wonder who it is that's talking about me."

"Nah, they are probably cursing you for robbing them." Vergil chimed in earning a small glare.

A drop fell into the substance that Usopp was mixing and it caused a explosion followed by a massive cloud of smoke… Nami and Usopp screamed and Luffy almost fell off.

As Usopp tried to get his breath back, a map, abandoned by Nami, fell onto his face…

-A bit later

Seagulls got Zoro's attention and the swordsman stood up, right away he noticed the island.

"Hey, I see some kind of island." He spoke up.

"Eh?! Really?!" Luffy asked as he jumped onto the railing next to his special spot, Merry's figurehead. "What island is that?" He asked.

"Loguetown is there." Vergil said as he walked up to Luffy and Zoro. Nami, Usopp and Sanji were with him as well.

"Didn't we go over that already?" Nami asked feeling slightly annoyed.

"Ah, that one." Luffy remembered.

"So that's the island where Loguetown is?" Usopp was looking at it rather casually.

"It's a pretty big city." Sanji commented once he lit up his cigarette.

"Yes, I've heard that, too." Nami agreed.

"They should have lots of good places to get the fresh food." Blond added.

"I need to get to a weapon store." Zoro added. "**Three Sword Style** with only one sword just won't work."

"Yeah, I wanna check it out too." Usopp said.

"On that island, Gold Roger was born… and also executed." Luffy repeated the most important thing to him about that island.

"Oh? So you do remember." Nami noticed as she leaned onto the railing next to him.

Surprisingly there was a rather serious and unreadable look on Luffy's face as he held his hat. "The city where the Pirate King died. A place called 'The Town of the Beginning and The End'."

Nami smiled and looked forward to the island along with the rest of the crew, the only serious one was Luffy…

-About half an hour later-

The crew finally reached the Loguetown, it was in fact the biggest city the crew came to so far and it was quite impressive as well.

"Whoo-hoo! What a huge town!" As expected the one to voice his opinion is such a loud way was none other than Luffy whose seriousness finally perished.

"Lots of pirates stock up at this town before heading out to the Grand Line." Nami informed them. "You can get pretty much whatever you want here."

"Guess I'll just walk around." Vergil decided.

"Alright! For my upcoming great adventure, I'm gonna need to get some cool stuff." Usopp resolved.

"I'll bet there's a lot of good food to check out here. And lots of good women!" Sanji said, the last part gave away his perverted tendencies.

"There's something I wanna buy too." Zoro said more to himself than anyone else but Nami heard him.

"Oh? And how would you do that? You're totally broke, aren't you?" Well now the orange haired girl was rubbing the salt to the wound…

"Okay! I'm gonna check out that execution platform!" Luffy spoke up and ran off. "I wanna see it! The place where the Pirate King died!" And he was gone…

"Hey, hey! We haven't decided on a place to meet back up yet! Man… He's hopeless…" Usopp gave up.

"It'll be fine, I'm off as well." Vergil added and walked off as well.

"Great… Luffy we can find by looking at the loud places, Vergil… That's going to be harder…" Nami muttered earning a nod from the other three.

-With Luffy-

Luffy kept running through the street. "_The Pirate King was born here, and he died here too! He probably even walked down this very street!_" As he thought that he jumped up. "YAHOO!" He yelled happily.

-With Nami-

Well pretty much everyone on the crew had different interests, Nami for example wanted to spend her time trying out the expensive and quite glamorous clothes.

"How's this?" She asked as she struck a pose in one of the many attired she chose.

"Oh! It looks wonderful on you miss!" The merchant complimented.

"This?" Nami asked in a completely new attire, her voice getting a bit lower in a good way though.

"OH! Elegant, miss!" Came the immediate reaction.

In a matter of moments Nami changed her attires again and again asking how they looked on her and again and again all she got were the compliments. By the end of it there was a huge pile of clothing next to the poor man…

"Will you be purchasing all of them today?" He asked hopeful that all this would in fat get him a lot of profit.

"Nope, none of them." And she broke the man's heart… "I'm looking for something more casual!" Just like that she walked out of the shop.

"Please, come again soon!" The man cried as he tried his best to keep the polite facade.

-With Sanji-

Sanji was looking around. "_Oh…! A tasty aperitif_ _**(Appetizer in French)**__. OH! A lovely two-item dish! This town is just full of delicious food to sample. And you don't even know which one to try first, you sly dog, you!"_ Well Sanji wasn't exactly thinking about food, but rather the girls and his facial expression was clearly showing that…

At that moment he saw a lone, beautiful woman leaning against the wall and right away fell in love.

"_I think I just found the MAIN DISH!_" He realized as his eye bulged out and tuned into a heart.

-With Usopp-

Similar to the way Nami spent her time in the shops Usopp did the same, though in a slightly less clever way…

"Whoo-hoo-hoo!" The sniper was ecstatic about the shop he got into… "Too cool! This is crazy! This place is full of cool stuff!"

Well with this kind of attitude Usopp pretty much got a board around his neck saying 'Easy to fool' and it wouldn't take even a moment for any kind of merchant to see that…

"Welcome, sir!" And the merchant just screamed with his appearance and gestures 'Oh-I'm-Gonna-Make-Money-Because-Of-This-Idiot'. "All of the items you see on display were used by the pirates who sailed the Grand Line!" And Usopp believed him and on top of that he was more than impressed… "These are valuable, special items, of course."

"You mean… these are all the things they used in their adventures on the Grand Line?" Usopp asked as if he needed just a bit more of assurance…

"Exactly sir. We aim to cater to the needs of the true warriors of the sea." Oh he sure hit the center with that one. "We are so glad to have your business." Add a bit of boosting the ego along with that and it's all done… "So how about it? This is the gun that was actually used by Gold Roger!"

"If that kid toy was used by Gold Roger I'd be the Demon King." Came a voice as the man probably in his late thirties came in, from the elbow down he didn't have his left arm, he had neck length, straight, grey hair, though it wasn't grey because of the age, the golden eyes betrayed that he was a demon. The open button up short sleeved white shirt revealed the multiple scars on his chest while the rest of his attire consisted of simple brown khaki pants and usual black shoes.

"Welcome, sir." The merchant bit out.

"Don't you 'Welcome sir.' to me and quit fooling the brat, it makes me feel sick to see how you fool people, adults I'd let it go by, but brats like him, not a chance." The demon said.

"Is that true?" Usopp asked.

"Just look at that thing brat. There is no way in hell that the Pirate King would use something so stupid. Other than the fact that this is his home town I see no reason for it to be here even if it was Gold Roger's, well even if it was it wouldn't be in this lame store." The demon explained.

"That does sound about right…" Usopp agreed eventually much to the annoyance of the man who was up until now trying to trick him.

"Come on kid, I doubt you'll find anything good here." The demon said and then the fear kicked in.

"Uh, thanks, but I'll be fine…"

"Scared, huh? That's acceptable, I doubt I'll see you again so take care kid." Demon said and walked out of the store.

* * *

_**And that's it. As you can see I skipped Buggy episodes. Flashbacks, I can do, those episodes, not a chance…**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Marine Captain Smoker**_


	65. Marine Captain Smoker

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review, glad you liked it.**_

_**Son of Whitebeard – Yeah.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 65 – Marine Captain Smoker**_

* * *

-Loguetown's Marine Base-

One of the marines was just doing his paperwork when a message arrived. He gasped when he saw what was on the papers and knew immediately what he had to do.

He rushed into a smoke filled room where a man sat in front of a small rock pillar, it seemed like the man was trying to make them stand like that. "Captain Smoker! There's an alert!" He calmed down when he saw the marine sitting there. "We've received the notification from Marine HQ… That Monkey D. Luffy and his band of pirates are headed toward Loguetown! He is East Blue pirate with a reward on his head for 30 million beri, his first mate Leonidas Vergil is worth 18 million." Marine informed.

"30 million and 18 million? Want me to congratulate them or something?" The marine captain questioned.

"He is the one who defeated Don Krieg and the Fishman Arlong, his first mate also defeated Arlong's first mate!" Marine added.

"Shut the hell up!" Smoker ordered him harshly. The pillar of rocks broke down and rocks fell on the table. "Damn your yelling… You broke it." Smoker complained as he stood up.

"Forgive me…" Marine apologized.

"Well forget it… I have my own way of doing things. I work at my own pace, you know?" Smoker reminded the marine, what annoyance was in his voice had disappeared already and now he just sounded somewhat bored.

"Y-Yes sir." Marine relied reluctantly.

Smoker opened the window and the smoke filled room began clearing to reveal a shirtless and rather muscular marine. Smoker was tall man with light blue-green hair who was for some reason smoking two cigarettes at the same time. Currently he was wearing blue jeans with a brown belt and large military issued brown leather boots. "So, you were saying?"

"Sir. It seems there is a band of pirates headed for the city today… Sir." Marine explained.

"What are you getting all worked up for? Since I've been at this post, has there ever been a pirate that's been able to get out of this city once they entered?" Smoker asked

"Well, no…" Marine replied.

Smoker took his large thick white and blue specialist marine jacket with greenish fur lining the neck, wrists and hem. The jacket also had many cigars strapped to it and kanji for justice written on the back of it. "Then don't get all nervous." He put the jacket on and left it open. "I'll take care of it at my own pace."

"Yes." Was all the marine could say.

At that moment, another marine came in. "Reporting sir! Pirates have been sighted at the harbor!" The marine reported as he saluted to his commanding officer. "Please come to confirm the situation!"

"It's got to be the Luffy Pirates, sir! There weren't any others mentioned in the bulletin'." The first marine concluded.

"30 million, huh? That's something I'd like to see." Smoker spoke as he began walking out, a jitte was now strapped on his back.

"Huh?"

"Just thinking out loud, forget it." Smoker told them.

The marine ran after him to follow.

"Don't you need this?" The first marine asked as he held out the wanted posters but he gained no response.

-A bit later-

Smoker walked down the street with the marine from before following him.

"Captain, please call for backup." Marine pleaded.

"Don't need it." Whether it was justified or not was yet to be seen but Smoker was rather confident in his abilities.

"But, the supposed strength of the enemy…" Marine persisted.

Smoker stopped and glared at the marine. "Shut the hell up." Marine yelped. "Don't tell me how to do things!"

Marine quickly saluted. "I'm very sorry, sir!"

"Whatever, where's Tashigi?" He asked.

"Oh, actually she's been out since this morning. She missed the morning drills." Marine said.

"That ditzy girl… Where'd she go off to now?" Smoker asked aloud.

His attention was however turned to a white haired demon walking down the street.

Likewise was with Vergil who saw that he was headed toward Smoker, not feeling a need to hide he simply returned the gaze.

"Yay! Three scoop ice cream!" Just as the two got about five meters from each other, a girl carrying an ice cream cheered.

"Hey, hey! Be careful so you don't fall when you run!" Her father playfully reminded her.

She didn't fall but her ice cream collided with Smoker's leg.

Smoker looked at the girl while father began panicking. "C-Captain Smoker!" Man cried out.

"My ice cream…" Girl was on the verge of tears.

"I'm so sorry! My kid…" Father began apologizing. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Sorry! SORRY!" He repeated again and again.

Smoker dropped to one knee and placed his hand the girl's head. "Sorry, kid." He apologized. "Looks like my pants ate your ice cream. Here, go buy yourself a five scoop." With that, he gave the girl a coin. "Let's go." He urged the marine.

"Yes!"

"Th-Thank you very much." The father thanked him.

"Thank you!" Girl added as she waved at the marine captain who raised his hand.

"What's wrong? You've been clenching your fists up until now." Smoker said as he stopped a meter behind Vergil.

"I was, it might not be any of my business if you got angry at the father, but if you had dared to show any form of violence against the child, I would have killed you." Vergil stated.

"You ignorant demon…" Marine next to Smoker began.

"Shut it. Those are big words, you think you can do it?" Smoker challenged.

"Yes. However there is no need to fight now." Vergil stated, he remained completely calm.

"It seems that way." Smoker said and began walking away.

"_That marine… Morgan and stupid rat were captains just like him yet there is a clear difference that much is evident…_" Vergil thought, his eyes narrowed slightly but then he relaxed, if wanted posters came to Loguetown the marine would have began a battle with him and attempted to arrest him. If the posters came and marine saw them then he would have some back up and he wouldn't feel so confident during their conversation. "_For now we are fine._" He decided.

-At the harbor-

A pirate captain laughed as his men robbed the currently tied merchants and civilians.

"Clean the place out m'hearties! Leave not a bloomin' penny thar!" He repeated the order. "For ye see, that these provisions be necessities for Gally-sama of the Crescent Moon to become the Pirate King! So make sure ye get it all!"

Well unfortunately for the pirate Smoker was standing behind four of his comrades.

"Oi…" Smoker got their attention.

"Huh?"

"Which one is the boss?" Smoker asked.

"Who the hell are you?" Gally asked.

"You the bastard known as Monkey D. Luffy? Let's see how tough you are, since you are stupid enough to show that ugly face in my town." Smoker stated.

"What? You've gotta be kidding me! Get him lads!" Gally ordered.

For some reason smoke began circling around Smoker…

-With Nami-

"Captain Smoker?" Nami asked as the merchant lady she bought clothes from packed the too many to count shirts and all other kinds of clothes.

"Yeah! You know he's one of the top soldiers from Marine HQ. This town used to be full of pirates heading for the Grand Line, but since the captain was stationed here every pirate that comes here ends up in the slammer. He's not normal. They say he's a monster. They even say he's got the power of the Devil Fruit, you know." The lady told her.

"The Devil Fruit?" Nami repeated.

-The harbor-

Gally and his pirates were beaten up and tied, and Smoker, he didn't even break a sweat.

"A job well done, Captain! You finished off the Luffy Pirates in record time." The marine behind him praised.

"Are you blind, or just stupid? How could these losers be Luffy's?" Smoker scolded him.

"Eh?"

"If these pansies are worth 30 million then it's the end of the world."

"T-Then what about Luffy?"

"He'll show himself soon enough. And then the fun starts."

Well sooner than anyone would have guessed.

"Huh? How did I end up back at the harbor? How?" Speaking of devil… Luffy got back to the harbor and was now looking for the right direction just a couple of meters away from Smoker… Was it just Luffy's luck or something else was unknown but Luffy saw Smoker. "HEY!" He yelled as he walked up to the marine captain.

"Is that another one of those idiots?" Smoker asked the marine behind him.

"I don't think so…" Idiot he may be, one of the beaten up ones, not a chance.

"What luck! Can you tell me how to get to the execution platform?" Luffy asked fully oblivious about the fact that this man was supposed to capture him…

"The execution platform?" Smoker repeated.

"Yeah, I think I'm lost…" Luffy admitted.

"I've never seen your face around before."

"Yeah! I just came here today! Man what a big city! It's totally different from Foosha Village!" The rubber man said.

"Why are you looking for the execution platform?" Smoker asked.

"I want to see it. The place where the Pirate King died!"

Either Luffy's grin and look in the eyes or the very words he spoke up, one of those things, or maybe both of them made Smoker speechless for a single moment.

"You don't know? Whatever." He began walking away.

"Wait." Smoker stopped him. "Look where the smoke points." Smoke pointed at the corner behind Smoker.

"Ooh! Over there! Thanks!" Luffy ran off after the trail of smoke.

Smoker turned around and looked at Luffy's back, in the back of his mind he couldn't help but feel that something big was about to come and it would come crashing down like a thunder.

-With Zoro-

Zoro wasn't that lucky at the moment either.

"Shit! So much! They are too damn expensive!" Zoro hissed to himself as he looked at the displayed swords, with money he had he couldn't get a single descent sword, let alone two…

"You need a loan? That's fine! But you'll need to pay me back three times over with interest, okay?" Nami's words echoed in his mind.

"_I can't borrow any more money from that woman. But, just one sword isn't enough for the Grand Line. What do I do?_" He thought as he pondered on what he should or rather could do.

"Yo! So you ain't with that monster today, eh?" Someone said not too far from Zoro.

"Excuse me, you're being rude!" A female said.

"Huh?" This got Zoro's attention.

"Shut up! Thanks to him, our boss is locked up in jail!" Most likely a pirate, or a bandit, argued.

"Have you not given up yet?" Woman asked, she was young girl with short black hair dressed in plain clothing. The only features that kinda stood out were the glasses and clothed sword in her hands. Still she stood in front of two much larger males without fear.

"No way!" The second man assured her.

"You chicken or something?" The first one asked clearly not understanding the situation.

"We are going to send you back to him in pieces!"

"I understand. I will have to fight you." Girl spoke confidently.

People watched the scene but none moved a finger to interfere.

"'That so, baby?" First one asked.

"Don't make me laugh!" The second one added.

"What the hell can a little woman do?"

Zoro was about to interfere, he even grabbed his Wado Ichimonji as the two attacked but it was clear that there was no need for him to do anything.

"Take this!"

Zoro took a step but then his eyes widened.

The sheath fell to the concrete floor and in two swift and clean motions the situation was resolved with men falling down defeated.

"Wow, she won!"

"That was so cool, lady." Came comments from the crowd.

And then she tripped… Her glasses slipped off of her face and slid to Zoro's feet.

"Guess she can't handle her own strength!" One of the people commented in a joking manner.

"My glasses…" She repeated as looked for her glasses by moving her arm around.

Zoro picked them up and offered them to her. "Hey, looking for these?" He asked.

Girl looked up to him and Zoro's eyes widened once more. "I-I'm sorry." She looked exactly like Kuina…

In that moment Zoro by mistake clenched his fist and shattered the glasses…

"Thank you so much." She thanked him but then they both realized what happened to her glasses and yelped.

"My glasses!"

"I-I-It was an accident…!"

"Those were expensive, you know! Why would you do such a cruel thing?"

"But I didn't mean to…!"

"Please replace them!"

Lady luck… She clearly hated the green haired swordsman when it came to money…

-With Luffy-

And the captain was lost, once again. "Man, I'm beat… I was trying to get to the execution platform but this doesn't look like the right way at all. Oh well, I'm bound to run into it eventually." He began walking down the stairs at the bottom of the stairs he noticed Vergil sitting with his back against one of the houses. "Vergil!" He shouted and ran down to his first mate.

Vergil looked up and smirked. "Got lost, huh?"

"Yeah, but I'll run into it eventually." Luffy said.

"That sounds just like you." The white haired demon said as he stood up. "Come on, I guess I could try to take you there."

"Shishishi. Thanks!" Luffy's attention wandered off for a bit and he noticed a bar named 'Gold Roger'. "'Gold Roger'?" Luffy read.

"That was the Pirate King. Wanna go in?" Vergil asked.

"Yeah." Luffy said.

The two entered the bar and immediately had to walk down the stairs, they eventually reached the doors and Luffy opened them. The bar was empty save for an old bartender and a large skull on the table. It looked like the place was closed.

The man looked at the two.

"Old man, are you the owner? The sign outside says 'Gold Roger'. Is that the name of this place?" Luffy was the first to speak up.

"Get out. This isn't a place for kids. And we are closed right now." Man said and poured himself another drink.

"Out of business?" Luffy asked.

"Plus it could be after hours." Vergil added.

"We're not out of business. It's just after hours!" Man barked but then turned to Vergil. "How did you guess?"

"There are some places like this in the Demon World, ones that start working only in the night hours. Either way you might not be out of business, but you aren't doing that well." Vergil said.

"Fine, now get out!" Man ordered them.

"I was just curious about the name…" Luffy said as he sat down, Vergil followed his captain's example and sat down as well. "I'm lost. I want to see the execution platform. Can you tell me how to get there?" Luffy asked and finally noticed the skull. "What's that thing on the table?"

"Skull." Vergil answered.

"It's a skull! It's huge!" Luffy exclaimed, it was true, the skull was quite huge and it was damaged, right there on the forehead there was a large wound made by something sharp, most likely a sword.

"This is a skull of the man known as the 'Giant Killer'. A man who killed hundreds of pirates. He was a devil, maybe even a real one. But Gold Roger fought and killed him." The man revealed.

"Gold Roger did?" Luffy asked, both he and Vergil listened to the man carefully.

"It's a famous tale! He was a big, rough guy, with a huge sword! The battle was decided pretty quickly. This gash is what killed him." Man said as he pointed at the gash in the skull. Luffy leaned in excited to hear more. "But he was really something. His last words were: 'Roger. No one can touch you. I praise you as the eternal pirate.'"

"Awesome! Cool!" Luffy was clearly showing his excitement as he was on the edge of his seat even Vergil had an excited look on his face, though less showcased than Luffy's.

"King, of the Eric Pirates. The famous gunner Silver-Silver. The devilish Kung Fu Brothers. All were very dangerous men. Yet before Roger, they were like scared little babies." Luffy was now shivering with excitement.

"Wanna hear more?" Man offered.

"Yeah!" Luffy said while Vergil nodded.

"Nowadays youngsters don't usually take interest in this stuff." Owner admitted.

"I don't care, just tell me more." Luffy requested impatiently.

"Pesky kid! Gold Roger… Back then… No even today… He's the only pirate who truly didn't fear the dangers of the Grand Line. Because you see, the area known as the Grand Line, is the place where ships disappear and are never seen again. Navigation is said to be impossible. Because people are scared of it, they seldom come close to that cursed ocean."

-Flashback-

The bar was full many years ago and one of the people in it was the very Gold Roger.

"Old Man. I want some more rum." He requested. "The whole bottle."

"You seem to be enjoying yourself, Roger." Man noticed.

Roger chuckled and then drank from the bottle. "Yeah, that's for sure. Because after this, I'm taking off for a little stroll though the Grand Line." Roger said making the owner's eyes widen. "I'm so excited. I can't help myself."

"Hey! Are you really headed for that cursed ocean?"

"Why not? You saying I can't?"

"Well, not really, just… I won't stop you, but please, don't go there. They say it's a place no one ever returns from!"

Roger laughed. "That's exactly why I want to go. So some more rum please, another bottle would be good."

-Flashback ends-

"Saying that he cleared out all the booze in the bar… And set off the next morning, as though there was nothing to fear. Later on when I heard he had conquered the Grand Line, I was so surprised I even forgot my age for a bit! But now, everyone has passed on. Roger was executed at the gallows here in town twenty years ago. And from that day, everyone's been going around with the audacity to call themselves pirates. They even call this 'The Great Pirate Age'! But it's all just a bunch of rubbish… Cowards. Less and less people are daring to sail the Grand Line. And so that is the reason why this place will be closed down." The owner finished the tale.

"I'm… Going to the Grand Line." Luffy said.

"Huh?!" Well the old man was shocked.

"He was cool, huh? Gold Roger. Pirates should try to be like him. That's why I went out to sea… To go to the Grand Line and find One Piece. I'm gonna be the Pirate King!" Luffy announced.

For a moment the old owner could clearly see Roger sitting on Luffy's place, for a moment he mistook Luffy for Roger…

"That's a crazy thing to say! How could you say that, here in this place?"

"What, but I'm just telling the true." Luffy simply said.

Owner laughed a bit. "Kid, after having a customer like you, I feel like closing the shop a little later."

"Don't do that for me." Luffy said.

"It's decided. There's nothing you can do to change my mind."

"It's been a long time since I had a customer, you and your…" He glanced at Vergil.

"First mate." Vergil said.

"You and your first mate drink on the house."

"I don't drink." Luffy declined the offer.

Owner laughed again. "Is that so? Then how about this?" He set three glasses of milk down. "Cheers to him, to the Eternal Pirate King."

Luffy and Vergil grinned. "To the Eternal Pirate King!"

-Later-

Luffy and Vergil left the bar but they weren't the last customers for that day. Smoker opened the doors and walked in…

"So it's you, huh?" From the bitter reaction owner gave it looked like Smoker often came there.

"The usual greeting, eh? Not a nice way to treat an old customer."

"You ruined my business. I don't feel like joking around with you."

Smoker sat down. "You shouldn't think of me as someone who betrayed you. It's not my fault this is the business you are in. The pirates today are all weakling, that's the real problem." Three empty glasses wasn't something Smoker would fail to notice. "A customer huh? That's pretty unusual. I'd like some rum."

"We don't serve your kind here."

"That's discrimination, you know? Today is a special day." Smoker got the rum himself by grabbing the bottle with a bit of smoke. "Isn't it?"

Owner looked at him as he drank the liquid. "That's the stuff. What happened on that day, even now, is so clear in my mind. Roger, in his last moments."

-With Luffy and Vergil-

The two were walking down the main street.

"This is Main Street. Wonder if Gold Roger walked along this street…" Luffy said as he looked around.

"Most likely." Vergil said, even though he didn't quite show it he was still affected by the tale of Roger, he still felt impressed.

-With Smoker-

"That's right. It was a hot, muggy day, just like today."

-Flashback-

'On his way to the execution platform, even though his hands were bound, he carried himself with pride.'

Roger, just as Smoker described, walked right to his death, shackled, but as prideful as ever.

Smoker fought his way through the crowd just so he could take a close look at the soon to be dead Pirate King.

Roger grinned.

'Wealth. Fame. Power. The Man who had Everything in the World… Gold Roger. Walking toward his death… He held himself high, like a proud warrior.'

"Inherited Will. The Destiny of the Age, the Dream of its People. As long as people continue to pursue the meaning of Freedom. These things will never cease."

Roger stopped between two executioners, while Roger grinned the two were on the verge of nervous breakdown.

"Have you any last words?" Executioner asked him.

"Roger turned to him. "Can you take this off?" He motioned his shackled arms to the man. "It's chafing me."

"I cannot do that!" The executioner stood firmly but he avoided the gaze.

"Why would I run away now? Hmm. That's a little saddening…" Roger sat down with his legs crossed. "Well, go ahead and finish it."

The blades were crossed under Roger's neck and the crowd stood there in silence when…

"HEY! PIRATE KING!" A man yelled. "What did you do with your treasure? It's somewhere on the Grand Line, isn't it? You have it, don't you? The greatest treasure in the world?!"

"Insolent! Hold your tongue!" The second executioner yelled but it was too late.

"Your one special treasure? ONE PIECE!"

Roger first chuckled, but then he began laughing. "My treasure?" He asked.

"All right! That's enough!" Executioners were ready to kill him.

"If you want it, I'll let you have it. Go look for it." He said, the spears were raised, the crowd was once again silent. "I left all of it at that place."

"EXECUTE!" With that Roger died but the cheers erupted, Roger's death wasn't the end of pirates, but the beginning of the new era… 'The Great Pirate Age'…

-Flashback ends-

"That was the beginning of everything." Smoker said.

"Hey." A marine came in with new wanted posters. "This is the new wanted listing. Post this somewhere visible."

Smoker turned to glance at the marine who quickly saluted. "C-Captain Smoker, sir! Excuse me!"

"Huh?" Smoker noticed the fallen wanted poster and knelt to pick it up. "That Straw Hat… He's Monkey D. Luffy!"

-With Luffy and Vergil-

The two finally reached the platform. "There it is… This is the place where the Pirate King was executed." Luffy said.

"Yeah." Vergil said now looking at it with new dose of respect.

Luffy swallowed a lump in his throat. "The place where the greatest pirate who ever lived… died. The place of the beginning."

* * *

_**And that's it.**_

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_**Next Chapter – Sandai Kitetsu And Yubashiri**_


	66. Sandai Kitetsu And Yubashiri

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks for the reviews, I'm glad you liked the chapters.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you. I hope it will get interesting.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**OPFan37 – Thank you for reviewing, I'm glad you think the chapters were good. Well Blaiddmon, or rather his name can be related to Digimon, and I'll admit that it is sort of a homage to my favorite anime, still the name is actually translated as 'wolf demon' and originally was Blaiddemon, then for the sake of a bit better name and homage to Digimon I made it Blaidd-mon for both demon and 'monster'. Well hope this explains it if that's what you are asking of course. Well I can't say that we are all males though… Either way glad you think I did a good job.**_

_**Sibba – Yeah! Go Luffy!**_

* * *

_**Chapter 66 – Sandai Kitetsu And Yubashiri**_

* * *

"There it is… This is the place where the Pirate King was executed." Luffy said.

"Yeah." Vergil said now looking at it with new dose of respect.

Luffy swallowed a lump in his throat. "The place where the greatest pirate who ever lived… died. The place of the beginning."

"The view that the Pirate King saw before he died… I wanna see it too! Alright! I'm climbing it!" Luffy decided.

-With Smoker-

Smoker was on his way out of the 'Gold Roger'.

"Captain Smoker! Where are you going?" The Marine asked.

"The execution platform." Smoker simply stated.

_"I want to see it. The place where the Pirate King died!" Luffy's words echoed in his mind._

"That's where he'll be."

"You mean that Monkey D. Luffy, sir?" Marine asked.

"We have 100 men standing ready to take him. Ready to fight to death!" The second one assured him.

"You don't get it, do you?" Smoker was getting tired of explaining it. "Just me alone will be enough."

-Execution Platform-

Quite a crowd had gathered around the execution platform to watch Luffy as he climbed up to the top of it.

"Hey. Hey kid." Suddenly both Vergil, who was standing in the crowd and Luffy, turned to the man who just spoke, Smoker.

"What is it? I'm kinda busy right now." Luffy said.

"Is it really you? The most wanted criminal of East Blue." Smoker asked.

"I'm Luffy. What's up?" He slipped a bit lower by mistake.

Vergil began stepping out of the crowd.

"I am the Captain of the Marine Base here in Loguetown, Smoker. I'm here to arrest you."

"Arrest me?" Luffy asked. Then he grinned. "I refuse. I'm setting off for the Grand Line, so I can become the Pirate King!"

Smoker's eyes widened for a moment. "A Pirate King?" He repeated.

"So how could I get arrested?"

"Then defeat me. If you can't get past me, then you have no hope of entering the Grand Line." Smoker cracked his knuckles. "So it all depends on whether or not you have the courage to fight me."

"I gotta defeat you so I can go to the Grand Line, huh? Then, I'll defeat you." Luffy replied confidently.

Vergil smirked and stopped advancing, this was now Luffy's battle, unless something went out of control he'd remain as a bystander.

"Try it." Smoker urged him.

Luffy prepared to throw a punch right away. "**Gomu Gomu no**…" But he failed and his body, or at least the upper half of it stretched down.

"_To hell with playing a bystander…_" Vergil growled to himself.

"He's a… rubber man huh?" Smoker realized.

"Crap! My feet are stuck!"

"Moron! What the hell do you think you are doing?!" Smoker snapped at Luffy.

"I didn't mean to do it! It's my feet…" Luffy complained.

Vergil **Air Hiked** up to Luffy much to Smoker's surprise.

"Vergil!" Luffy exclaimed.

"I swear you are a magnet for trouble, well that's fine." Vergil said and together with Luffy freed the feet…

"I'm free!" Luffy jumped toward Smoker right away. "**Gomu Gomu no Pistol**!" The fist went toward Smoker who jumped up and evaded it, in a flash he found himself behind Luffy.

"_He's fast!_" Vergil realized and Luffy seemed to realize that as well.

"Too slow!" He punched Luffy and then once again got behind the rubber man before he kicked him away. "_You are worth 30.000.000 beri? I don't even have to use my Devil Fruit abilities for this. My fists are enough for the job._"

"Here I go!" Luffy pushed himself off the steel construction of the platform and went to punch Smoker who elbowed him right in the face thus sending him crashing into the building and then falling on top of the execution platform and then to the ground.

"_That won't even come close to taking Luffy down._" Vergil thought as he observed, his fists clenched unconsciously though…

"I witnessed what happened here twenty years ago. He had the pride and ambition of the Pirate King, right down to the last of his moments. You said Pirate King? Don't make me laugh! You can't even get to the Grand Line." Luffy began standing up. "It's useless. However many times you stand up." Smoker finished.

"Well, how can I know if I haven't tried?" With a grin always present on his face Luffy questioned.

"Hm?" Smoker felt a bit surprised, he had just beaten this brat up and sent him flying but he was still grinning, he still had that confidence in his eyes.

"Here we go! **Gomu Gomu no**…!" Luffy stretched his leg and swung it in an arc. "**Whip**!"

"Wait Luffy!" Vergil exclaimed as his eyes widened.

Smoker stepped aside and Luffy's leg tangled around the fountain just as Vergil reached him.

"Crap!" Luffy realized what was going on as well and by impulse alone he grabbed onto Vergil.

"What the...!" Vergil breathed out.

"I think I MISSED!" The two pirates were sent flying.

"DAMN IT LUFFY!" Vergil yelled.

"What is with… that kid?" Smoker wondered as he looked at the sky.

-Somewhere in the town-

"Ah! I found you at last, my darling mademoiselle!" Sanji knelt down in front of a woman that looked a lot like the one he saw earlier.

"Huh?"

"Shit- I was mistaken. Thank you, come again." Sanji made the girl even more confused and it can be assumed that the rose in his mouth had something to do with that as well. He stood up and got a dreamy and kinda perverted smile on his face as he blushed. "_But, oh man… She was so gorgeous!"_

Unknowingly to him Luffy and Vergil flew right above…

-In the air-

"So… How long do you think we'll keep flying like this?" Vergil asked casually.

"No idea." Luffy simply stated.

"Well, we'll land one way or another." Vergil said but then a figure in the streets caught his eye for a split second. "_Nah, it's just my imagination_." He thought as he closed his eyes. "_This'll get ugly, at the pace of our flight as soon as we start falling I'll get them again… The flashes of back then_…" He resolved to keep them to a minimum this time.

-In the streets-

"Was that? The hell is that idiot doing flying around…?"

-Gold Roger-

A big lion and a cloaked figure slept on the ground in front of the entrance to the bar.

Inside the old owner glanced at the trio inside, two cloaked men and one woman were at the table, though the woman and one of the males were standing. One of the men turned around a card that was a bit lower than the two aces and it turned out to be the ace of diamonds.

The man with huge red nose and clown paint around his lips smirked. "Just as I thought. According to the cards, he was definitely here. The time for our revenge has flashily come." Yep, it was Buggy.

"So? Are you really going to be able to finish him off?" Alvida asked.

"Of course." He chuckled maliciously and turned around one more card. "The one who will die…" And he saw his picture on the card…

"Oh my? Isn't that you?" Alvida pointed it out.

Buggy slammed his head against the table…

Outside Mohji looked up and saw Luffy and Vergil.

"Captain! J-Just now!" He quickly went to the window to inform Buggy. The trio turned to him quickly.

-With Luffy and Vergil-

Finally the flight turned into fall and Vergil clenched his eyes shut. "_Damn it!_" He tried to grab the hold of his head but then snapped his arm to the side, there was no way in hell he'd let this affect him so much, slowly he opened his eyes and prepared to crash. With a loud yell and then crash the two collided with the ground.

"Well… That went better than I expected…" Vergil said as he tried to move and found out that he indeed didn't break any bones, though he wouldn't mind lying down for a bit longer…

Luffy let out a small sigh. "Man, we flew so far out of the way… Who was that guy anyway?" Luffy asked.

"The hell if I care…" Vergil muttered.

"Well, what should we do now?" Luffy asked but then yawned. "Guess we can always… take a nap." He decided and pulled his straw hat over his eyes to shield them away from the sun.

"Good idea." Vergil agreed, with the headache and the fact that he wasn't a rubber man he decided to take the offer of a nap and recover a bit.

"_To hell with taking a nap_…" Vergil thought as he heard people gathering around them…

"Hey, you okay?" One of the people gathered around them asked.

"They are not dead, are they?" A woman asked.

"We're not dead now scram, we want to take a nap…" Vergil muttered lazily.

His words were ignored as more people gathered.

"Great…" Vergil muttered to himself and tried to ignore them as he fell asleep.

-With Zoro-

Zoro was following the female swordsman.

"Where are we going?" He asked her.

"You… Broke my glasses, right?" She reminded him.

"But I told you… I'll pay you back." He said.

"You don't look like the type that has any money." She said as she stopped. "You seem to be hiding something."

"Y-Yeah, I don't have any money, but…" Zoro admitted.

"The telltale lines around your eyes… Truly the look of someone who has gone for days without food. You have a poor, ailing mother, don't you? Or perhaps you ran out on your wife? And left her to feed five children, all alone?" Seriously, five children? Did Zoro really look that old?

"Hey now…"

"I won't make you answer any questions. Just come with me." She ordered and then entered the Marine base...

"M-Marines?" Zoro realized, this girl had something to do with the marines.

Inside the woman gave him a bucket and a brush… Well now it was clear what she wanted him to do…

"Here. Our janitor quit only this morning. As long as you work in the Marines, you won't have to worry about money. You're lucky, aren't you?" She said with a smile on her face.

Zoro kept scowling at her. "This is not funny! Why the hell should I work for the Marines?" He held out the brush and bucket to give them back.

"You want to run away?" She challenged. "You take the kindness of others for granted, do you? So you are saying that you are less worried about being poor in your heart than in your hand?" Well if there is one thing you can hardly win if you are a male it's an argument against a woman who quickly jumps into conclusion…

"Hey now…" Zoro began though it was probably the only thing he had to say…

"Sergeant Major! Time for drills!" Marine called her.

"Well, do your best, okay?" She said to Zoro and followed the Marine.

"Sergeant Major?" Zoro repeated.

-With Nami-

Nami carried a large sack of clothes plus multiple bags as well so yeah, her shopping seemed to be success.

"I got a lotta stuff! Just one more store-" Nami said to herself as she walked by Luffy and Vergil's wanted posters. At that moment she halted and took a step back.

"Marines?" She realized that she found herself in front of Marine Base.

And Zoro, well he was clearly having some bad luck today as he walked out with trash can just when Nami was watching… "Shit! Why the hell am I doing this?" He complained out loud.

"Zoro… at the Marines? I'll just pretend I didn't see him." She decided.

-Inside the Marine base-

Zoro spilled the water on the floor and began cleaning it.

"Shit! How can you get anything done like this?" He made a decision and grabbed two more brooms making it a three-broom style which made cleaning much easier as he dashed around and swiped the floor.

"Tree brooms is best, after all…" He said.

He glanced outside the window to the training ground and saw the Sergeant Major defeating her sparring partners with ease, she swung the wooden sword and either disarmed or made the Marines fall.

Zoro couldn't help but see Kuina's movement in her own.

The small moment of pause was enough for Marines to spot him and now he had two marines behind him.

"You! What are you doing here?" Marine asked ready to draw his sword.

Zoro turned his head around making the second one recognize him.

"I knew it! It's him, Zoro, the Pirate Hunter! He's cleaning our floors, that fiend!" Yeah, he's such a fiend, who in their right mind would want their floors clean?

"He's joined Monkey D. Luffy's crew!"

Zoro simply let out a sigh.

"You're under arrest!"

In one quick spin Zoro hit the two Marines with his brooms thus knocking them out. "Well… What do I do now?"

-Some time later-

Sergeant Major and two marines ran to the place where other two marines lied unconscious on the floor with another one making sure they were still alive.

"What happened?" She asked.

"It seems they were attacked. The perpetrator has escaped!" The third Marine reported.

Woman noticed a couple of thousands of beri resting on the unconscious Marine's backs. She picked the money up and unfolded the paper that was wrapped around them.

"'Money for glasses'…?" She read and then looked to her sides.

-With Zoro-

Zoro walked down the streets. "_Talk about a shock… Shit. She looks way too much like Kuina. And to top it all she had to be a swordswoman who uses katana, of all swords. I guess there's many weird things in this world. Good thing I'll probably never see her again…_" Watch it Zoro, you might as well jinx yourself…

Either way he walked into a sword shop with intention to finally buy two swords.

"I want to buy a katana." He said thus waking up a sleeping merchant.

"Yes, yes, yes- Welcome." The owner said quickly and politely. "Please take your time and have a look around! We've been in business for 200 years, you know!"

Well the owner was in for a disappointment if he wanted to get money out of Zoro.

"I've got 100,000 beri. Sell me two katana." Zoro said.

"What? Two katana for 100,000 beri?" The owner repeated. "_What? Are you broke or something?_" He sat back down and placed his head on his hand in a sulking manner. "50,000 will only get you a crappy sword."

"Well, whatever you have is fine. I don't really have much money right now." Zoro said.

"'_Anything will do' he says, heh. Must be some kind of sword poser._" By chance he glanced at Zoro's hip and noticed Wado Ichimonji. "_That sword he's got at his hip… That's…_" He recognized it right away. "Oi, oi… Th-th-that katana, C-c-can I see it for a s-s-s-s-second?" He stuttered.

"What are you so nervous about?" Zoro asked.

"Aw, come on!" Merchant demanded.

"Weird old guy…" Zoro said but handed the sword either way.

The man unsheathed the sword a bit and his jaw dropped as he looked at it. "_Could this possibly be…?! Oh… Ohh… Okay! Calm down. It's not every day that some newbie brings one of the famous Meito __**(A named / famous / excellent sword)**__ into this shop! I've got to speak calmly!" _Merchant thought and sheathed the sword. "Wow, what a beat-up old katana. But I'll give you a little something for it. I'll give you 200,000. Then you would have 300,000 beri and could buy three decent 100,000 katana!" He offered.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Zoro asked.

"Okay. I'll give you 250,000 beri. No? 300,000…?" When he was met with silence he raised the offer once more. "500,000 beri?"

"It doesn't matter how much you offer for that katana…" Zoro tried to tell him.

"Alright you've got me! 650,000 beri! I get it you businessman! I'll buy it for 800,000 beri!" He was getting desperate here.

"Good day!" The marine girl from before ran in. "I've come to pick up my Shigure _**(Autumn Rain, a name used for male, samurai-like character)**_, is he ready?" She asked and then noticed Zoro. "Oh! I'm so glad! You're okay! Earlier, someone broke into the Marine base! And then I noticed you were gone! So I was worried about you." She told him.

"What is with this woman?" Zoro couldn't believe it, again with this woman…

"But, I'm so glad you're okay!" She continued. "But, since you're safe… That means you rejected another person's charity and ran out on honest work." She pulled out the money. "Your money. Take it back. I refuse to take money from a man who would do such a thing. Look, I already bought new glasses too." And then she noticed Wado Ichimonji. "Wow! This katana, could it be? The Wado Ichimonji? _**(Straight road of harmony)**_" She took the katana from the owner. "It is the Wado Ichimonji, isn't it?"

"_Wado?_" Zoro thought.

"Don't say it! Don't say it!" The owner prayed in his thoughts.

"What a beautiful suguha _**(sharpened finish of the sword**_)!" She exclaimed as she inspected the blade. "This is definitely one of the 21 O Wazamono Grade Swords _**(Great Grade Swords)**_." She began looking through the pages of her book. "Look! Look at this. This sword is worth more than 10,000,000 beri! But why would a person like you have such a famous Meito?" She asked completely oblivious to the trembling owner of the shop.

"YOOUU! You told him everything! You're ruining my business!" He snapped at her.

"Ruining your business?" She asked feeling confused. "I'm so sorry… Did I say something bad?" How come she's not jumping into conclusion about the shop owner trying to trick a customer this time?

Owner growled as he grabbed a sword. "You came here for your Shigure, right? Here! It's been sharpened. Now take it and get out!" He tossed the sword to her and though she caught it she lost her balance, stumbled the wrong way and with a yelp crushed into a couple of other swords thus making them fall… "Why did you go that way? What is wrong with you?"

"I'm sorry." She apologized timidly.

"That ditzy girl saved you. This sword is actually one of the famous Meito. Something an amateur like you doesn't deserve to carry. The 50,000 beri katana are over there in those bins. Go pick out two of them and get out of my store!" Owner snapped again.

Zoro walked to the bins while placing the Wado back to his hip. "What's he so pissed about?" Zoro wondered.

Girl walked up to him. "You really like the swords, don't you? Since you're carrying three of them. It sounds like this one bounty hunter…"

"A bounty hunter, eh?" Zoro repeated.

"He is very famous. His name is Roronoa."

"I hear a name a lot."

"Yes. He's got a reputation throughout East Blue as a great swordsman. But, he's an evil man! Using a sword as a tool to acquire money is… unforgivable! Why is it that this is an age where evil is so strong? The great swordsman of the world are all pirates, or bounty hunters. All the great Meito of the world are in their hands, you see? The swords are crying." She said.

Zoro smirked. "Well different people have different circumstances, don't they? People's occupations are determined by the needs of the age."

"I swear with this Shigure… I will be a swordsman and improve my skills! And then I'm going to travel the world and free the Meito from the hands of scum! The legendary 12 Saijo O Wazamono Grade Swords _**(Supreme Grade Swords)**_, the 21 O Wazamono Grade Swords, the 50 Ryo Wazamono Grade Swords _**(Skillful Grade Swords),**_ I'll risk my life for it!" She declared confidently.

"You gonna take this katana too?" Zoro asked as he turned to her. "Wado Ichimonji, you called it?" He asked and unsheathed the blade just enough to show it's blade.

And she turned timid again… "Oh! I didn't mean that I want to have the Meito! I just meant that I don't want them in hands of evil people."

Zoro turned back to the swords and then for some reason grabbed one of the handles. "Huh… This katana…" He pulled it out.

"That katana… perhaps…" Sergeant Major listed through her book again and found it. "Yes, that's it. Sandai Kitetsu. **(The 3rd Demon Splitter)** It's definitely the Sandai Kitetsu! It's predecessor the Nidai Kitetsu _**(The 2nd Demon Splitter) **_was one of the O Wazamono! And the Shodai Kitetsu _**(The 1st Demon Splitter) **_was one of the Saijo O Wazamono." As she spoke Zoro unsheathed it. "Mister, do you really want to sell this katana for only 50,000 beri?"

The owner was speechless.

"That's amazing! It's one of the legendary works of sword craft! You, you should get it! It's worth should be 1,000,000 beri. That's a great deal!" She urged Zoro to buy it.

"No way! I won't sell it!" The owner said.

"I thought so! That sword for 50,000 beri… I though it seemed strange…!" She exclaimed.

"No, it's not that-!" He tried to say.

Zoro clenched the sword and gave it a small swing downward. "It's cursed." He stated before the owner could.

Owner gasped. "You knew?" He asked.

"No. I feel it." Zoro simply explained.

"Starting with the Shodai Kitetsu, they are all excellent katana. But, they are all cursed! The swordsmen who have used Kitetsu over the years, all of them came to tragic fates, mysterious deaths. You won't find a single swordsman nowadays who will use a Kitetsu. Because everyone who ever used the sword, is dead! I wanted to get rid of the damned thing, because of its curse…" Owner admitted.

Female marine bowed down as an apology. "I-I'm so sorry! I had no idea it was such a terrible thing! I-I shouldn't have intruded!"

Zoro raised it up and smirked. "I like it. I'll take it!"

"Eh?"

"Are you stupid? If I sell it to you and you die won't it be like I killed you?" Owner asked but then he got punched on top of the head.

"You're the one being stupid! Ippon-Matsu! Just sell it!" And that was his wife…

"H-Honey!" Ippon-Matsu wanted to argue.

"How about this?" Zoro got their attention again. "My luck… and this thing's curse… Let's see which one is stronger!" He smirked and then threw the blade in the air, it began spinning rapidly ready to cut through anything that got into its way.

"No way!" The woman gasped.

Zoro held out his left hand right in the way of the falling blade.

"STOP!" Ippon-Matsu yelled. "Its sharpness is the real thing! You'll lose your arm!"

Zoro closed his eyes and Marine woman covered her mouth in horror. The only sound heard was the sound of blade spinning in the air, it reached Zoro's arm and…

The blunt side slid over Zoro's arm leaving him unharmed, only a moment later the sword stabbed the floor and ran all the way through it up to rather close to the hilt.

Zoro smirked as he opened his eyes. "I'll take it." Was all he said.

Ippon-Matsu and the Marine woman dropped to the floor.

Zoro crouched and grabbed the handle of Sandai Kitetsu in order to pull it out. "Oi. Pick out one more for me, will you?" He asked the woman.

"Ah… ah- yes." She said.

"Wa-Wait!" Ippon-Matsu said as he ran to the storage. He came back with another sword. "The sheath, a black lacquered long inlay. The blade, an unraveled edge with a small 'T'. One of the 50 Ryo Wazamono Grade Swords, the Yubashiri _**(Snow Step)**_! This may not be a big store but it's the best katana I have." He revealed.

"I can't buy it. I told you didn't I? I don't have the money." Zoro reminded him.

"No. Forget the money. And I don't want any money for that Kitetsu either. I'm sorry for trying to cheat you before. It's been a long time since I last saw a true swordsman. They say 'A katana chooses its master'. I'll pray for your good fortune." Ippon-Matsu said.

-A bit later-

Zoro was now walking down the street with three swords. "Three swords feels best, after all." He thought as he held his hand over his swords.

-The shop-

"Well, well." Ippon-Matsu's wife began. "I can't believe a skinflint like you would give away family heirloom."

"What's wrong with man passing down his dream to another man?" Ippon-Matsu stated.

And then a trash can was slammed onto his deck. "All right, take out the trash!"

"Y-Yes dear."

"I guess I lost it there…" Marine girl said to herself. "I can't even stand up."

-With Luffy and Vergil-

Luffy woke up. "Ah! A nice nap!" He jumped up to his feet. "Hey Vergil, wake up!" He exclaimed and the white haired demon sleepily opened his eyes.

"This was surprisingly relaxing…" He said as he stood up.

"Let's go! Back to the execution platform!" Luffy exclaimed.

-Somewhere not too far away-

Buggy and Alvida walked up to each other's back. "Found him?" Buggy asked.

"No, not yet." One of his pirates replied.

Soon enough nine cloaked pirates walked down the street.

"You sure that it was the Straw Hat that you saw?" Buggy asked.

"Yes, I'm certain. The white haired one was with him as well." Mohji assured him.

"Alright, keep looking!" Buggy ordered.

"Aye!" Everyone went off to search once again.

Luffy and Vergil stopped running.

"But where is it? The execution platform?" Luffy asked as he looked around.

"No idea." Vergil said, he wasn't bad with directions, though he wasn't that good with getting back to some place if he just flew over half of the city… He looked around and noticed the familiar building. "That way."

"Alright! Let's go!" And they ran off just as Buggy reached the place where they were.

-Marine base-

"Find Luffy! He must be hiding somewhere here in the Loguetown!" Marine ordered the other marines.

"Yes sir!"

"Didn't I tell you that your yelling interrupts my 'pace'?" Smoker asked and then placed his feet on the table over Luffy and Vergil's wanted posters. "He wouldn't bother to hide. It's okay. I'll catch him again."

Then the Marine girl ran in. "Captain Smoker, has anything happened?" She asked.

"Tashigi, where the hell have you been?" Smoker asked her.

Though before she could answer the two marines from before entered the room.

"Captain, the assailant…" One of them said.

"You two are awake now! I'm so glad! Are you alright?" She asked them.

"It was Roronoa Zoro." The second one revealed. "We were attacked by the Pirate Hunter Zoro."

"Zoro?" Tashigi repeated.

"What would he attack you guys for?" Smoker asked.

-With Luffy and Vergil-

Luffy jumped up. "YAHHOO!" He exclaimed.

"Heh, as energetic as always." Vergil smirked and quickened his own pace as well to keep up with Luffy.

-With Smoker-

"_I'll definitely catch him!_" Smoker decided.

-With Luffy-

"_I'll definitely find my way to the execution platform. The view that the Pirate King saw before he died… I want to see it!_" Luffy thought.

* * *

_**And that's it.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Usopp VS Daddy The Father **_


	67. Usopp VS Daddy The Father

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**blazeinferno – Thank you for the review, I'm happy to hear that.**_

_**Hawkeye – Sorry to keep you waiting, again…**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks, I guess you are right.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 67 – Usopp VS Daddy The Father**_

* * *

"Captain Smoker!" Tashigi slammed her hands onto Smoker's desk, that failed to get the appropriate response as Smoker just kept reading the newspapers with his feet on the top of the table. "Is that man, Luffy, really still on this island? If you don't chase after him quickly, he'll-"

"There's no need." Smoker simply assured her.

Tashigi however got annoyed over his attitude. "But that's so-" And she got interrupted yet again.

"No! Don't go any further! This is the Marine Captain's room! / No! No, you can't!" They heard two marines say, either way the doors opened and a man of average height and lean built wearing a cloak that covered his body came in carrying three men on his shoulders. He lifted his head a bit to show the large sideburns, mustache and goatee style beard, previously these were hidden by his cowboy hat.

"Yo, Smoker." He greeted.

"Oh, it's you, Daddy." The response proved that the two knew each other.

Daddy dropped the trio on the floor. "Highwayman Pete and the Taxation Fraud Raido Brothers."

"All three of them bounties?" Smoker guessed.

"There's another one at the morgue. I need your signature to get my bounty." Daddy gave him the document as he finished speaking.

"Four of them worth 1 million beri. What idiots…" Smoker commented.

"This city has many bounties that come from the Grand Line. For hard workers it's better to target miserable riff-raff rather than the big guys." Daddy explained while Smoker signed the paper.

"Once the Marine's most genius sniper, now bullying little weaklings. You are a strange one." Smoker pointed out.

"I just don't want to risk my life anymore." Daddy easily admitted. He turned around and began heading out.

"If you died, your daughter would have nowhere to turn to, eh?" The question was more of a statement given the tone Smoker used. Daddy simply raised his palm up to say his goodbye. "Tell Carol I said hi." The Marine Captain added.

"Sure, I'll tell her Uncle Smokey said hi." Daddy assured him.

"Bounty Hunter Daddy Masterson, right?" Tashigi spoke for the first time since Daddy came in.

"Yeah, he was once my equal. He was one of the elite Marine responsible for the security of Marine HQ." Smoker informed her.

"But why is such a person…?"

-With Zoro-

The bells rang in the town while a certain green haired swordsman sat on the stairs looking at the cursed blade, Sandai Kitetsu.

"Cursed Blade, eh? Interesting." He said to himself.

All of a sudden he saw the face of his captain behind the sword nd was a bit startled.

"Hey, that's a cool looking katana!" Luffy said.

"He's right." Vergil agreed.

"What the hell, don't startle me like that." Zoro scolded the younger pirate.

"What are you doing here, Zoro?" Luffy asked while Zoro sheathed the katana.

"Same goes to you." Zoro replied.

"Us?" Luffy asked. "Well, we're lost!" He said it quite proudly.

"Why are you proud about that?"

"We are heading to the execution platform, though we kinda lost track of where we are supposed to go." Vergil explained. "Well we'll find it sooner or later." His eyes once again fell on Zoro's new katana.

"That katana… It's blood thirsty." He said.

"Hm? What makes you say that?" Luffy asked.

"I can hear it." Vergil stated.

"You can hear it?" Now it was Zoro's turn to feel confused.

"Yeah. From the moment I became conscious and even more from the moment I first saw my father use a Devil Arm I could hear them, the demon weapons. Each and every one of the Devil Arms and Demon Forged weapons has different vibe to it, for some reason when I look at that sword, when I concentrate on it I can hear it as well, not nearly as clear and strong as it would if it was a Demon Forged, let alone a Devil Arm." Vergil explained.

Zoro looked at him and nodded before stating the state of the sword. "It's cursed. You are right, it's blood thirsty."

"It could be a challenge to control yourself in battle because of it, but if you want to defeat Mihawk you'll have to overcome it." Vergil said.

"I will." Zoro simply stated, the determination in his eyes made the Captain and the First Mate grin.

Before either one of them could say anything else a commotion in the crowd got their attention.

"Hey! I saw him! It's him! That bastard!"

The three turned around and saw Daddy getting surrounded by five men, each one was armed and ready to attack him.

"What's this?" Luffy asked.

"Asshole! Selling our mates to Marines! We're gonna make you pay!" One of the attackers declared.

"Die!" They cried out.

Gun was fired four times and only one of the attackers was left standing, the other four were most likely dead.

"He's good, really good." Vergil said as he, Luffy and Zoro stared wide eyed at the man.

The fifth attacked fell down in attempt to leave and Daddy turned around. While the boy trembled Daddy took a cigarette from the boy's vest and crumbled it.

"Go home and ask you mama to bake you some cake, boy." Daddy told him.

The young misfit didn't need to think twice as he quickly ran away.

"WOW! COOL! That old man!" Luffy exclaimed.

"That man's probably… Daddy the Father." Zoro guessed.

-Somewhere else-

"He-He-He! Got it! Got it! Got it all!" Usopp who was now carrying a large amount of stuff on his back said. Needless to say people around him couldn't help but look at him. "My preparations to become the Brave Warrior of the Sea are now complete! Have I forgotten anything? Oh yeah, I've forgotten the most important thing… Goggles." He realized. "It's no good for a first class sharpshooter not to have first class goggles. That's most basic of the basics. Even if I have to use up all the money, I have left in getting them. It's something my sharpshooter heart won't regret!" He began running down the street chanting 'Goggles!' again and again.

A couple of minutes later he found himself in a Junk Shop trying out the goggles he set his eyes on.

"These are perfect! Yup! This'll be it! I've gotta have them!" He decided and then called the woman merchant.

"Oh, you have an eye for quality. That's North Blue's latest model." Lady told him. "I got it from the group of Marines before they left on some urgent mission." Though her demeanor was friendly just a moment before as soon as she noticed that Usopp roamed through his pockets it kinda changed. "What's wrong? No money? I don't have time for penniless bums."

A small blonde girl walked into the shop.

"So what will it be?" Merchant lady questioned Usopp.

"No… That is… Oh yeah, there!" Usopp finally remembered where he left the money and turned around to go and take it.

"I would like these goggles, please." The girl said making Usopp fall onto the floor.

"Oh my! What a cute little girl! Yes-Yes-Yes-Yes! Aren't you the lucky one? These are the only goggles of their kind in this city!" And the goggles were sold.

Usopp stood up and with his shark like teeth he yelled at the girl. "WAIT JUST A MOMENT! I WAS THE FIRST!"

Girl turned around and quickly walked up to him. "Tough luck." She said politely but then made a flip in her tone. "OLD MAN!"

Usopp fell back and remained frozen by the girl's words. "She called me an old man…"

The girl ran down the street and Usopp went after her. "Hey! Hold on, you!"

She stopped and he got in front of her. "Let's be clear on something here, I'm not an old man. Call me big brother or something, okay?"

"Whatever do you mean, old man?" She said in a rude way.

"Wha-! You are calling me that again!" Usopp began making a fuss. "Give those goggles back! I was first!"

Girl stepped forward angrily. "You got a problem with me, eh? If you keep asking for it, I'll call the Marines!" She threatened.

"The Marines?" Usopp repeated.

"Yes." And there it was again, the sweet innocent voice. "I'm a friend of this city's Marine Captain. Uncle Smokey."

"_Who the hell is she?_" Usopp thought but then decided to lie. "Hehe!" He laughed a bit as he pumped his fists in front of him. "You obviously don't recognize me! The great Sniper Usopp who helped destroy the Arlong Park! If it wasn't for me the 200 no 300 Fishmen would have went after my comrades! I defeated them all by myself!" He bragged. "I'm part of the invincible pirate crew whose captain has 30 million beri bounty while the first mate has 18 million!"

"Oh really? 30 million and 18 million?" She asked in a sort of a malicious tone.

"That's right!" Usopp confirmed it.

"Papa!" Girl called as she waved to someone behind Usopp.

"Papa?! Why are you calling me your Pa-" And then he realized that she wasn't calling him, but rather someone else.

Girl ran to the cloaked man who was due to Usopp's crazy luck Daddy the Father…

"This is a present for you Papa. Happy Birthday!" She offered him the goggles.

"Oh… Carol!" And the usually stoic man turned into a big softie. He placed his hands on her shoulders. "What a kind, angelic child! I love you, Carol-chan!" He said in a kinda sing-sang tone.

"Papa! I love you Papa!" Carol told him sweetly.

"_What's with this father 'n daughter deal?_"

Carol glared at Usopp and then turned back to her father. "But you know, you know, that old man there was trying to snatch it away." She complained to her father.

"Now there, snatching isn't good. Not good at all. Intimidating is wrong, right?" And then it became clear that the instant personality switch was in her blood as Daddy turned from loving daddy to protective dangerous daddy. "Were you the one bullying my sweet Carol?"

Usopp couldn't find it in himself to speak.

"And you know what else?" Carol continued as she softly pulled on her father's cloak.

"Yes?" And there it was again, the sweet daddy. As he was kneeling down Carol could whisper to his ear and she most likely told him about two bounties Luffy and Vergil had on their heads.

"Oh, so your crew's got a total of 48 million beri bounty." Daddy said to Usopp who gasped out of fear. "Let's see…" Daddy took out the stack of wanted posters.

"Those are the new wanted posters, aren't they?" Carol asked.

"Yeah, I just got them today from the Marine office." Daddy confirmed it. "600,000… 1,300,000… 700,000…" He listed and then saw Luffy's poster. "30,000,000 beri, Straw Hat Luffy." He kept going on for a bit longer and then found Vergil's. "18,000,000 beri, Black Thunder Vergil. To be valued this high in such a short time… It's not an ordinary crew…"

Usopp began backing away.

"Hold on, kid." Daddy stopped him.

"What could you mean? Uh you know… There's no way I could be in a crew like that. It was a lie. A lie! My plan to scare her was a great success or so it seems… So g'bye…" The sharpshooter turned around but that's when Daddy recognized the back of the head…

"This is you, right?"

Realizing that he had been pretty much busted Usopp decided to go with plan B. "Yeah, that's right. There's no doubt that it's me. But let me tell you this: You lay one finger on me, and my Captain, Luffy, won't hold back! He's a scary, bloodthirsty, devilish man! No one has survived after facing him!" Well that was a bit over the top… Usopp leaned in closer to Daddy's face. "You… You have a kid, right? Value your life."

"I see. Then that's definitely a problem. It's true that being worth 30,000,000 beri this Luffy character must be no ordinary guy." Daddy admitted.

"Papa! Without doubt, Papa must be stronger because Papa is the best in the world!" Carol told him once again showing her faithfulness to her father.

"Carol! it's ok! If Papa gets enough money to live with you happily that's more than enough! You are much more important to me than being the best in the world." Daddy told her, his voice was once again quite sweet.

"Papa…"

"_Whatever got into him, this guy seems to be intimidated… If that's the case..._" Usopp misjudged his situation and grinned. "Yeah, that's right! So now you understand how dangerous I am! I won't say anything, so just hand me those goggles."

Carol turned to glare at him.

"Don't worry, I'll give you the money for it. So, Come on, come on, come on!" Usopp urged him.

"Why you? I just gave them to Papa and now you're asking-" Daddy stopped her by placing his hand in front of her. "Papa…"

"Then, let's do this. Do you have any objections to settling this with a duel?" Daddy offered.

"A duel?" Usopp repeated.

"Here." Daddy threw a pistol into Usopp's hands.

"By duel… You don't mean a showdown, do you?" Usopp realized.

"If you win I'll hand over the goggles." Daddy opened his cloak and Usopp gasped, the man had so many guns strapped to his body.

"1, 2, 3, 4,… 30 guns?! Could it be that you're…?! Daddy the Father?!"

"Indeed I am." Daddy smirked.

-With Nami-

Nami was casually walking down the street with her hands downright full with bags filled, mostly if not completely, by clothes. She did find it kinda strange to see all the people running down the street.

"Hey, it's a duel! I hear there's a duel!" One of the people gave her the explanation, though unknowingly, for the commotion.

"Daddy the Father is going to challenge someone!" Well this one got her attention.

"'Daddy the Father' you say?" Nami repeated, she followed the crowd to a hill graveyard, quite fitting place to make a quick funeral of the one that was to duel with Daddy. "_The best gun toting Bounty Hunter, Daddy the Father! Is there no common sense in East Blue? I wonder what kind of idiot…_" She thought and then saw the idiot, Usopp… "Oh, that kind…" She muttered.

"Try hard, long-nose!" Someone said from the crowd.

"Don't worry about losing, we'll bury you well!" Another one laughed.

Usopp didn't even need their encouragement and reassurance, he was already trembling. "_What have I got myself into?_"

"Rules are simple. After 10 steps, turn and shoot." Daddy stated.

"Y-Yeah."

Usopp was honestly praying for a miracle.

And it came, in form of Nami. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Nami!" Usopp exclaimed, never in his life was he happier to see the orange haired girl.

"Challenging Daddy the Father! Are you stupid or what?!" And she wasn't quite a miracle he hoped she would be…

"Shut it! It just kinda turned out to be like this somehow! Shut up and watch!" He yelled.

"A single round match. Are you ready?" Carol said.

"Yeah." Daddy replied calmly while Usopp let out a weak agreement.

And Carol began counting, with ach number the two contestants took a step. When she was at step number five the situation fully dawned upon Usopp. "_Crap… This is bad… There's no way I can beat Daddy the Father!_"

"6!"

"_Is this the end? It can't be…_"

"7!"

"_My adventures have only just began! I have yet to gain the courage and demeanor of a man!_" Usopp gulped.

"8!"

Usopp set his resolve, took a small smoke bomb from his bag and threw it at the ground.

"Thanks and goodbye!" He began running away but the sound of gun firing made him halt as his gun went up and then dropped to the ground.

As he overcame the shock Usopp fell to his knees.

"Papa! Awesome Papa! You're so great!" Carol praised her father.

"What the? Pathetic." Someone said the thoughts of pretty much everyone.

"You call this a duel?" The crowd began clearing.

"I thought it would be more exciting. What a disappointment."

"I only shot the gun away." Daddy stated while Carol turned to Usopp.

"What's with you running away? Coward! Weak bug! You couldn't fight from the very beginning!" She yelled at him.

Usopp went to further disgrace himself by crawling on his knees to Daddy. "I'm s-sorry! Please forgive me! In reality that's the kind of man I am… Even if you take my life away you'll gain nothing from it. O-Okay? Okay?"

Daddy remained silent but pointed his gun at Usopp.

Usopp backed away out of fear.

"W-Wait!" Nami ran up to them and stood in front of Usopp.

"Nami?" Usopp felt hope getting back to him. "Ah yeah! If it's about money, she'll give you as much as you want! So please, don't shoot! Spare my life, please!" Usopp pleaded completely ignoring the fact that Nami turned to look at him with a –What-am-I-going-to-do-with-an-idiot-like-you- kind of expression.

"Why you…"

"Hiding behind a woman, eh?" Daddy's words hit Usopp straight into his pride and shook him out of his cowardly state.

"Anyway…" Nami turned to Daddy but before she could say anything Usopp stood up and pushed her to the side.

"No, you're mistaken. Forget what I just said. She's got nothing to do with this. If you're going to shoot me don't get her involved." Usopp requested.

"Usopp…" Nami muttered, with what he just said Usopp gained a lot of respect from her.

"Please, I beg you." Usopp finished.

"Usopp? Kid, your name's Usopp?" Daddy asked.

"Y-Yeah." Usopp confirmed.

"Could it be… Do you know a man called Yasopp of the Red Hair Pirates?" Daddy inquired.

"Yasopp… That's my father's name…" Usopp said but then his eyes widened slightly. "Have you met him?"

"I see… His son…" Daddy muttered.

"Papa?"

"Not a single word… I have never said a single word about that day to anyone. But for you it'll be different." Daddy began.

"Eh?"

"It all happened in a hot sweltering port town like this one…"

-Flashback-

"Let's go, Lieutenant Masterson! A one round duel!"

The steps were counted and two pistols fired. The duel was between Daddy and Yasopp while the Red Hair Pirates watched.

For a couple of moments both snipers were standing but then Yasopp grunted a bit and leaned forward making the crew gasp. The pirate clenched his right arm, the place that had been shot but nonetheless he grinned. Daddy breathed out and fell onto his back.

"He won! / Yasopp won!" Pirates realized.

"How about that! The Marine sharpshooter was no match!" Another pirate added. Pretty much all the pirates other than the main force of the crew ran up to Yasopp.

"Damn straight, it was an obvious victory!"

There was no doubt that the smile on Shanks' face was due to the pride he felt, the pride that came with the fact that Yasopp was his nakama.

"Just what we like about Yasopp!"

"Yeah." Yasopp agreed.

"Yasopp, finish him!" They encouraged him.

"Yeah! A man who's lost a duel, there's nothing more pitiful than that!"

Yasopp pointed his gun at Daddy ready to take the Marine's life.

"Kill me. I lost the duel. I forfeit my life." Daddy told him.

"Yeah, you've prepared yourself well." Yasopp complimented his resolve but then halted when he noticed the locket around Daddy's neck. He got to Daddy's side and knelt to take the locket.

"What are you-" Daddy tried to stop him but Yasopp was faster. The pirate opened the locket to see the picture of Daddy's daughter, Carol in it.

"Your daughter?" Yasopp asked.

"Give it back…" Daddy requested.

"You're a skilled, Marine Lieutenant… But displaying such a thing, you are pretty soft."

"Don't preach to me with your pirate attitude."

"Hm, that's for sure." Yasopp laughed, placed his pistol onto Daddy's chest and walked away laughing slightly.

"Really well done, Yasopp!" His crew praised him.

"It was nothing." Yasopp replied. "This wound I've got shows that I'm still not good enough." His wound was getting bandaged as they spoke.

"But your opponent was Daddy Masterson! The reason you won was because it was you!" Pirate argued. "None of us would have been able to!"

Shanks tossed a bottle of sake to Yasopp who easily caught it. "Sorry, Boss. Thanks for not saying anything and watching the duel."

Shanks nodded and left, though he did leave with a wave of a hand.

Yasopp drank for a bit and then let out a sigh of content. "That hit a spot! Lieutenant, want some?" He offered.

Daddy simply looked away.

"Family, eh? Sorry, but I'm no good at that." Yasopp said thus getting Daddy's attention. "I have a son you know, his name's Usopp. I haven't seen him in years. I left him for the sea when he was only a child."

"Why? Don't you love your son?" Daddy asked.

"Haha. That's not the problem. The Pirate Flag… The Jolly Roger was calling me!" Yasopp replied.

"Wasn't it for the better, Yasopp?" The pirates around him cheered once again.

Daddy sighed and Yasopp stood up. "Anyway…" He said and tossed the locket back to Daddy. "I wasn't able to do anything for my son. A useless parent like me… One of me is more than enough. You should be close to your daughter. You shouldn't leave her alone. Well, of course I'm not the one to talk!" Yasopp finished the lecture with a laugh.

Daddy gave no reply to that as he looked at Carol's picture. He strengthened his resolve and pushed himself up a bit. "I lost the duel! Yasopp, finish it! I don't want your pity!"

"No thanks. If you Marines catch a pirate, you have to execute them. But for a pirate whether he kills or not is up to his mood. So long!" With that Yasopp left with his crew.

-Flashback ends-

The first one to speak after the story was Nami. "A marine elite who turns into a Bounty Hunter. So that's why…"

"Papa… Papa losing against a pirate, and having to live? It's all a lie, right? Right, Papa?" Carol asked, she was refusing to accept the truth at this point.

"But isn't it amazing?" Nami asked Usopp. "Your father is an amazing guy, huh? He beat Daddy! Plus, he didn't forget you! There's even a small chance we'll meet him on our adventures!" She continued but stopped when Usopp forced back a sob and placed a hand in front of her to stop her. "Usopp?" She saw the tears in his eyes and the trembling of his shoulders as he tried not to cry. "Oh, I understand how you feel."

"No! that's not why.. That's not why I'm crying! Is this normal? Telling the story of how you almost died? Telling such a story to a coward like me?" Usopp asked making Carol turn to look at him. "You told it to encourage me! A story that normal people would hide! Even though I'm such a coward, you told it to me… How my father leads his life… Isn't that right? I can't stand being weak or cowardly!"

Nami was speechless as Usopp continued.

"Carol… Your Papa is a great warrior. A strong person can be found anywhere! But I've never seen a man as strong and kind like your Papa… I… I can't lose like this. If I don't gather up my courage… It'll be embarrassing for your Papa." Usopp said and wiped away the tears. "Daddy, give me another chance for a duel, to put my life on the line! I won't try to back out this time!"

The two looked at each other's eyes for a couple of seconds before Daddy closed his eyes. "All right. This time it will be a true duel. Choose a weapon you are the most confident with." Daddy requested and Usopp took out his slingshot right away. "Good. With that… Let's see…" He began looking around as if he was looking for something. "Show me you can hit that weather vane." Daddy said and pointed at the whale shaped weather vane that was quite far away.

"Weather vane… That?" Usopp repeated.

Daddy however pointed his gun at him. "If you miss…"

"Yeah, you'll blow my head off, that's fine." Usopp agreed.

"Usopp!" Nami tried to stop him.

"This is a duel, where a man risks his life!" Usopp declared and turned his head back toward the target.

He prepared to shoot, it all depended on this one shot, his life, his pride, his dream…

"No way…" Carol mumbled thinking that there was no way Usopp could hit the target. "There's no way you can hit that far with that thing…"

Nami and Daddy watched in silence as Usopp concentrated ad while Daddy was calm Nami was internally panicking, if Usopp missed he'd get killed.

"_Like usual… If I just shoot like usual, it should be fine._" He knew that, he just needed to get it right, to relax and shoot.

Carol seemed to pray for a miracle.

"_Yeah… Concentrate!_"

Daddy turned to look at the weather vane and Usopp fired.

Usopp lowered his slingshot and once again the silence was broken by Nami.

"He missed!" She said.

Carol hugged her father. "Stop Papa! Don't shoot, Papa!" She pleaded.

It was needless as Daddy stood there completely shocked. "How can I? Usopp hit his target!" Daddy revealed.

Carol turned around and Nami watched through her telescope and saw it too. "He's right! He hit the jeweled crown!"

"Usopp!" Carol exclaimed as Usopp dropped to his knees.

"Superb skill, as expected from Yasopp's son. If you don't forget that courage, I'm sure one day, you can become like your father." Daddy told him. "Go to the Grand Line, Yasopp will definitely be there." Usopp was left speechless at the words of encouragement.

"Daddy…" Was all he could mutter.

Carol ran up to him and gave him the goggles. "Pretty good, old man." She teased.

"This-?"

"It's fine, farewell!" Carol ran after her father. "Papa!"

"Carol, it's not good to be mean. Intimidating is bad, no?" Daddy told her.

"I'm sorry, Papa! As Papa's daughter I want to become a beautiful lady so please forgive me!"

"You're beautiful as you are now." Daddy assured her.

"I want to become even more beautiful!"

"Even after falling from grace, he fights to protect his loved ones, eh?" Nami said.

"I too will become a courageous man like Daddy. I will become a real warrior someday… And come face to face with my father! Someday!" Usopp promised.

* * *

_**And that's it. **_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Sanji VS The Gorgeous Chef**_


	68. Sanji VS The Gorgeous Chef

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Naroku – No, Vergil kinda got his chapter back at Arlong Park Arc and I want to finish the Loguetown on chapter 70.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review, I'm glad you liked it.**_

_**KP360 – I probably would have forgotten about them if I wasn't writing this at the moment as well so don't let that get to you.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks for the review, yeah, this chapter is mostly like that as well.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 68 – Sanji VS The Gorgeous Chef**_

* * *

Sanji walked down the street looking for some supplies.

"I've been looking for you, Sanji!" At his name Sanji turned around to see a tall woman with fiery pink hair and pink eyes dressed in a dark red flamenco dress with white frills. She was using a green sash as a belt with a large red rose at her hip, not to mention that she was wearing hot pink shoes. She also had quite a few pieces of jewelry. "For ten years!" She revealed as she danced flamenco though instead of a rose she had a ladle in her mouth.

A man stepped behind her. "Her name is Carmen!"

Another one showed up at the other side. "The Greatest Culinary in all of East Blue."

"They call me the Woman of Passion, The Fiery Carmen!" Carmen introduced herself.

"Ole!" All three of them exclaimed.

"I am her first disciple, Leo!" The only striking features about this man were his height, or rather utter lack of it and matador suit, though big face with small facial features was kinda noticeable.

"And I am her second, Jose!" Jose was quite ordinary if not for extremely large nostrils and small eyes…

While the people around them looked at the scene in justified confusion Sanji dropped to one knee and went all love-cook mode.

"Oh! What beauty!" This of course made the people around him fall to the ground… "For a gorgeous chef such as yourself to be searching for me, ah! I'm in heaven!" He exclaimed as he approached Carmen. He knelt on one knee in front of her and took a hold of her hand. "I am honored to make your acquaintance Carmen-san!" He said and went to kiss her hand, much to his misfortune Carmen wasn't as pleased with this as he was.

"DON'T YOU DARE!" She screeched at him and slammed frying pan over his face.

Blood was trailing down from a corner of Sanji's mouth and his nose and his face was pink from being hit but his eye remained heart shaped and his grin remained intact. "Such burning passion! B-But, Carmen-san? Have I met you-" Sanji attempted to ask.

"Jose! Leo!" Female cook yelled then made a flamenco like turn around and moved between the two men. "Please explain." Her voice made a 180…

"Yes, ma'am!" The two replied and Sanji was handed a small pile of photos… On a scraper-like object… "Take a look." Leo urged him.

"What's this?" Sanji asked once he looked at the pictures. "They're all pictures of other cooks." He pointed out.

"YES!" Jose confirmed it quite loudly. "They are of course the most revered chefs in East Blue!"

"But one after another they faced Carmen-sama, and were completely crushed," Leo finished the little speech.

"So, as you can see, I am East Blue's #1 cook." Carmen said. Her cooking was extravagant, somewhat malicious sounding or maybe a bit crazy but one could not deny it, the woman was a great cook. "Of all the cooks that have dared face me each and every one was a worthless coward. I began to believe that I had no equal in all of East Blue. However!" She yelled out the last part in a not so lady-like fashion as she remembered seeing the article about Baratie and more specifically Sanji.

"While you were still working at the Baratie Restaurant, a special article was published. It exalted the Assistant Chef as the greatest cook in East Blue! Losing that title to some nameless cook? It was absurd!" Carmen told him her life story. "After that I set out to find you. I searched every corner of East Blue for 10 whole years!"

"Actually it was only 10 days." Jose corrected her.

"Carmen-sama likes to exaggerate sometimes." Leo added.

"SHUT UP YOU TWO!" She hit both of them with her pan.

Finally she turned back to still unsure how to react Sanji. "Face me, Sanji! Come at #1 Cooking Contest this afternoon at 1 o'clock! I will skillfully defeat you there! Prepare yourself!" She challenged him.

She began laughing like a mad person would and spun around so quickly that her body went up in the air until she kinda lost consciousness due to the spinning… Though Jose and Leo were there to catch her and carry her away…

"We will see you there!" Leo reminded the love-struck cook.

"Ah, Carmen-san! What a superbly passionate woman." Sanji said to himself. Although he wouldn't go to a cooking contest, he wasn't interested in it.

"An-chan _**(Western Japan term for man)**_ you really planning on entering that contest?" A short man asked him.

This got Sanji out of the love-love mode. "Huh? Nah, that kinda thing doesn't interest me."

-Bar in the town-

In a certain bar Bugy and Mohji were eating a meal while still wearing the quite attention seeking cloaks.

"That shitty… Straw Hat, I've searched high and low, so where the hell is he?" The splitting man asked in frustration.

"But Cap'n, why are we wearing these cloaks?" Mohji asked.

Buggy slammed down the bottle of sake he's been drinking up until now. "Idiot! Don't you know anything about being a pirate?! This town has a meddling Captain named Smoker. If he finds us my revenge on Straw Hat as well as all of us will be done for. Whatever it takes!" He slammed his fist down on the table. "Find that Straw Hat! Got it?"

Well while Buggy got more and more frustrated Luffy, Vergil and Zoro had just finished a meal in that same bar…

"Man, I'm stuffed!" Luffy said as he leaned against his chair and patted his now large stomach.

"That's new." Vergil said and drank his glass of water while Zoro drank sake.

"I haven't had anything since I got into Loguetown. I was getting pretty hungry."

"Actually same here." Zoro admitted. "I was starving but I didn't have any money left on me. Good thing I bumped into you."

"We've got no money." Vergil said.

"What?!" Zoro exclaimed and leaned forward.

"Don't you have any?" Luffy asked.

"Why the hell would I have any?" Zoro replied.

Luffy grinned and began hitting the table as he laughed. "You have a point."

"I'm sick of all this stupid searching!" Buggy was hitting the table as well. "That damn Straw Hat! I'm going to crush him with my bare hands!"

"So how are we going to pay for this?" Zoro asked.

"Eat and run." Vergil suggested.

"No mercy!" Buggy continued his rant.

"Maybe they'll let us go?" Luffy said.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Buggy yelled and then hit the table with enough force to send the small sack of gold that ended up on a fork due to all the commotion up in the air and onto Luffy's straw hat.

Luffy caught the gold coin that fell from the sack. "Woohoo! Lucky!" He turned to Buggy. "What? You're treating us? How nice of you!"

Luffy stood up and gave back the sack. "Thank you." He thanked Buggy.

"Thanks for the food." Zoro added.

"Thanks." Vergil finished and the three left after paying.

It took Buggy approximately ten seconds to realize what just happened.

"Wait that voice!"

"Yeah! It was that Straw Hat freak!" Mohji confirmed it.

"Really Mohji?" Buggy asked making the beast tamer gasp. "YOU FLASHY SIMPLETON! GO AFTER HIM NOW"

"Aye Cap'n!" Mohji ran out, looked around but it was already too late.

-The port-

While strolling around the town Sanji reached a market at the port.

"A market?"

He walked down the stairs and came into quite a paradise for sea cooks, numerous species of fish were being sold and Sanji was honestly amazed.

"Well this is what Loguetown is all about. The quality and selection are incomparable!" He walked up to a crate filled with fish and got even more impressed. "This is incredible!"

The fisherman Sapi turned to him. "An-chan, you got good eyes there. Those are some inshore fish we caught only this morning."

"Inshore?" Sanji asked and pulled out a kinda round green fish. "This fish is quite fresh… But I've never seen a fish like this. Did you really catch it in East Blue?"

"An-chan, you're a sharp one. Just as you thought this is a fish that can only be caught naturally in West Blue. Most people in East Blue don't notice it so we don't tell them." Sapi admitted.

"West Blue? How can you call that inshore?"

"An-chan, you've never been to our town before, have you?"

"Huh? Well, no…"

"Loguetown is the closest place to the Grand Line. Meaning you can catch fish not only from East Blue but from all the other seas as well."

"Other seas?"

"Yeah, they must've gotten here by the ocean's currents. Happens all the time."

All of a sudden they saw that the crowd that has gathered began causing a lot of noise.

"Looks like something happened. Let's check It out An-chan!"

Sanji didn't say a word but followed the half fishman either way.

"Hey what's all the fuss about?" Sapi asked and then saw exactly what the fuss was all about. "That's…!"

Sanji's eyes widened as well as he recognized the fish. It was large and had elephant like head.

"Amazing! That's blue-finned elephant tuna, ain't it?" Sapi asked.

"Right you are! Must've washed in from the south seas. We got it with just one fishing pole!" Fisherman bragged.

"Just one?"

"Blue-finned elephant tuna…" Sanji muttered, this brought back the memories of his childhood.

-Flashback-

Way back, even before Sanji met Zeff he was doing his best to learn all about cooking and right there, in one of the books, was the part about blue-finned elephant tuna.

"Check this out! This is one weird fish!" Younger Sanji said to the other cooks.

"Whatcha got there, Sanji? An ingredients picture book? You studying it?"

"Isn't that the blue-finned elephant tuna?" The second cook asked.

"Huh? You heard of it?" Sanji asked.

"You betcha! It's called the 'Jewel of the Sea' the 'Miracle Ingredient'. Though I've never seen a real one." He replied.

"Of course you haven't! That fish lives only in South Blue. You'd never find one here in East Blue. Though I bet if All Blue existed you could find one there." Other one said.

Cook laughed for a couple of moments. "Isn't that just as impossible?"

"Heh, guess so."

"What's All Blue?" Due to being a child and thus almost certainly curious Sanji asked the only logical question.

"A legendary sea. Fish from all over the world swim there." And the reply came thus making the first step of creating Sanji's dream.

"Don't tell him that! He's just a kid, he'll think you're serious." His comrade scolded him.

"Where is it, then?" Sanji asked now even more curious about the All Blue.

"See what did I tell you? He didn't get that it was a joke."

"I was lying Sanji! There's no way such a thing could exist. Just forget about it and continue your studying." The culprit told him.

But, Sanji just kept looking at the blue-finned elephant tuna.

-Flashback ends-

"All Blue…" Sanji muttered.

"All right! Let's get this outta here!" The man who caught the fish said.

"P-Please wait!" Sanji said just as the two men went to lift it. "How much is it? Please sell it to me!"

"What?"

"I have the money! Let me have it! Please!" Sanji requested.

The fishermen exchanged the glances before giving him the answer. "No can do. This guy ain't for sale. I just decided to make it a prize. Sorry 'bout that." The man told him.

"Prize?" Sanji repeated.

"Yeah."

"We're about to start the All East Cooking Contest. Cooks from all over East Blue gather for this competition. The winner will get this as a prize." Sapi explained.

"We're talking about the blue-finned elephant tuna here after all. It'll be perfect prize for the champion." Other fisherman added.

"If you want it that badly why don't you enter?" Sapi asked. "You're cook ain't ya, An-chan?"

"Yeah." Sanji said.

"Registration's over there." Sapi pointed at his left. "Go ahead and enter if you want to. If you don't hurry they won't let you in, An-chan. Later!"

Sanji looked at the fish that was being taken away with somewhat of a regretful look in his eyes, however he went and grinned as determination filled his eyes. "Cooking contest, eh? Alright then!" He began walking to the registration board but then remembered. "Hey, wait a sec…"

"Face me, Sanji!" He remembered Carmen's challenge.

"Ah, well…" He brushed it off.

-1 o'clock-

"It's finally time for the All East Battle Cooking Contest! The greatest cooks from all over the East Blue have gathered here today!" Sapi was the announcer and so far he was doing a descent job.

"What a crowd! What's going on here?" Nami and Usopp were standing at the edge of the crowd wondering what's going on.

"This year's prize: Blue-finned elephant tuna! The 'Jewel of the Sea' the 'Miraculous Ingredient'! The one to bring home the blue-finned elephant tuna… and be dubbed the Greatest in East Blue, who will it be?" Sapi hyped up the competition.

Sanji unlike the other cooks calmly sat with his legs on the table and a cigarette in his mouth, he was going to go all out of course but he had no doubts in his skills.

"Of course it shall be me!" Carmen shouted after a fit of laughter making Sanji's ear change size a couple of times as if it was an antenna getting the signal of a woman being in his presence. "I'm so glad you didn't decide to run away, Sanji! Nevertheless, the title of the Greatest in East Blue shall be mine! I'll show you all of my exquisite abilities!"

Well whatever reaction she had hoped for this certainly wasn't one that she would even dare imagine. Sanji was once again in love-love mode and was kneeling in front of her once again. Not to mention that he was holding her hand and had an heart shaped eye… "Ah, Carmen-san! I'm so glad we could meet each other again!" He went to kiss her hand… "And now for our reunion kiss…"

"DON'T YOU DARE!" And she slammed his face with a frying pan once again…

"As passionate as always…" Sanji wasn't turned off by this at all…

Nami and Usopp stepped through the crowd when Nami noticed the familiar face.

"Hey, wait a sec! Look! Over there!" She told Usopp and now both of them could see the cook blowing kisses to Carmen while Leo and Jose tried to make him leave.

"Hey, isn't that Sanji?" Usopp realized.

"Yeah." Nami agreed.

"Oi! Oi! 1 o'clock! 2 o'clock! Sanji!" Usopp called him.

"Sanji-kun!" Nami called as well and that was all Sanji needed to hear.

"Nami-san! You've come to cheer me on!" Sanji exclaimed happily as he went to her… and Usopp.

"Not really. I was just passing by." Nami admitted, though she was grinning so she probably was going to stick around.

"But Sanji, why are you in this contest?" Usopp asked thus making the cook aware of his presence.

"Oh, Usopp. You're here too?"

"I WAS THE ONE WHO CALLED YOU FIRST!" Usopp yelled at him.

"And now! It's time to begin!" Sapi announced.

"the judges for today are here1! Now, today we have a special guest judge with us, an ordinary everyday person, Sam-san! Sam-san are you ready?" Sapi asked but the man in question was looking around and wasn't paying attention, mostly out of the excitement. "Sam-san?"

"ON WITH THE SHOW!" Sam yelled.

"The rules are simple. Each participant will compete in a 1-on-1 match. The one to impress more of the judges wins and advances to the next round. The one left standing at the end shall be #1 Cook in East Blue! The first match will commence to your left! First from the far East we have the praised chef Shutai the Hokage! And representing our own Loguetown Eccoli! Ready? Start!" Instead of hitting a gong, Sapi hit the large pan with a ladle.

"Hey, now. Sanji don't tell me you care about being the best in East Blue?" Usopp asked.

"Idiot, you got it worng. I want to get my hands on that fish over there." Sanji explained.

"The fish?" Usopp repeated as he and Nami looked toward the fish.

"Oh, that's one unusual fish!" Nami added.

"Well, getting a hold of whatever secrets lie within that fish won't be easy." Sanji said confusing the two a bit.

The contest continue with Sanji and Carmen eventually advancing to the final round.

"And now, for the final round!" Sapi exclaimed.

The crowd exploded with cheers.

"Hey, they're really pumped up!" Usopp said.

"They sure are." Nami agreed.

"The man of a prominent sense and skill, coming through without a faintest hint of danger… Sanji! The woman of dazzling dance and technique, consistently overwhelming all her opponents… Carmen!" Sapi introduced them and Sanji glanced at Carmen. "Which one of them will receive the prize, blue-finned elephant tuna?" Sanji continued trying to get Carmen's attention albeit his efforts made no positive results… "And now for the final round! Start!"

Carmen began with way to extravagant grabbing of the carrot. "Rinse the carrots!" she grabbed the knife and in a crazy fit of laughter began her cooking.

"There she goes! At first glance it looks like her cooking methods are extravagant, but she's actually only doing basic things! The two at the front are trying to draw attention and disrupt opponent's pace! How will Sanji cope?"

Sanji wasn't paying any attention to anything around him, all that mattered now was the food he was going to prepare. He expertly prepared the fish for cooking by taking out the bones again and again.

"He's undaunted! Quite the opposite, he's handling his cleaver with expertise!"

Carmen growled as she glanced at Sanji while she waited for the water to fill the pot. Sanji on the other hand sharpened the knife.

"Heatedly working at his own silent pace, he continues unhindered! Contestant Sanji! "

Sanji's pace wasn't the only silent thing, to him every sound ad evaporated from the world as he continued to prepare the eggs.

-Flashback-

Ever since he first heard about All Blue Sanji couldn't stop thinking about it.

"It exists, it has to!" He argued.

"Are you still talking about that? You're such an idiot." The one who told him about it snapped at him.

"You're an idiot! I told you not to tell the kid." The other one scolded the culprit behind Sanji's dream.

"I'm not a kid, you shitheads!" Sanji snapped.

"That's enough, Sanji! We don't have time to listen to your fantasies! Get washing those dishes!"

-Flashback ends-

Sanji sliced the onions at a rapid pace. "_I know. I know something like that shouldn't exist. North Blue. South Blue. West blue. East Blue. The Red Line that runs from south to north. The currents of the Grand Line that flow from east to west. There's no place for other oceans, there are only these four. A place where fish from all four oceans live? Truth be told, it sounds impossible._" He thought, his child self seemed to have similar thoughts at the time.

"But even still, it exists. I'm sure of it!"

"_That's right, how else would you explain those West Blue fish… And the blue-finned elephant tuna…? When the old fart was talking about the 'possibility' he must have meant this! If it exists… I have to look in the Grand Line!_"

"I don't care how long it takes! I will find it…"

"_The legendary sea…_"

"All Blue! / _All Blue!_"

Sanji lit the flame making Carmen and the crowd look at him.

"Well it looks like Contestant Sanji is in his final run!" Sapi said. Indeed Sanji was pretty much done with preparing but so was Carmen who was now setting up plates. "Carmen also looks to be finishing up! She has only yet to lay out the food! We're arriving at the climax! Only one will receive the blue-finned elephant tuna! But whose hands will take it?" Sanji made the two steaks fly up in the air before falling onto two plates. "Time's almost up! Here they come… Time's up!" Te crowd cheered as the colorful assortment of the food lied in front of their eyes. "Contestant Sanji is done! And over here, contestant Carmen is done, too! And now, who will receive the prize?!"

-With Luffy-

The trio walked down the street trying to get back to the execution platform when Vergil suddenly noticed a painter selling his art on the street. Normally he paid zero attention to it, maybe it was due to the lack of time, or simply because he couldn't draw to save his life or for whatever the reason it may have been, he simply didn't care. This time it was different…

Zoro and Luffy watched in confusion as Vergil walked up to a specific picture.

Blood red sky without a single cloud or even a Sun or Moon was probably the first thing someone noticed. The depressing rocky area didn't help to lighten the picture, in the middle of the picture was a bottomless wide gap in the ground and there were red stains on the ground on the left side of the gap.

"Strange picture." Luffy said bluntly.

"Battle of the Blood Bridge… Almost 18 years ago…" Vergil said making the painter look up toward him revealing that he was in fact just an old demon.

"It's a rare sight, seeing a brat like you know about that." The demon said.

"Is that so?" Vergil asked.

"This is the Demon World?" Zoro asked.

"Part of it. Battle of the Blood Bridge happened in the lifeless area, there's no day or night, it's like the time itself stopped there. The temperature is always chilling and the weather never changes. You could say it's a cursed area, the border between two forces that rule the Demon World, almost 400 meters wide, bottomless pit known as 'Graveyard of the Soul'." Vergil explained.

"Shishishi! Let's have an adventure over there." Luffy said.

Vergil smirked and then turned to the old demon. "Have you seen it?"

"No. Only crazy people would go there." Demon said.

"Perhaps you are right." Vergil agreed. "Goodbye." With that he began walking away along with his nakama.

"When will we go to the Demon World?" Luffy asked, the talk with the painter made him want to go even more now.

"I've already explained it to you Luffy. We still need more crewmates, furthermore the moment we set our foot there we'd get into one hell of a danger so the six of us also need to get stronger." Vergil explained, the pictures he saw made some memories resurface and he wasn't that willing to make an effort to explain things to Luffy in a more simplistic way. Luckily Luffy quit the questioning, he could easily see that Vergil wasn't in the mood, somehow he just understood it. Instead he simply slammed his palm onto Vergil's back a couple of times.

"Cheer up Vergil. Shishishishi!" He laughed and this made the white haired demon chuckle a bit, seriously for someone who was an idiot 99.9 percent of the time that 0.01 percent he wasn't was making up for it.

"What will you do after you kill Mundus and free Blaiddmon?" Zoro asked.

"Under the assumption I survive that battle?" Vergil asked.

"You will! I won't let you die Vergil!" Luffy assured him making the demon's eyes widen.

"_Sorry…_" He thought but then smirked. "I guess I'll have to survive then." He simply said and then looked at the sky. "Well of course I'll continue sailing with the crew, but I guess I'll also go after my original dream."

"What is it?" Luffy was getting quite curious, his first mate only mentioned killing Mundus and saving Blaiddmon so he wanted to hear this.

"To find a way to free the Devil Arms. You see Devil Arm is part of the user's soul and it can only be made through a specific method. If the demon making the Devil Arm isn't strong enough then he'll also be trapped in the Devil Arm with no way of returning to his previous life. So I want to find a way to reverse the process." Vergil explained.

"Shishishi. Nice." Luffy said though he probably didn't get exactly what was it that Vergil was talking about…

-With Sanji-

The judges have made their decision and now the result was to be read by one of them.

"I shall now announce the results… For this year's Cooking Contest the winner is… San-"

"STOP!" Before judge could say the winner's name Carmen stopped him. She stood up and glanced at Sanji before walking up to him.

"Unforgivable. I can never forgive you! I've wanted to have a match with you for so long! That's why I worked desperately to get better. I wanted to share the same title as you!" Her shoulders were shaking from the pent up emotions. "Since that day, for 10 years…" She remembered the day she first saw Sanji, defending his dream 10 years ago back when they were both kids. "… your dream has never changed! I thought I could defeat that! I can't forgive myself for being so arrogant! I've lost. Your cooking… was delicious. The greatest Cook in East Blue… Sanji, is you."

The judge smiled and lowered the paper with Sanji's name on it.

Sanji grinned for a moment and then stood up with his arms spread wide. "Aww! For Carmen-san to say something so kind, now I'm truly in heaven!" He went to hug her but…

"DON'T YOU DARE!" Leo hit him with a frying pan but unfortunately for him he wasn't a lady…

Sanji kicked him away. "GET OUTTA MY FACE, MIDGET!"

"I'll concede for today, but you better be prepared for the next time we meet! I won't lose again." Carmen warned him.

"Ah. If it's a challenge from Carmen-san I'll take it any day." Sanji assured her.

"Our winner! Contestant Sanji!" Sapi made it official once again making the crowd cheer.

-A bit later-

The trio was walking down the street with blue-finned elephant tuna being carried by Usopp and Sanji.

"Now, that was fun! For some reason there seems to be a lot of duels today!" Nami said.

"Hey, how come I get to carry the heavy end?" Usopp complained to Sanji.

Sanji was however, too mesmerized by the fish to hear him. "_The blue-finned elephant tuna, eh… How will it taste? Should I make a soup? What about its ears? Ah, I can't wait to prepare it!_"

Nami stopped all of a sudden and looked at the sky.

"What's up Nami?" Usopp asked her.

"The air is different." She stated.

"Air?" Usopp didn't get it, everything seemed normal.

"It's going to rain." She explained.

"Huh? Even with weather this nice?" Usopp asked out of disbelief.

"I'm positive. Let's get going!" With that she took off for the ship.

-With Luffy-

While Luffy, Vergil and Zoro walked down the street a bit stronger wind blew Luffy's straw hat off of his head.

"Hat! WAIT!" Luffy ran after it and turned around the corner. "Wait! Hat!" He called after it as he ran further and further away from the other two.

"Damn it… Where did he run off?" Vergil asked as he looked around in frustration.

"He'll be fine." Zoro assured the first mate and continued going forward.

"I'm going to try and find him." Vergil said and went the other way.

Luffy managed to catch up with the hat and picked it up. "I'm so glad, Hat." He said with a grin on his face, but once he opened his eyes he saw that he was back at the execution platform.

"I'm back! Lucky!" He ran up to it.

"I saw him! Over this way!" Cabaji said to Buggy.

"What? You sure?" Buggy asked.

In the Marine Station Smoker got the news as well. "What? He's appeared?"

"Sir, just as you anticipated a man fitting the description was just seen at the plaza." Marine assured him.

"Good." Smoker said.

"Move out flashily." Buggy told his crewmates as they went toward the plaza as well.

"_So he's shown himself. Just you wait, kid_." Smoker thought as he also went toward Luffy.

These two weren't the only ones, the woman Sanji saw earlier also seemed to head there.

"Woohoo! So this is the view Pirate King saw! Then… He died!" Luffy said as he looked from at the town from the top of the execution platform.

* * *

_**And that's it. Due to the fact that this chapter was pure copy paste the episode I went and added a bit of Vergil-centric part in it.**_

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_**Next Chapter – The Man Who Smiles At The Execution**_


	69. The Man Who Smiles At The Execution

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Guest – Thanks**_

_**20th CBoys Fan – Thanks for the review.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you for the review, glad you liked it.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 69 -**_ _**The Man Who Smiles At The Execution**_

* * *

-Last time-

Luffy managed to catch up with the hat and picked it up. "I'm so glad, Hat." He said with a grin on his face, but once he opened his eyes he saw that he was back at the execution platform.

"I'm back! Lucky!" He ran up to it.

"I saw him! Over this way!" Cabaji said to Buggy.

"What? You sure?" Buggy asked.

In the Marine Station Smoker got the news as well. "What? He's appeared?"

"Sir, just as you anticipated a man fitting the description was just seen at the plaza." Marine assured him.

"Good." Smoker said.

"Move out flashily." Buggy told his crewmates as they went toward the plaza as well.

"_So he's shown himself. Just you wait, kid_." Smoker thought as he also went toward Luffy.

These two weren't the only ones, the woman Sanji saw earlier also seemed to head there.

"Woohoo! So this is the view Pirate King saw! Then… He died!" Luffy said as he looked from at the town from the top of the execution platform.

-With Smoker-

"Took him long enough." Smoker complained as he left the station.

"Please wait!" Tashigi called out to him. "Captain Smoker…"

"You're coming with me, Tashigi." Smoker ordered her.

"Yes sir."

-Plaza-

Finally a person standing on top of the execution platform caught the attention of the people.

"Hey, look up there on the platform!"

"Who on earth's that?"

"So it was 22 years ago, huh? That the Pirate King died here!" Luffy said his thought outloud as usually.

"HEY! YOU UP THERE!" Someone shouted from bellow. "Get down from up there right now!" The local officer ordered him.

"Why?" Luffy yelled so the man could hear him.

"That's a historical landmark under the preservation of the World Government! So get down from there right now!" Officer explained.

"C'mon why do you have to be such a spoilsport, Officer-san?" Luffy asked.

"If you don't come down, I'll arrest you! Here I come!" For all that talk he was knocked out when a club hit his face and the woman from before looked at Luffy.

"You'll have to wait your turn, little man." She said. "I've missed you, Luffy. It's been awhile."

And Luffy was completely confused and his attempt to remember this woman was simply useless.

"Now, don't tell me it's possible that you've forgotten this face." She spoke to him.

The people around her, both men and women, had heart shaped eyes and were pretty much love struck.

"What beauty!"

"So pretty!"

"An unparalleled model of perfection!"

"She's like a silky flower!"

"I've never met anyone that looks like you..." Luffy told her, he didn't remember her so she must have mistook him for someone. "Who are you?"

"I will never forget. You were the first man to ever strike me." Woman said making everyone turn to glare at Luffy.

"Huh? I hit you?" Luffy asked, he was sure that he'd remember it if he hit her, furthermore it wasn't every day that he hit a female…

"At that time, your powerful fist…" She rubbed her stomach fondly…

"**Gomu Gomu no… Pistol**!" She remembered and now it was clear… This woman was Alvida, as impossible as it seemed...

Alvida touched the side of her face and looked at him. "It moved me. My dears, who is the most beautiful person upon all seas?" She asked making it clear, she really was Alvida. The question remained, was this a miracle or a nightmare?

"IT'S YOU, MADAM!" Everyone currently present on the plaza, other than Luffy were kneeling down telling her that she was the most beautiful, the nightmare was, it wasn't the fear that made them say that…

"Yes, it is me. There is not a man in the world that will not kneel before my beauty. And I love strong man." While she was saying that Luffy was still confused and was still trying to remember her and that was clearly shown by his face. "You shall be mine, Luffy."

"Shut up! No way! Who are you?" He gave her a clear answer, he was not going to be hers.

She was clearly surprised by the question. "You still haven't realized?!"

A couple of officers ran to the plaza and pointed their guns at her. "This is the police! Ma'am come along quietly! For openly attacking an officer you are under arrest!" The one commanding officer told her. "AND YOU! GET OFF THE DAMN PLATFORM!" He yelled at Luffy just a moment later.

"My, my. Who is it that you are going to arrest?" Alvida asked making the officers halt for a moment.

"Y-You!" Came a rather weak response.

"My dears, I wonder if you can."

They swallowed a lump as they watched her smirk and that was all they needed to see. Their eyes turned into hearts and their resolve to even try and catch her shattered.

"Inspector, I can't. She's too beautiful!"

"So what if she's beautiful! Arrest her!" The inspector ordered though he didn't appear to be any less mesmerized than his subordinates.

"She's like a beautiful dream!"

"I'M GLAD YOU FEEL THAT WAY!" A bomb hit the fountain. "Buggy Bomb Special!"

Rubble shot toward Alvida but she remained calm.

"It's heading straight for her!" The people realized but the rubble seemed to slip by her for some reason.

"What the…?"

"The fountain head slipped right off of her!"

"What the heck?!" Even Luffy was surprised and confused, well not that it was hard to get him confused but…

Buggy chuckled as he and his crew approached Alvida.

"Wasn't that a bit dangerous, honey?" Alvida asked him, though her voice showed no signs of worry over what had just happened.

"Flashy apologies. But with that sube-sube _**(perfectly smooth)**_ skin of yours you are completely unscathed. No worries, my fair Lady, Alvida!" He told her and she simply smiled.

"Alvida?" Luffy repeated as he remembered the woman in question. "I don't see Alvida anywhere."

"It's me of course, you numbskull!" Alvida pretty much painted it for him.

"You're kidding, you don't look anything like her…" And he wasn't buying it.

"I changed somewhat after eating a Devil Fruit." She took of her cloak to reveal quite a revealing attire. "Its name was Sube Sube no mi. Regardless of what kind of attack I come up against my body won't suffer even a scratch. However I'm sorry to say I haven't become any more beautiful as a result. The only noticeable change was, yes… My freckles have disappeared." The explanation was quite long and quite truth deprived in the last part…

"Uh, that's not the change I was thinking of…" Luffy said as he waved his hand briefly.

"I was reborn. And in order to find you again, I joined forces with this gentleman." She pointed at Buggy and his crew.

The clown pirate began chuckling before but quickly that chuckling became a laugh as he and his crew took off the cloaks. "The final act! My super flashy return! Monkey D. Luffy! Starting the day you sent me flying… I set out to seek my revenge! But to do that I and my crewmates suffered together. It was a truly great adventure! For me who was still weak of heart it was… The Laughing. The Hellish. The Intimate… Little Buggy-kun's Big Adventure! But now Buggy-kun is…" And finally he noticed that Luffy wasn't saying anything. "WHY THE HELL AREN'T YOU SAYING ANYTHING?!"

"Oh it's just Buggy." At least the clown pirate didn't go through any major changes.

"YOU ARE AS CHEEKY AS EVER YOU LITTLE BVASTARD!" Buggy yelled at him.

"It's Buggy the Clown!"

"T-The pirate…!"

"THE BUGGY PIRATE CREW!" People recognized him and began panicking, they would have ran away but he stopped them.

"Good people of the town! Don't move a flashy muscle!" The pirates pointed their guns at the people. "I will now display my full terror! And you will all be watching." He told them.

Before Luffy could react Cabaji pinned him to the execution platform by the pillory.

"What the?"

"Long time no see, Rubber man." Cabaji greeted him. "Is Roronoa Zoro well, too?"

"Good, well done, Cabaji." Buggy complimented his second in command. "Behold! Billions of people of the world! A most super flashy public execution is about to begin! Monkey D. Luffy you won't be able to fly out of there!" Well that didn't stop Luffy from trying though. "You should feel honored, Straw Hat! You get to die in the same place as the Pirate King! Gyahahahahaha!"

No one paid attention to the gathering of the clouds…

-With Nami-

"The pressure's dropping…" Nami muttered. "But I've never see it drop so radically."

"Now that you mention it, this is an unusual wind." Sanji noticed as well.

"A storm Is coming. To this island!" Nami told them.

"A storm?" Usopp repeated.

"We have to get back to the ship as soon as possible…" She instructed knowing that things could get bad if they didn't leave soon.

"How big is it going to be?" Usopp asked her.

"Hey!" Before she could answer Zoro got their attention.

"Zoro." Nami greeted him.

"You guys seen them around?" He asked.

"You mean Luffy and Vergil?" Usopp asked.

"Yeah, we got separated. And I gotta real bad feeling. That something… Something big is going to happen." Zoro said.

"PIRATES! Pirates are here!" The panic spread through the town.

"Run! It's Buggy the Clown!"

"What did they say?" Nami recognized the name instantly.

"Buggy the Clown." Zoro repeated.

-With Vergil-

Zoro and others weren't the only one to hear about Buggy.

"The hell is that stupid clown doing in this town?" Vergil cursed to himself but now he was pretty much certain that the he was at last heading in the right direction. "_I know Luffy can take him down but I can't _help but get that feeling that I'm in a race against time…" He gritted his teeth. "I won't let it happen again… I am not going to lose against it this time!" He resolved and sped up.

-Smoker-

The Marine Captain and his right hand subordinate, Tashigi, had just received the news.

"What? You mean-"

"C-Correct! In addition to Straw Hat Luffy and Black Thunder Vergil, Buggy the Clown and Iron Mace Alvida are also here! They are East Blue Captains with Devil Fruit abilities." The Marine informed him.

"Right here under my nose… Brazen fools." Smoker said more to himself.

"What are your orders, Captain Smoker?" Marine asked.

"Order the first unit down to the harbor. Have the second unit surround plaza from the streets. Have the rest standby at a distance from the plaza. That's all." He gave the orders

"Yes, Sir!"

"Give an order to the first unit." Smoker continued thus stopping the man from leaving. "Find and destroy the pirates' ships! Don't let even one of those animals off this island."

-Back with Zoro and others-

"An execution! They are having an execution! Buggy the Clown is going to execute Straw Hat Luffy!" Someone shouted out.

"EXECUTE LUFFY?!" Usopp shrieked.

"That idiot!" Nami cursed.

"Let's go!" Zoro commanded and he and Sanji ran off.

"Hold onto this for me!" Sanji added and left the gigantic fish with Usopp.

"H-H-H-H-Hey! S-S-S-S-Sanji!" Usopp called out to the cook.

"Treat it like a lady! Got that?"

"We have to hurry too!" Nami urged the liar and began pulling him.

"H-Hey! N-N-Nami where are we going?"

"The harbor, obviously."

"The harbor. A-Ah, yeah!"

-With Smoker-

"Captain Smoker, please come look at this. Something strange is happening."

As told Smoker took a look at the Buggy and Luffy on the execution platform. "The kid? What the hell's going on?" He wondered.

""Monkey D. Luffy. But it looks like he's going to be killed." Tashigi pointed out the obvious.

"_That kid's in over his head_." Smoker remembered the first time he saw Luffy telling him that he wanted to see where Pirate King died. "_For some reason I thought he was different from the other riffraff. Like he was a man to watch out for. But he's just another typical punk._"

"Captain, shall we commence an attack?" Marine next to him asked.

"No, it'll cause chaos." Smoker simply said.

"But, just sitting here…"

Smoker turned to glare at the marine from above. "I am the one giving out orders here!" He put the emphasis on the word 'I'.

"Y-Yes Sir."

"Pirates whipping out pirates, that's exactly the way we want it. We don't have to do shit. Listen! After Straw Hat's head gets knocked off surround Buggy, Alvida and the rest of their crew! Then find the Black Thunder and capture him as well. Any questions?" Smoker gave out the orders and the thunder cracked in the sky.

-Execution platform-

"Gyahahaha! Pirate Monkey D. Luffy, I sentence you for the crime of laughing at my misfortune and pissing me off to a flashy death!" Buggy announced and his crew cheered. "Gyahahaha! Flash it up, men!" His crew began shooting around up in the air and pretty much making a ruckus.

"Ah, this is the first time I've ever seen an execution!" Luffy was still oblivious to his situation.

"It's your execution." Buggy informed him.

It took Luffy bout five more seconds to put pieces together. "WHA-?! YOU'RE JOKING!" The straw hat wearing prate yelled.

"YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S JOKING!" Buggy yelled at him.

"The hell if I'm allowing that!" A voice boomed as lightning struck a couple of pirates.

"VERGIL!" Luffy shouted out to his first mate.

"That flashy demon bastard!" Buggy realized.

"Sorry to keep you waiting Luffy! Just hang in there for a bit!" Vergil assured the captain.

"Cabaji, Alvida! Stop that flashy bastard!" Buggy yelled.

"As you wish, Captain Buggy." Cabaji said and he wasn't the only one ready to fight, the crews of both captains were ready to strike.

The pirates began shooting at Vergil who skidded to the side to avoid the bullets, it couldn't be said for some of the people that were on the plaza as some of them got wounded.

"Shit what is this crowd doing here anyway?" Vergil hissed and lunched forward to stop the barrage of bullets.

-With Nami and Usopp-

The two ran toward the harbor as quickly as they could.

"I saw some massive nimbus clouds in the sky to the east! A storm is coming! A storm bigger than any before! If Buggy and Luffy start a riot the Marines will show up! What'll we do if the boat is washed away when we need to escape?" Nami explained the situation to Usopp.

"Now I get it! That's important!"

"And what's more the marines may already be moving. The Going Merry is in danger!" And she was right.

"If the Marines seize the Going Merry… Hey Nami, get a move on!" He sped up and ran right past Nami.

"Hey, wait!"

-With the first marine unit-

"Hurry to the harbor! We want every single pirate ship seized and destroyed!"

-At Going Merry-

"Riding the Richie Bike!" Mohji sang as Richie reached Merry. "Who could it be? Who? Who? Who? It's me!" The Beast Tamer glanced at the ship. "So this is that Rubber man's ship, eh?" Richie made a couple of growling sounds to agree. "It's a lot bigger than the last one. By now he's probably experiencing Captain Buggy's 'Flashy Death Sentence'."

Richie once again agreed.

"However, in case that Rubber man, who has 1 in 10000 chance of escaping somehow gets that 1 chance and escapes then someone must burn his ship! And that is our job!" He sang the last part and Merry's figurehead somehow sweat dropped…

Richie agreed in kinda singy growls…

-Execution platform-

Vergil managed to reach the pirates that were shooting at him and the people had pretty much backed away from the battlefield, he had been scratched by the bullets a couple of times but he was pretty much fine as he went and punched one of the gunners. He jumped up to evade bullets that ended up shooting a couple of pirates due to missing the initial target before Vergil landed between two pirates and swung his leg in an arc thus knocking them out as well.

"Any last words then? Your first mate can't save you." Buggy said to Luffy. "We've still got quite a crowd here. Luffy remained silent. "Well, well. Looks like you are speechless. You are about to die after all."

"I AM THE MAN WHO WILL BECOME THE PIRATE KING!" Luffy yelled out and his words echoed throughout the plaza shocking the witnesses of this event who momentarily forgot about the shooting and fighting right next to them, in fact all the fighting halted for a moment.

"T-The Pirate King, he said?" Finally someone was pulled out of the trance.

"In this town of all places…"

"What a bold statement."

"It's about time to end this, don't you think? Shitty rubber kid." Buggy asked though it didn't matter what Luffy would say.

"THIS EXECUTION IS CANCELLED!" Zoro and Sanji yelled.

"Zoro! Sanji!" Luffy cheered.

"About time." Vergil said and then looked at all the pirates that began surrounding him again. "I don't have time for you bastards… Discharge!" The lightning burst around him and knocked out and even killed a couple of pirates.

Cabaji and Alvida glanced at the duo.

"Zoro…" Tasahigi repeated.

"You really know how to make a ruckus." Zoro scolded his captain. "Aren't you taking this joke a bit too far, Luffy?"

"If it's time for the sideshow I guess I'll debut as well." Sanji added. "It looks like we just need to get past these shitty pirates, well the ones left."

"P-Pirate Hunter… Zoro!" Someone recognized the green haired swordsman and the crowd finally began running away.

"SANJI! ZORO!" Luffy cheered once again.

"You're finally here, Zoro. Pity you're a tad bit too late!" Buggy lifted his sword making Vergil, Zoro and Sanji's eyes widen.

"That platform…" Zoro hissed.

"Destroy it!" Sanji exclaimed as they ran forward.

"Damn it…" Vergil cursed and went to blast the execution platform but he left himself completely open In that desperate moment one that allowed him to get hit in the chin by pillar of earth. Someone from the outside had interfered and made the demon stumble backwards for a moment.

"Roronoa Zoro…" Tashigi muttered.

"If you would please, my dears." Alvida ordered.

"And so we shall." Her crew attacked.

The pirate crew was no match for Zoro and Sanji who sliced and kicked the pirates away however they didn't need to be a match for them, they only needed to buy a couple of seconds for the blade to cut off Luffy's neck.

"Gyahahaha! Try all you want! You can't stop me now! This is the end of your Captain!" Buggy mocked them.

Sanji kicked two of the pirates away. "You goddamn bastard…!" Sanji exclaimed.

Zoro cut down another pirate. "_If I can just cut the platform supports…!_"

Vergil regained his footing. "_Damn it all!_"

"Remember, once Monkey D. Luffy's head flies, we attack in full force." Marine reminded.

"All forces, stand by." Smoker instructed.

"Aye, Sir!"

"Gyahahahaha!" Buggy began downing his blade.

"VERGIL! ZORO! SANJI!" It looked like it was too late… "USOPP!"

"Hurry we're running out of time!" Usopp urged the navigator.

"NAMI!"

"This is heavy." Nami made excuses.

"Sorry." Luffy grinned as much as he could. "I'm DEAD." He told them his goodbye…

"N-" Zoro turned toward Luffy.

"Don't say that, bastard!" Sanji hissed.

"He's smiling!" Smoker realized.

"I can still make it!" Vergil decided. "Sanji! Give me a boost!" Vergil yelled at the cook as he dashed toward him.

Sanji didn't waste time and decided to give it one last try. "Got it!" He lifted one leg up a bit for Vergil to step on it. "**Armee de L'Air Thunder Shot**!" Vergil was propelled up toward Luffy and Buggy and sped up his motion with **Air Hike**. "Go for it, shitty demon."

Lightning surged around Vergil as Buggy's sword inched closer, the time seemed to go by in a slow motion as Sanji and Zoro gritted their teeth, this would be decided in a matter of moments. Was is too late? Was he going to make it in time? Would it all be in vain? He didn't know, he didn't care, he knew one thing… No matter what he was not going to let Luffy die.

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_**And that's it, one more chapter and then the Loguetown Arc will be finished. I took the manga version of Luffy recognizing Buggy because I find it to be better. Either way I can't say I'm too happy with this chapter, though I hope you'll like it.**_

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_**Next Chapter – The Legend Has Began**_


	70. The Legend Has Began

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review, I'm happy you like it.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**Ryujin – Thanks for the review.**_

_**guest – Sorry it couldn't get updated sooner.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 70 – The Legend Has Began**_

* * *

"Sorry." Luffy grinned as much as he could. "I'm DEAD." He told them his goodbye…

"N-" Zoro turned toward Luffy.

"Don't say that, bastard!" Sanji hissed.

"He's smiling!" Smoker realized.

"I can still make it!" Vergil decided. "Sanji! Give me a boost!" Vergil yelled at the cook as he dashed toward him.

Sanji didn't waste time and decided to give it one last try. "Got it!" He lifted one leg up a bit for Vergil to step on it. "**Armee de L'Air Thunder Shot**!" Vergil was propelled up toward Luffy and Buggy and sped up his motion with **Air Hike**. "Go for it, shitty demon."

Lightning surged around Vergil as Buggy's sword inched closer, the time seemed to go by in a slow motion as Sanji and Zoro gritted their teeth, this would be decided in a matter of moments. Was is too late? Was he going to make it in time? Would it all be in vain? He didn't know, he didn't care, he knew one thing… No matter what he was not going to let Luffy die.

The blade was now about an inch away from Luffy's neck and Vergil's eyes turned completely golden. "Never again…" Demon muttered as lightning exploded around him. "**Arc Flash**!" The large mass of lightning engulfed the area thus lighting up the sky, the platform was caught in blue flames and a couple of pirates that were closest to the white haired demon had been electrified as well, most of those were dead…

Whether Vergil's technique did anything or not wasn't that important, the rain started falling and made the fire lose its initial strength as the platform fell down.

The straw hat fell to the ground and Luffy took it as Vergil dropped down to the ground and tried to catch his breath.

"Shishishishi! Hey, I'm alive! I'm OK!" Luffy exclaimed though he was slightly charred from the heat of Vergil's technique.

The pirates were dumbstruck because of the fact that rubber man had survived a blast of lightning.

"That was close." Sanji muttered.

"Phew, what a relief… Thanks Vergil." Luffy said as he and Vergil walked up to Zoro and Sanji. "I thought I was a goner there. Shishishishi!"

"This isn't time to think about that, we're blowing this town. Looks like the danger isn't over yet." Zoro said.

"Yeah, let's get out of here." Vergil agreed.

And Zoro was right, from his position Smoker had given out the order. "Now! Surround the pirates!"

A large number of Marines rushed into the plaza from the streets and began fighting the remaining survivors of Buggy and Alvida's crews.

"Awesome! What a huge fight!" Luffy jumped around to evade the defeated pirates. "Cool! Super cool!"

"I swear he is just like a child." Vergil said.

"No, he's worse than a child." Sanji corrected him.

"Hahah! Guess you're right." Vergil laughed.

Sanji just looked at the demon as if he was crazy, or got shocked by his own lightning.

"I'm just happy he's alive." Vergil explained and grinned more than he ever did as far as Sanji knew.

"Luffy." Zoro grabbed the captain by the collar and lifted him up a bit so that he was now wiggling his feet and arms around.

"Oh, Zoro!"

"Quit standing there watching! We're leaving!" Zoro reminded him.

"If we don't get back to the ship in time we won't be able to leave! Then we can't go to the Grand Line!" Sanji added.

"What? We better go then!" Luffy agreed and the four pirates began running toward the harbor.

"The Straw Hat Crew is retreating!" One of the marines yelled.

"Stop them!"

"After them!"

A garrison of marines was about to learn what it meant to stand in the way of the Straw Hat Pirates. Sanji kicked them, Zoro sliced them, Luffy punched them and Vergil electrified them, yep, not the best idea they could come up with.

-With Smoker-

"Why? Did he know he would be saved? No. In that instant he must have understood that his life was going to end. Death. He accepted it. He was fully prepared for it and smiled." Smoker realized.

"Captain, about capturing those pirates…" A marine got Smoker's attention.

"Hey you. You ever seen a pirate that smiles at the execution platform?" Smoker asked.

"N-Never? Even the greatest of bluffers turned pale with fear just before they died." Marine replied.

"He was smiling. That man with the Straw Hat. 22 years ago. Here in this town. At his own execution, the Pirate King Gold Roger, smiled the very same way." Smoker told him.

"Captain…"

"Where's Straw Hat?" He asked.

"They are currently retreating towards the harbor." Came a reply.

"What of the first unit? They should've destroyed the ships by now."

"They reported that… due to the sudden rain… their gunpowder was ruined. They're returning for a fresh supply."

Things have gone south for the marines and Smoker realized that.

"They're what?" He was getting frustrated.

"As backup, we have the shoreline guard ready at your disposal." The marine tried to ease the Captain's anger over the incompetence of his subordinates.

"Captain Smoker, if they pull out to sea… They'll be able to reach the Grand Line!" Tashigi told him.

"The wind's blowing west. They've got a perfect tailwind… Can all this be a coincidence? It's like Heaven itself is keeping that man alive…"

-With Luffy-

The four men kept running toward their goal.

"We have to get out of here now!" Zoro said.

"Let's get to the Grand Line!" Luffy cheered.

"_I, Smoker the White Hunter, swear now as a Captain of the Marine Headquarters: That man shall not leave this island!"_

-Unknown street in Loguetown-

A tall man covered with cloak stood in the rain. The thunder cracked near him and shed light to a grin and tattoos that covered the left side of his face.

"Wind, blow. Bring forth the storm of destiny." He spoke up.

_"Inherited Will. The Destiny of the Age, the Dream of its People. As long as people continue to pursue the meaning of Freedom. These things will never cease." _Roger's words came to his mind.

"A pirate, huh? Good."

-With Luffy-

As the four kept running the storm continued to grow stronger.

"What kinda storm is this?" Zoro was getting irritated.

"If we don't hurry we won't be able to get off the island. Nami-san wasn't kidding when she said to get back to the ship as soon as possible." Sanji added.

"Run. Run. Run!" Luffy exclaimed.

Vergil on the other hand remained silent and continued glancing around from time to time. "_Where… Where is he?_" He wondered.

-Plaza-

Cabaji jumped up on his unicycle. "Secret Technique: All Natural Color Carnival!" He slashed his sword and somehow sent multicolored sword slashes at the dumbfound marines.

Alvida was easily taking down the marines around her with her club, though the fallen marines have fallen in more than one way…

"Sorry!" One apologized as he went to grab her wrist but his hand slipped and he fell to the ground just so he could get struck down by the woman he tried to grab.

Alvida turned to the marines. "It's useless to try and attack me. There is not a man in the world that can touch my sube-sube skin."

Buggy's fingers twitched a couple of times before he sat up. "That flashy demon bastard and his flashy lightning… I thought I saw a field of flowers…"

Cabaji sliced another one of the marines and noticed Buggy sitting there. "Captain Buggy, you're alive!"

"Like I could die!"

"Buggy, this is bad! These are the marines from the HQ, there'll be no end!" Alvida told him about their current situation.

"These Marines were no match for us from the start…" But then he seemed to mishear his own words… "WHOSE NOSE IS HIGH COLLAR!" (_**Hanakara means from the start while Haikara means high collar or fashionable.)**_ He yelled and took his anger out on the pirate right behind him…

"But I didn't say anything!" The pirate bellowed.

Alvida slammed down another marine. "What now?"

"The Rubber bastard! Follow that Rubber bastard! Mohji and Richie should've reduced his ship to ashes by now! They can't get off this island! Knock 'em down! We're leaving boys!" He ordered his crew that quickly responded by raising up their blades and crying out a battle cry. "Motor!"

"Aye Cap'n!" Two pairs of wheels were tossed to Buggy.

"**Bara Bara Car**!" He looked stupid… From the waist down his body was turned around and his head was now on the back of his neck… "Let's go! Explosion Engine, Fire!" As stupid as it was it seemed useful as Buggy shot down the road.

"Set the ski slope!" Alvida ordered.

"Yes, Sister Alvida!" Three pirates held a mini ski slope.

"**Zero Friction! Sube Sube Frictionless Movement**!" She took off her sandals and kept them in her hands before she jumped up and slid down the ski slope so she could match up Buggy's speed.

"Don't let the pirates escape!" Marines yelled out.

Well someone seemed to be ready to take care of that. Gloved hands turned into smoke and it grabbed onto all the pirates, including Buggy and Alvida.

"What's this smoke?" By the time Alvida realized that her slippery skin was useless it was too late.

The pirates were lifted into the air.

"What the-?" Cabaji looked down and saw Smoker standing there, his arms had turned into smoke.

"White Out!" Smoker had complete control over the situation.

"S-Smoker!" Buggy realized.

"You pathetic wimps! I don't have time to play around with you!" Smoker pretty much defined the worth that the two had as enemies in a fair fight.

"H-He's incredible!" One of the citizens said.

"That's the power of the Moku Moku no mi! _**(Moku is backwards for Kumo which means cloud)**_"

"He took out the entire Buggy crew… just like that."

"Fire!" Smoker ordered and two marines fired the two nets that fell on top of Buggy and Alvida.

In a matter of moments the pirates were tied.

"Captain, we've all been captured!"

"Goddamn you, Smoker!" Buggy cursed.

"What is this metal net made out of? They shot it out of those strange pistols." Alvida asked.

"It's a special prison developed by marines that suppresses the Devil Fruit abilities. Shit." Buggy muttered.

Smoker was now sure that the two pirate captain's were caught and decided on his next action. "Get my Billower Bike. I'm going after that Straw Hat." He ordered.

"Aye."

-With Usopp and Nami-

The last third of the crew had a bit better situation for now as they were closer to the Going Merry.

"This is heavy!" Usopp complained, with Sanji being away from them he had to carry the large fish on his own.

"The Going Merry is in danger! The Marines may already have found it! We have to hurry! We can't waste even a second!" Nami attempted to fuel his determination but also pointed out the importance of getting to the ship.

"N-Nami! Nami! Can I ditch this thing?" Usopp pleaded for the answer to be affirmative.

"Of course you can't!" She snapped at him, this was the fish that Sanji wanted so much and at the very least she would make sure that he wasn't going to lose it because of them.

"Silly me!"

-Going Merry-

Well the ship was in a very bad predicament, albeit with some light remaining at the end of the tunnel… Bad thing was clear, the ship was about to get burnt down to the ashes by the enemy who had found it quite long ago. Good thing was, the enemy was an utter idiot who was, for who knows how long, trying to lit a matchstick…

"Shit! What's with this damned rain all of a sudden? How am I supposed to burn the ship like this?" Mohji cried out and just at that moment the match lit up making his hopes soar for a brief second that took the rain to put out the small flame. "Shit!" In front of his feet was a small pile of matchsticks that were lit for a moment just like the one that was in his hands. "This is bad Richie! At this rate we won't be able to set the ship on fire! One more try!"

Well one had to congratulate him for not giving up…

Richie on the other hand begged for food.

"Stop it, Richie! I'll feed you later."

The lion lowered its head a bit disappointed and saddened due to the delay in his meal.

"What the hell are you doing?!" Usopp and Nami had just arrived.

"Mohji?!" Nami recognized the beast tamer.

"Looks like something tasty just arrived."Mohji chuckled. "Go, Richie!"

The lion leaned forward.

Usopp at first panicked but then reached out into his bag and pulled out an egg…?

"**Sure Kill Fresh Egg Star**!" The egg shot forward but then dropped to the ground.

"You dork." Nami muttered.

"Damn! I slipped because of the rain!" Usopp yelled.

The lion kept charging forward but then he noticed the egg and went to lick it like a small kitty…

"Richie you dumb lion!"

"Now! Make for the ship!" Usopp pulled Nami out of her dumbfound state.

"Hold it! There's still me!" Mohji stepped in their way. "As the first mate of the Buggy Pirate Crew, I, Mohji-sama won't let you set one foot on this ship!" While he declared that he kinda posed in front of the ship.

Shotgun fired and a bullet hit Merry near Mohji's head.

"Firing squad! Position!" Marines have caught up with them as well.

"Marines!" Nami gasped.

"Crap!" Usopp breather out.

"Aim!" The commander of the squad ordered and the marines knelt down with their shotguns ready. "Fire!" Mohji avoided the bullets but Merry got hit. "Deliver the message to the cannon brigade! Tell them to seize the ship!" Currently commanding Marine ordered.

"N-Nami!"

"Yeah!"

Smoker was also on the move, his Billower Bike was a massive three wheeler that could easily speed through these streets.

-With Luffy-

"Which way is the damn harbor?!" Well if Zoro was annoyed before now he was furious.

"It's raining so hard I can't tell which direction!" Luffy defended himself.

"Just keep going!" Vergil told them.

"Stop them!" Marines ran after them.

"Damn they're persistent! Wanna stop and fight 'em?" Zoro offered.

"No, there's no time…" And then Sanji saw Tashigi… "Who's that lady?" He asked n a love-struck fashion.

"So you're Roronoa Zoro… A pirate." She said.

"_You're gonna take this katana too?" Zoro's question echoed in her mind._

"I… You lied to me!" Tashigi accused him.

The four pirates stopped and Sanji immediately turned to Zoro.

"WHAT?! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO HER?!" The cook demanded.

"You never asked my name, that's all." Zoro stated and stepped forward. "I never lied to you!"

"A scoundrel like you wielding such a magnificent katana… Unforgivable! Your Meito… The Wado Ichimonji! Shall be confiscated!" Tashigi declared.

Zoro held onto the said katana and smirked. "Just try it." He pretty much challenged her.

Tashigi unsheathed her own katana and attacked, Zoro simply parried the slice with Wado. The two stood there for a moment before they pulled back just a bit and slashed again, this time she was the one defending.

"You bastard! How dare you attack a woman!" Sanji yelled at him.

"Stay out of this, please!" Tashigi demanded. "This is a match between Roronoa and myself. Leave us alone!"

"You heard her. Go on ahead." Zoro told them.

Luffy grinned. "Let's go."

"Hey, Zoro! If you hurt her, you're a dead man!" Sanji threatened.

"Don't listen to him, it's a fight." Vergil countered.

"Why you shitty demon! Don't you have any manners!" Sanji snapped.

"Not for the enemy." Vergil simply brushed it off.

Zoro ignored the two and went to grab Yubashiri, he took a moment, just so he could give Tashigi time to give up, when she didn't he unsheathed the Yubashiri and after a couple of slices she was backed against the wall. One more slice, one more blocking and finally she was pushed against the wall, next slice disarmed her…

Tashigi stood there frozen as the Yubashiri rested in the wall right next to her head.

"I can never lose this katana. No matter what." Zoro said.

"Sergeant Major Tashigi lost…" One of the marines realized.

"Even Sergeant Major Tashigi…"

"Bye, I gotta go." Zoro simply informed her and began walking away.

Tashigi grew angrier with every passing moment. "Why didn't you kill me?!" She demanded an answer. "Is it because I'm a woman?!"

Zoro stopped for a moment.

"_Zoro, you're lucky, huh? That you're a boy…" Kuina's words echoed._

"Even though 'a woman's arm is weaker than man's' it's humiliating to have someone go easy on you in a duel! I doubt you'd understand what it's like wishing to have been born as a man… I didn't pick up this sword to play around!" Zoro clenched his teeth at her words.

Zoro turned to face her again. "I can't stand the fact that you exist!" He snapped making her halt for a moment. "Listen!" he pointed at her. "That face of yours! It's exactly like my friend who died a long time ago! And now you're even saying the exact same stuff that she did! Quit imitating her, you copy-cat woman!"

She stepped forward and stopped right in front of him. "What? What a childish, rude thing to say! I live my life for my own goals! I don't know what kind of person your friend was, but I'm the one who regrets this! Isn't she the one copying me?!"

And now she crossed the line. "W-WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"

-With Luffy-

The three ran but then a boulder came out of the ground and crossed their path.

"What the?!" Sanji bit out.

"That's…!" Vergil realized and turned around to one of the roofs where the same demon that Usopp met stood.

The boulder retracted into the ground.

"Get going. I've got something to finish here." Vergil said and glared at the demon who had jumped down.

"Sure." Luffy agreed and ran off with Sanji.

Demon smirked as the two pirates left his sight.

Vergil glared at the demon in front of him.

"What's with that expression?" Demon asked.

"Goran… What's the meaning of this?" Vergil asked.

"I knew you'd recover from that one boulder. And that you'd make it in time." Goran simply explained.

"You haven't changed. If Luffy died I would have held you responsible as well." The white haired demon said.

The older demon couldn't suppress the surprise that came with Vergil's statement. "You'd turn against me over some humans?"

"Don't get ahead of yourself, I'd just deal with a mutiny. By striking me you were the one to commit it first." Vergil coldly replied.

"Heh, you are actually right, Despot Leonidas. As the last Despot of our District you still hold those rights." Goran agreed.

"How many?" Vergil asked out of blue.

Goran pondered on the question for a couple of moments even though he knew what Vergil was asking about.

"Four. The report you probably got your hands on was legitimate." Goran confirmed the fact that Vergil already knew, as he had guess the white haired demon did find a way to check it.

"I see… Those that survived went through months of recovery and some can never fully recover, you bastard, you lost your arm six years ago…" Vergil hissed angrily.

"We got you into that mess." Goran said with a small smile on his face.

"And you didn't even allow me to fight by your side until the very end. I was your commander and what did I do? Nothing…"

"So you better get going now, your crew can't wait for you forever. Just let me tell you one thing, there is or was a traitor among Black Crusaders, be careful, Vergil." Goran said.

"I'm aware of that unfortunately, that's why I haven't contacted any of you." Vergil assured him and ran off to the harbor but then he skidded to a stop and began running back toward the plaza.

"What the hell?! Quit playing around! The harbor is that way!" Goran yelled at the lightning demon.

"I know that!" Vergil snapped but even if the Leonidas wanted to say anything else Goran couldn't hear it due to the rain.

"Why am I even trying…?" Goran muttered and turned around to leave.

-With Luffy-

"There's the end of the street! The harbor's just over there!" Luffy realized.

But the luck wasn't letting them have a piece of her, this time Smoker was the one to stand in their way.

"Why are people popping up one after another?!" Sanji grew frustrated by this.

"Here at last? Straw Hat Luffy." Smoker spoke up making the two stop. "I told you, if you can't beat me… you will never get to the Grand Line."

"Oh, yeah. I forgot about that." Luffy seemed to be anything but worried about the Marine's statement.

"You enjoy playing dumb." Smoker commented.

"Hey, Luffy." The blond cook tried to warn him.

"Sanji. Go on ahead." Luffy simply told him. "I'll be right there."

"I wouldn't bet on that." Smoker disagreed. "This is the end for you."

Luffy still had the confident grin on his face. "Go!" He ordered the cook.

-Going Merry-

Marines fired at Nami and Usopp who somehow managed to jump onto Merry without a single scratch.

"Cannon brigade, fire!" Marine ordered.

Cannon fired and the cannon ball hit the water near Merry, it didn't cause any actual damage but it made the ship waver a bit. Nami and Usopp lost their balance as wave of water splashed them.

Another cannon ball landed way too close to Merry for comfort and Usopp slammed into Nami's tangerines. Nami hit the mast with her back and dropped the bags due to the impact.

"If this keeps up they are going to sink the Going Merry!" She realized.

Somehow she managed to rise the anchor just after another explosion of water hit the figurehead of their ship.

"You're setting off? But Luffy and the others aren't back yet!" Usopp told her the obvious information.

"We have to go! We can't let the ship be sunk! Full sail!" Merry began sailing off.

"But what about Luffy and the others?" Usopp asked her.

"We'll pick them up somehow!" She assured him, though she was assuring herself just as much.

"Don't let them escape! After them!" The marines yelled.

"NAMI-SAN!" Finally one of the four main fighters arrived and it was none other but the only one who didn't face an obstacle, Sanji.

"Sanji-kun!" Nami rejoiced.

"Sanji!" Usopp yelled out his name.

"Nami-san! I'm baaaack!" He dragged out the last word as he ran down the shore as close to Merry as he could.

"What about Vergil, Luffy and Zoro?" Nami asked.

Sanji switched back to his normal state. "Those three louts can take care of themselves!" He assured her.

Marines began chasing after Sanji.

"Sanji-kun!" Nami grew worried, if Sanji had to fight here than he could get in trouble, not because he couldn't take down Marines but because they were short on time, and she was a bit worried about her nakama, all of them.

"Behind you!" Usopp warned him.

Sanji easily kicked away each and every Marine that came after him but they just kept popping up.

"Shit! They just keep coming!" Sanji realized as he got surrounded once again.

"I'll cover him, you bring the ship in!" Usopp old he orange haired navigator and he actually meant it.

"I can't! The tide current is already too strong. We can't get back to the shore!" Nami explained.

"Damn it!" Usopp cursed and jumped into the raging ocean.

"Usopp!" Nami shouted after him.

"I'll do it!" Usopp encouraged himself and as soon as he hit the water he began shooting his pachinko at the Marines that were around Sanji.

Sanji kept kicking the Marines but new ones charged, it looked like they were never going to stop coming.

"Usopp! Sanji-kun!" Nami shouted out their names in worry. "Where is a dumbass demon when you need him…?" She muttered now hoping that at the very least Vergil would show up, considering Zoro and Luffy's sense of direction the chances of those two showing up on purpose were slim…

-With Luffy-

Luffy and Smoker stood casually in the rain while the thunders cracked around them.

"I'll defeat you and enter the Grand Line. Because I'm the man who'll become the Pirate King." Luffy stated.

"You won't be spouting that rubbish for much longer." Smoker warned him and his hands turned into smoke. The smoke took Luffy by surprise and wrapped itself around him thus rendering the rubber man seemingly as helpless as it did with Buggy and Alvida.

"Wha-wha-what?" Luffy tried to set himself free but the smoke, directed by Smoker, lifted him up in the air.

"I ate the Moku Moku no mi. My entire body can become smoke at my whim." Smoker revealed and then slammed Luffy onto the ground by using the very same smoke that he had used to catch the pirate. "What's wrong? That all you got?" Smoker challenged as he saw that Luffy wasn't getting up.

Luffy gritted his teeth and stood up. "**Gomu Gomu no Gatling Gun**!" The punches did absolutely nothing but push Smoker back a bit and the pushing was quite slow as well. One of Luffy's strongest attacks was pretty much useless against the Marine Captain.

Luffy's right hand went through Smoker's head and the punched area was now made out of smoke, visible smoke. "What the? Eww! That's creepy!" He retracted his hand and Smoker's face turned back to normal.

"**White Blow**!" A blast of smoke hit Luffy head on and sent him slamming into the building, but it didn't stop there, it also held him pinned to it.

"Damn you! **Gomu Gomu no Pistol**!" Luffy's arm extended and his fist collided with Smoker's abdomen, but it simply turned into smoke and the rubber man's fist went through leaving Smoker unharmed yet again.

"You get it now? You can't ever go to the Grand Line." Smoker appeared behind Luffy and grabbed the top of his head. "Just like I said."

Smoker jumped up with Luffy and then slammed his body against the street, he also sat down on Luffy's back to stop him from moving. "This head's worth 30 million beri, eh? Hm. Looks like my run of bad luck is over." He grabbed a hold of his jitte but another hand stopped him.

"Well, I wouldn't say that exactly." It was the same man in green cloak.

"You're…?" Smoker seemed to recognize the man.

Lightning flashed and revealed the man's face.

"What's going on?" Luffy asked. "Who is it? Who is it?"

"The government wants your head." Smoker spoke to the man, at this very moment he was way more interested in the green cloaked man than the pirate underneath him.

"The world is waiting for our answer." Another lightning flashed and the sky went green before wind of such strength became blowing throughout the town. It shattered the cannons, sent both Luffy and Smoker flying along with many marines, Sanji and Usopp, Nami barely held onto Merry's railing as the wind threatened to blow her off the ship, Zoro and Vergil who had just reunited were sent flying as well. The wind also freed Buggy, Alvida and their crews.

Wind stopped blowing as suddenly as it began and Vergil managed to land on his feet before dropping Zoro to the ground.

Sanji, Luffy and Usopp were with them as well and they slowly began picking themselves up.

"What happened?" Luffy who was still sitting asked and looked around.

"VERGIL!" They heard Nami's voice. "LUFFY!"

"Princess/Nami!" Vergil and Luffy shouted out.

"We have to do something fast or she'll drift out too far." Sanji said.

"All right!" Luffy began running in the opposite direction and then grabbed onto the railing thus stretching out his arms. "**Gomu Gomu no…**!"

"Get ready, we're up for a ride." Vergil said with a smirk.

"Oh no!" Usopp screamed.

"He wouldn't…!" Sanji gasped.

"Aw shit." Zoro cursed.

"**Rocket**!" And he did it… The rubber captain shot right into his crew and sent all five of them flying toward Merry.

The pirates slammed into the sail and dropped down onto the deck.

"Guys!" Nami felt relief as she looked at the dazed group, Vergil glanced at her and smirked.

"See, no need to worry." He assured her.

-Loguetown-

Smoker stared at the ocean recollecting his thoughts.

"That bastard… What kind of gust was that…" He wondered. "22 years ago, Gold Roger was executed. And on that same day, that man appears and vanishes like a bolt of lightning. What does that…?" He suddenly remembered the one clue that he had.

"_I am... the man who'll become the Pirate King!" The words Luffy said before Buggy tried to kill him echoed._

The cloaked man stood on the rooftop chuckling. He spread his arms wide open as if to welcome or call for something. "Come back sometime! If that's the way you would do it…"

"WHY? Why did you help that man?" Smoker demanded. "DRAGON!"

"What reason is there to stop a man from sailing?" The man, most likely named Dragon inquired.

Smoker turned back to the ocean. "Get me a ship. I'm going after that Straw Hat."

"Eh?"

"To the Grand Line."

"B-But, Captain! Your jurisdiction is this island!" Marine reminded him.

"I told you not to order me around!" Smoker reminded him who is the boss here.

"I'm going too!" Tashigi decided.

"Sergeant Major Tashigi!" One of the Marines exclaimed.

"What Roronoa did to me was unforgivable! I will capture him with my own hands!" She declared.

-With Buggy-

Buggy's ship, Big Top sailed out of the harbor as well.

"Wow, talk about a lucky gust of wind. Must've been down to all the good deeds we've shown." Buggy blindly believed.

"So where will we go from here?" Alvida asked.

"The Grand Line!" Buggy declared making the eyes of his crewmates widen.

"The Grand Line?" Cabaji and Mohji repeated while Richie growled it out.

"Yeah, it's a good chance. That shitty rubber is headed straight there, ain't he? How I miss it, the Grand Line!"

-Going Merry-

"Shishishi! It feels like the ship's gonna turn over!" Luffy exclaimed.

"It's quite a storm! I like it." Vergil said as he grinned.

"Are you crazy?!" Usopp yelled at him.

"Maybe to you, but I am lightning and darkness demon, I feel much stronger on stormy nights." Vergil explained.

"Let's go! To the GRAND LINE!" Luffy yelled.

* * *

_**And that's it. I left the scene near the lighthouse for the final chapter of the East Blue Saga so no, I didn't skip it, just moved it a bit.**_

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_**Loguetown Arc – Finished**_

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_**Trivia:**_

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_**-Vergil originally fought Alvida when Buggy went to execute Luffy.**_

_**-Vergil was supposed to be struck in the air, at first by Alvida's iron mace and then by Goran's ability.**_

_**-Goran was going to exchange a couple of blows with Vergil.**_

_**-I planned on getting Luffy saved from execution in the same way it was done in anime, however I changed it in the end.**_

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_**Next Arc – Movie 2**_

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_**Next Chapter – Stolen Merry**_


	71. Stolen Merry

_**Answers on reviews:**_

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_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review, I'm happy to hear you liked the chapter.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**duaba – Congratulations on catching up, thanks for reading and reviewing.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks, glad to hear that. **_

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_**Arc 8.5 – Movie 2 Arc**_

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_**Chapter 71 – Stolen Merry**_

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The Straw Hats docked at one of the islands for some relaxation after the crazy events that they had to go through ever since they joined Luffy.

Zoro was doing pushups with large bags on his back while Luffy sat on the rock and tried to wind up a windmill toy.

"So you really aren't going to do that for me?" Nami asked seemingly again as she spent her time sunbathing.

"For the tenth time, no. I'm not going to give you a massage." Vergil who was trying to fall asleep muttered.

"But with your lightning the massage could be even better, you know the tingling sensation can be pleasant." Nami tried to persuade him.

"I said no." He firmly stood by his decision.

"Vergil…" And she tried again.

"No."

"Just a massage then?"

"I'll do it for you Nami-san!" Sanji who had just arrived declared.

"Thanks Sanji-kun." Nami thanked him honestly.

"Let me just get the oil!" And the cook ran off again.

Luffy on the other hand grinned as he looked at the toy in his hand. "Hey! I found something cool!" Luffy turned to his crew. "Come and see! Hey!"

"What's he so happy about now?" Nami muttered to herself.

"I'm going to go and keep him company. Might as well see that thing he found." Vergil sat up, he had given up on the sleeping.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Nami-san." Sanji apologized as he came up to Nami with an oil tube in his hand, he dropped to his knees by her side and untied her bikini top. "Then, if I may…" He placed the oil onto his palm and slid it down Nami's back. "Oh, Nami-san! Your skin is so smooth!" He praised as lecherous look became quite clear on his face.

"If your hand slips you're a dead man." Nami warned him and she meant it, Sanji was fine but she was aware that he was a pervert to some extent, just how far that extent went, she was yet to find out…

"Maybe I should have yielded." Vergil muttered as he glanced at Sanji's perverted grin over his shoulder. Eventually he came to a conclusion that he had won a battle that needed to be won in order to prevent Nami from ordering him around.

"Man this is one great vacation!" Sanji exclaimed.

"That's fine but just remember that we've got bounties on our heads." Nami reminded him.

"Hey everyone, come look! It's really cool!" Luffy exclaimed.

"What is it?" Vergil turned back to him.

"But aren't you the one relaxing the most, Nami?" Usopp pointed out.

"It's okay for now! We're not in a hurry to get going." She sure found a way to defend herself.

"Shit! Merry!" Vergil's eyes widened as he realized that their ship was sailing off.

Luffy kept grinning, he was oblivious to their current situation, however the other four gasped.

"The Going Merry?!" They exclaimed.

"Our pirate mark's so cool!" Luffy marveled.

"Yeah well if we don't do something you won't get to marvel over it again." Vergil told him.

"Huh?" And the captain was still confused.

"It's stolen you numbskull!" Usopp and Zoro snapped at him.

"What?! Stolen?!" Luffy gasped.

"You dimwit!"

Luffy jumped to his feet. "Hold it, thief!" He stretched out his arm but failed to reach the ship's railing…

"The Going Merry is the soul I got from Kaya!" Usopp declared.

"Being robbed by a fellow thief? This is a joke, right?" Nami

"Give it back!"

-One week later-

The crew had better days… Merry was still stolen… They were stuck with small boat and they were wearing ridiculous wedding clothes. Nami was wearing a wedding dress and Sanji was wearing a light gray suit while Zoro and Usopp wore something for the wedding as well. Luffy and Vergil, being the only ones who remained fully clothed back when Merry was stolen retained their usual attire.

"It's been a whole week since it was stolen." Sanji said. "But you know, couldn't we have found a better ship?"

"Not to mention clothes." Zoro added.

"Quit complaining. The only place open was a rental store for wedding ceremonies." Usopp justified the choice of clothing.

"By the way, where are we?" Luffy asked.

"I don't know. My maps and compass were all stolen with the ship, remember?" Nami reminded him.

"And my swords too, damn it." Zoro added.

"I don't even have a pair of shoes." Sanji put his own piece of complaints on the list.

"It's good we're going after the thief and all but why did you set out to the sea without any preparations?!" Nami clenched her fist as she snapped at them.

"Calm down, this is crowded as it is." Vergil scolded her.

Well as they continued sailing they came across a drowning child.

"Hey, look, there's a kid over there!" Usopp quickly told them.

"Is he drowning?" Sanji asked.

"Wait, it could be a trap." Vergil stopped him as he tried to jump into the water.

"Vergil, it's just a child." Nami scowled at him, sure he was a demon but she didn't think he'd suspect a child.

The white haired demon turned to look at her and Sanji jumped into the water.

"Hey, you alright over there?" Sanji asked the child that suddenly stopped struggling and grinned kinda evilly.

"Thanks for asking." Child said and Vergil's eyes widened as the net erupted under them and caught them.

"You said anything, Princess?" Vergil muttered to the girl.

A boat slightly bigger than the average one approached and an adult male wearing aviator suit smiled at them confidently.

The child climbed onto the boat.

"Akisu, good work." Man praised him and the small child pointed at the six pirates.

"Easy victory, piece o' cake!" Boy, named Akisu grinned. "Idiots like them are easy to trick."

"You sure about that brat?" Vergil glared at him making the boy run behind the older male and hide. Just like he did back in the Shell town Vergil used low intensity lightning to cut the rope.

"What the-?" Man's eyes widened.

"Who the hell are you?" Sanji asked once all six of them dropped own onto the boat.

"Us? Those sailing in search of mountains of treasure. The Thief Brothers!" They seemed quite willing to introduce. They jumped up and did flips in the air before landing on the treasure chests that were piled up on the boat. "Borodo and…" The older man introduced himself.

"Akisu." The child finished

"Harmless…" Vergil decided and lowered his guard.

"Thief Brothers?" Usopp repeated.

For one reason or another the two fell down and the content of most of the chests spilled.

"It's just a bunch of trash." Nami realized.

"Well, well… They're nothing but scavengers." Usopp said.

"That's not true! Watch what you say about Borodo!" Akisu shouted at him. "Borodo's gonna steal the Diamond Clock from Clockwerk Island and become the greatest thief in the world."

"You mean the famous Diamond Clock?" Nami inquired.

"What's that?" Usopp asked.

"The finest jewel and greatest artifact ever created. The most valuable clock in the world!" She explained.

And Sanji as expected went all love struck over her. "That's our knowledgeable Nami-san!"

"Ah, so if someone was able to steal it he really would be the world's greatest thief." Usopp came to a conclusion.

"Oh, then he's just like me!" Luffy joined in.

"Eh?" Borodo uttered cleverly.

"I'm gonna become the greatest pirate in the world, the Pirate King!" Luffy revealed.

"P-Pirate King? With this ship?" Borodo pointed at the duck substitute boat…

"Of course not!" Luffy and Usopp snapped.

"Our ship was stolen. But we don't know the bastard who did it." Sanji explained.

Zoro looked at Borodo kinda suspiciously and he wasn't the only one. "Vergil…" He muttered.

"Yeah, I know, this is strange." Vergil muttered back.

"Does your ship… have a pirate mark wearing a straw hat?" Borodo asked them.

This calmed them all right away, especially Usopp who seemed way too attacked to the ship. "You've seen it?"

"I saw it with the Trump Siblings." The thief recalled.

"Trump Siblings?" Luffy repeated.

"There is a nefarious group of pirates that have a stronghold on Clockwork Island and terrorize the surrounding area. And the Diamond Clock that I'm looking for is also in their possession." Borodo revealed without really considering the possibility of consequences that telling this to complete strangers could bring.

The Trump Siblings seemed to have five main fighters, Boo Jack, a fat man in a pig themed outfit. He was wearing a yellow shirt with a 'J' printed on the front as well as suspenders and a white fur on his back and arms. The bounty he had on his head was 3,200,000 berry, it was the lowest one on the crew.

Worth 6,000,000 berry was the man named Skunk One, he was wearing a helmet with '1' on it, goggles and a brown shirt, pretty much he looked like an airplane pilot. He was also carrying a fluffy jet pack with the thruster located at his rear end.

The only female on the top five was Honey Queen, an attractive, wall, slender woman with wavy blonde hair tied in two pigtail buns. She was wearing a revealing yellow clothes with a purple fur coat with pink spots on it along with red high heels and a fishnet stocking over her right leg. A bounty of 7,800,000 berry was placed on her head.

Most likely a first mate, if the bounty was any giveaway, was Pin Joker. The man with long black hair tied up in a ponytail had a stitched scar across his face, it extended from the right side of the forehead to the left cheek. Overall he looked like a jester and had a bounty of 9,900,000 berry.

The captain of the crew, Bear King had the highest bounty of 11,600,000 berry, he was a large man with black hair and whiskers, dressed in a furred captain's jacket with the collar shaped like a golden spade, a blue shirt underneath it with the top part unbuttoned and a large teddy bear hat. His arms and chest were covered in hair and he had fur armbands on his wrist.

"They don't look so tough." Zoro and Sanji said at the same time as the crew looked at the wanted posters.

"This bear guy is too cool! Awesome!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Why did you say that?! I'M the one that said that they were nothing!" The swordsman and the cook kept talking to one another in perfect sync.

"What are you so happy about? They stole your ship! You're supposed to be pissed! You're supposed to beat the crap outta them!" Borodo scolded them.

"What are you so riled up about?" Vergil asked.

"Borodo, over there!" Before the older male could reply Akisu pointed to his right.

"That's-!" Usopp gasped.

"The Trump Pirates!" Borodo confirmed it, the pirates had a fleet so massive that it could match Krieg's fleet.

"Hey! Trump Siblings!" Luffy shouted out thus getting the attention of none other than Honey Queen, the woman was naked in a pool.

"Hm?" She turned her head to face them.

The effect her appearance had on Sanji was obvious as steam puffed out of the cook's nose. "That is one sexy lady!"

"And what might you want?" Honey Queen inquired.

"Give us back the ship you stole from us!" Luffy demanded.

"Your ship? I've never seen it." She denied any involvement in the theft of the ship.

"Like hell you haven't!" Nami snapped.

Honey Queen's eyes widened for a moment when she laid her eyes on Nami but then she grinned mischievously and leaned her head against her palm.

Nami remained confused by the woman's reaction, or lack of any actual one.

Boo Jack jumped to the front of the pool pretty much out of blue. "Alright! Time for a riddle!"

"Riddle?" Sanji repeated.

"1. Who will become the greatest pirate in the world, the Pirate King?" And that was the riddle…

"Come on now, Boo Jack. That one is way too easy." Honey Queen told him.

"Me!" Luffy answered it without a second thought.

"Boo-boo! Wrong! The answer is our boss, Bear King-sama." Boo Jack corrected him.

"No, you're wrong. No common knowledge, I guess." Luffy didn't seem bothered by the fact that Boo Jack didn't know that Luffy was going to be the Pirate King.

"What?"

"What kinda riddle was that anyway?" Sanji asked.

"I knew these guys were nothing special." Zoro said.

"Boo-boo! Mocking the Trump Pirates, eh?!" Boo Jack grew angry.

"Well then, it seems we have to explain it to them." Honey Queen leaned back and flicked her fingers.

That was all it took for a fleet of pirates to appear on the boards of the ships and attack.

"They're out." Sanji pointed out.

"Not much choice." Zoro said.

"Though it's going to be boring." Vergil added.

"Right! Good luck!" Borodo encouraged them.

"Hold this for me!" Luffy said and placed his straw hat on Nami's head before charging as well. "**Gomu Gomu no Pistol!**" The punch knocked out a dozen of enemies.

"**Lightning Rush**." Lightning encircled Vergil and he **Demon Flashed** through the small crowd thus electrifying them. "Much better than the last time I used it." The white haired demon smirked to himself.

Sanji kicked the pirates around while Zoro grabbed a staff and used it as a wooden sword, needless to say, even without swords or trademark shoes both Zoro and Sanji could easily take down the outclassed opponents.

"These guys… Really are strong!" Borodo rejoiced.

Usopp on the other hand dodged two unconscious pirates that landed on the boat.

"Oh… So they can fight." Honey Queen thought out loud.

"Here I come!" Boo Jack joined in. He jumped up and rolled into a ball that suddenly grew black spikes all over it. He destroyed the mast and most of the treasure chests as he rushed over the boat, fortunately he didn't hurt anyone.

"That's my Boo Jack!" Honey Queen praised him.

"What is that guy?" Sanji asked.

"A retard." Vergil said.

"He might be a bit tricky." Zoro commented.

"All right! Leave it to me!" Usoppp exclaimed and rushed forward.

"What the-?" Vergil's eyes widened at the thought of Usopp willingly engaging in a battle.

"My famous 'Escape is Winning' master plan!" And Usopp made them escape…

"RUNNING AWAY?!" Zoro and Sanji exclaimed.

"I should have known…" Vergil glared at the sniper.

"Oh my…" Honey Queen sighed.

Usopp kept rowing further and further away from the fleet but the pace that he had taken made Akisu drop a small box.

Akisu smacked Usopp over his head and stopped their advancement before Borodo jumped into the sea.

"W-What… happened?" Usopp muttered.

"it's safe!" Borodo assured the younger boy.

Akisu let out a sigh of relief but it was short-lived as cannonballs fell onto their boat and exploded.

Smoke cleared to reveal everyone but Nami clinging to the last remains of it.

"Now, it's riddle time again." Boo Jack said, this time it was only him and Honey Queen. "What is it we want the most?"

"Nami-san!" Sanji shouted as he realized that Nami was now in the arms of the Honey Queen.

"Yes, you're right! We'll be taking her along with us!" Boo Jack confirmed it.

"What did you say?!" Sanji snapped.

"She'll be a souvenir for Bear King-sama." Fat pirate rubbed the salt to the wound.

"After we take her away, it'll be fun to see him do this and that to her." Honey Queen revealed and added a loving, almost pleasured tone to the last part…

"This and that?" Zoro, Sanji, Usopp and Borodo asked in disbelief.

"Not a chance…" Vergil growled and jumped out of the water before he **Demon Slid** toward the duo. "I won't let anyone take her." He threatened as lightning circled around his fists. Honey Queen smirked along with Boo Jack and out of blue a large shockwave hit the white haired demon.

"Vergil!" Zoro called out as the said demon dropped into the water

Without giving them time to recover Boo Jack threw another cannon ball at them.

The remaining six dropped into the water due to the impact and Boo Jack and Honey Queen left with Nami…

Sanji pulled Luffy back to the surface as others swam back up as well.

"Shit…" Sanji cursed.

"You can say that again." Zoro said as he pulled Vergil back up as well, the demon had been caught by surprise and was yet to regain consciousness, furthermore the right side of his body had sustained minor cuts.

"Damn it…" Vergil muttered under his breath as he slowly opened his eyes.

-A bit later-

The crew managed to get back onto their feet as Borodo used a parachute as a makeshift sails.

"Are we really going to get to the Clockwork Island like this?" Zoro inquired.

"Just keep quiet." Akisu ordered. "Borodo is a genius at manipulating wind and waves."

"What are you so proud of, damn brat?" Usopp muttered.

"Tch, I've seen better." Vergil said he had remained quiet ever since Nami was taken.

"Yeah, like who?!" Akisu snapped at him.

"Nami." Vergil simply said.

"You didn't call her 'Princess'?" Sanji asked, he and everyone else had gotten used to Vergil calling Nami like that.

"It's causing confusion when she's not here to respond." Vergil explained and looked up before clenching his fists.

"Just so you know, Nami-san was taken cause you just had to go and jump into an ocean." Sanji scolded as Akisu took his wooden box.

"After all the trouble I went through to escape from them." Usopp added but then leaned in to look at Akisu's box. "Is that your treasure?"

"That music box is the only thing Akisu has left from his hometown." Borodo explained.

"His hometown?" Luffy asked.

The music box opened and the soft melody came to life.

"When Akisu was an infant, I found him floating in the sea. He was listening to that lullaby. That song was the only thing that would calm Akisu down." And that was the boy's story.

"So, you're not real brothers?" Luffy asked.

"We're brothers even if we're not blood related." Borodo stated without a second thought.

"That's right! I'm going to become cool thief like Borodo and never be hungry again!" Akisu declared.

Luffy held onto the top of his head as he remembered Shanks. He could understand Akisu when it came to this.

They sailed by the whirlpool and Usopp was quick to notice it, of course it could be a bad news due to their transportation equipment…

"A whirlpool!" The sniper pointed at it.

"Yeah. We are approaching Clockwork Island." Borodo assured him that everything was fine.

True to his words they were approaching the said island.

"So that's…" Zoro muttered as Luffy and Usopp gazed at it with their jaws hung wide open. "Clockwork Island."

The island had a tall swirling peak that went up way too high for the crew to see the top from their point of view.

"So what should we do now?" Borodo almost challenged them. "We want to steal Diamond Clock… And you guys want your comrade and ship back. Either way we're all going to the Trump Castle."

"The base of those shitty pirates that took Nami-san…" Sanji muttered.

"And Going Merry's there too." Usopp added.

"And my katana." Zoro voiced out.

"Then let's go together, to the Trump Castle!" Borodo decided.

"Yeah!" Luffy and Vergil agreed.

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_**That's it.**_

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_**Next Chapter – Creating The Future**_


	72. Creating The Future

_**Answers on reviews:**_

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_**blazeinferno – Thank you, I'm glad you liked it.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 72 – Creating The Future**_

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"So what should we do now?" Borodo almost challenged them. "We want to steal Diamond Clock… And you guys want your comrade and ship back. Either way we're all going to the Trump Castle."

"The base of those shitty pirates that took Nami-san…" Sanji muttered.

"And Going Merry's there too." Usopp added.

"And my katana." Zoro voiced out.

"Then let's go together, to the Trump Castle!" Borodo decided.

"Yeah!" Luffy and Vergil agreed.

-Trump Castle-

Two people dressed in a scientist or doctor kind of robe stood in front of Bear King, the pirate was quite pissed off though.

"What? Say that again!" He yelled.

"You've occupied this island for seven years now. The weapon you are forcing us to build has spilled too much blood. And when that horrible weapon of mass destruction is completed…" The woman didn't finish the sentence. "You've done enough! Please don't taint the sea with more blood!" She pleaded to the pirate captain, but she should have known better.

Bear King shot in between the couple making them flinch. "Good citizens, have you forgotten? This island's main key is under my complete control. You know what'd happen to this island if I were to break the key." The man held the woman close in his arms as if to try and comfort her. "Even if you don't like it you should just keep quiet. Show them out." He flicked his fingers and two pirates wearing shirts with numbers 3 and 5 grabbed the couple.

"Let go! I can walk on my own!" Male resisted the grasp.

"Once the 'King Cannon' is completed everything will be in place. And then I, the mighty Bear King, will control the entire sea! And I will be the Pirate King!"Bear King declared before laughing.

Elevator reached the room and Honey Queen stepped out along with Boo Jack who carried Nami over his shoulder.

"Ah, welcome back-gas! Honey Queen-chan!" Skunk One greeted the woman and then noticed Nami. "Oh? It's a young lady-gas! Did you kidnap her-gas?"

Well Nami didn't like this at all and she raised her head to glare at him with such fury that ever Vergil would think twice about what to say or do next…

Skunk One screamed and backed away as much as the room the were in allowed him.

"Stop it already, Skunk One. This woman is Bear King-sama's sou-ve-nir." Honey Queen stated.

"Oh, is she my bride?" Bear King asked as Boo Jack handed him the orange haired navigator, he held her up in the air and looked at her.

Nami kept her cool as she glared at the pirate Captain. "What're you looking at?" She challenged.

"She's my type!" He blushed and slowly put her back down to the ground. "P-P-Please marry me!" He stuttered as a bouquet of flowers miraculously appeared in his hands out of nowhere.

"Oh? After just meeting you once?" Nami turned as if she was judging him. "Unfortunately, I hate hairy men."

Bear King looked at his hairy body but then came to an idea. "I'll shave it all off!"

"But, I hate weak men even more."

He began lifting… "I'm super strong!"

"But, I know you can't win against Luffy, Vergil and others." She claimed.

"Luffy? Vergil?" Bear King repeated.

"This girl's friends." Boo Jack said. "One is a freak who can stretch his body like a rubber, the other one was a demon but he's dead now."

Nami's eyes widened. "Vergil isn't dead. You are way out of his league."

Honey Queen smirked. "He got reckless when he saw you were captured and he paid for that mistake, with his life."

"As if you know anything about him. No matter what you did he would never die at the hands of weaklings like you!" The orange haired girl could easily believe the first part of the statement, that Vergil did get reckless and he most likely charged in blindly, but he wasn't dead, she knew that. She allowed a small smile to cross her featured for a split second at the thought of her demon.

"Those guys, would they be Straw Hat Luffy and Black Thunder Vergil?" Pin Joker joined in on the conversation before Honey Queen could say anything else to Nami. He flicked his fingers and two wanted posters appeared out of nowhere.

"Eh? That weak little guy has a bounty and the dead one has one too." Honey Queen noticed.

"He's not dead." Nami argued.

Honey Queen once again smirked and was about to mock her again, but then her eyes fell on the white haired demon's wanted poster and her eyes widened in fear. Those eyes… She knew that those eyes were eyes of a killer, more importantly she remembered the fear that froze her on spot when he had charged toward them… The intent to not hurt but kill them was clear as day and she could only hope that this monster was no longer alive. Slowly she glanced at the cause of the rage, kidnapping of this girl in front of her… Honey Queen knew fear, she knew it in the eyes of the people her crew attacked, she knew her own fear, but this demon made her feel like death itself was breathing against the back of her neck and she didn't know when it would strike.

"Either way I expect Roronoa Zoro to be with them as well. Don't count your 'kittens' before they hatch." Pin Joker pulled her out of the thoughts about death and she went to give the posters to the captain.

"You mean 'chickens'?" Nami corrected him.

Pin Joker got over the correction. "In any case we should be cautious."

"Heh? Cautious you say? For this little twerp? All right then!" Bear King decided. "As you requested I'll show you how strong I really am. His bounty is 30 million berry, the dead one had 18 million one, those two bounties will fund our, wedding party!" He shot through the wanted posters.

-Coast of the Clockwork Island-

"Too cool! Too cool!" Of course it was Luffy who was amazed by the island, though the rest of the crew was impressed as well.

"How the hell did they set up something like this?" Usopp asked.

"They made it to defend themselves from enemy invasions. If someone tries to invade up the stairway they'll be killed before they even reach the top." Borodo explained.

"Guess it didn't work as well as it was supposed to." Vergil said.

"Traps huh? So how do we climb it?" Usopp asked.

"There's an elevator running through the center shaft." The older thief supplied them with information yet again. "When they come out to terrorize the sea the secret door will open. So until then we'll… WAIT!" He and Akisu yelped as they saw Luffy, Zoro, Sanji and Vergil climbing up the stairs. "You morons! Weren't you listening! Those stairs are full of traps!"

"We'll just tackle them one at time." Sanji said.

"Waiting here is too much of a pain. We'll just go up right away." Zoro added.

"We'll be damned if some lousy traps stopped us." Vergil stated.

"This'll be fun!" Luffy finished.

"You'd better listen to Borodo!" Akisu scolded them.

"Shut it brat! You're annoying!" Vergil snapped.

As soon as they went through one level of stairs the entire area turned flat and slippery and that wasn't all a large amount of water began rushing toward them.

"**Darkness Blast**!" A ball of darkness similar to a fireball was shot from Vergil's mouth and it destroyed a bit of the stairs thus stopping the water from even reaching them.

Large rocks followed the water…

"Tch." Sanji jumped forward and shattered the rocks.

"This is getting ridiculous." Zoro decided once they tried walking again, so he grabbed the floor and pretty much broke the surface so it was once again passable.

"Amazing." Borodo and Akisu could only watch in awe.

"Shishishi!" Luffy grinned.

Well that wasn't the end of it, until they got to the top Straw hats had to fight through all kinds of traps and it took up a lot of energy to be frank.

"We finally reached the town!" Sanji declared.

Everyone but Luffy tried to catch their breath, although with the captain being this excited it didn't really matter.

"Wait for a bit longer, Princess…" Vergil muttered to himself as he took one last deep breath and looked toward the town.

"What's that? What is this? It's so cool!" Luffy exclaimed happily.

"It kinda is." Vergil agreed as he took a look around.

The houses all looked way different than the ones you would find in the normal villages and towns, they all looked like much bigger versions of the windmill house toy Luffy found on the beach.

"What's with this city?" Usopp asked.

"This is Clockwork Island." Borodo stated.

"And that must be Trump Castle." Zoro guessed.

On the very top of the castle lied a very unique clock so to speak. "There's Diamond Clock!" Akisu exclaimed.

"Yeah, the most valuable clock in the world! And look at the top of the castle!" Borodo encouraged them to look at the top.

Usopp did as he was told and looked through his goggles only to see the Going Merry. "It's The Going Merry!"

"You can see it?" Luffy asked.

"Yeah! I'm sure of it! It's on the top of the castle!"

"I can't tell! It's too far!" Luffy said.

"Hey." Zoro got Borodo's attention.

"Hm?"

"It's strange that you could see our ship from down here." Swordsman stated.

"Furthermore you've only seen it once if what you said is true, how come you are so sure?" Vergil added.

"Well, I guess I have a good sight." Borodo said.

"Damn…" Before either one of the pirates could say anything Sanji cursing under his breath got their attention.

"Your feet." Zoro noticed. It was bad, due to not having shoes Sanji's feet were injured.

"Nah, it's nothing." Sanji brushed it off, he stood up and walked off.

"Alright! Let's move!" Luffy ordered.

"Sweet! We'll attack the Trump Castle, right?" Borodo guessed hopefully.

"Eat! Than change clothes!" Usopp told him the plan.

"W-What?" And he was devastated.

-A bit later-

"hey, you okay with this? Your friend has been kidnapped. Aren't you going to attack?" Borodo tried to persuade them into moving faster.

"Aren't you going to attack?" Akisu repeated.

"We're talking about Nami, she'll be fine." Usopp assured him.

"Ah, this is much easier to move in." Zoro said, he was now having a silk scarf over his shoulder as if it were a towel and he was wearing an open black jacket. Sanji was wearing a button up shirt with two shades of sea green forming a pattern as well as black pants and normal sandals. Finally, Usopp had an orange jacket and gray pants on.

"Alright, take care of the bill, okay?" Sanji didn't request it, it was more of an I'm not paying attitude.

"Hey, wait a…" Borodo was completely caught off guard as the lady who owned the shop anded him the bill…

"Here you go. Come again."

"Excuse me, can I get a discount?" Borodo asked.

"No." Lady rejected him right away.

Zoro and the others walked down the stairs to where Luffy and Vergil were. Luffy was eating his food and looking at the different stuff that was in the shop while Vergil turned to the trio.

"About time." Vergil scoffed.

"I'm short on money this month." They heard Borodo's attempt to lower his bill.

"I said no." Lady repeated.

"It's Nami, she can take care of herself." Usopp reminded him.

"I'd rather have her take care of herself with me around." Vergil said and looked toward the castle.

"You are too protective over her." Zoro scolded him.

"Then so be it." The white haired demon simply said, he didn't notice the glance that Sanji sent him.

"Either way what are you standing there for?" Sanji asked and Vergil motioned toward Luffy.

"He's sightseeing." The demon smirked.

"Remarkable workmanship!" Usopp praised.

"All wind-up crafts?" Sanji said as he, Zoro and Vergil walked in.

Luffy began mumbling something to Usopp even though he had a mouth full of food…

"Ah, what are you saying?" Usopp asked.

Luffy continued mumbling as he wrapped his arms together a couple of times.

"Clockwork…" Usopp guessed.

Another mumble and forming of an island shape with his hands…

"…island's…"

More of mumbling and some kind of wiggling…

"…a very fun…"

Another mumble and once again island forming motion.

"…island!"

"Hm. Strangers. You know nothing of this place." A man in the show said, he was the same man that went to Bear King's castle earlier that day, his words of course got everyone's attention. "The time for calling this island 'fun' is in the distant past. There was a time when this was an island of dreams." He was sitting with the woman from before, his wife.

Luffy gulped down the food.

"We created an autonomous clock to commemorate the birth of our child. We were congratulated by all the people of the island." Woman said.

"Wow! So you two made the Diamond Clock?" Akisu exclaimed.

"But… Ever since the Trump Siblings occupied this island, we've been living through hell every day." Everyone looked at the male again. "Now we are only making tools for killing. If we rebel, Bear King will destroy the island. By occupying the castle that houses the central key there is no limit to their control."

"That's cruel…!" Akisu got angry.

"Fear not, for your problems shall soon be solved! Because Trump Siblings will be defeated by these guys, the greatest pirates in the world!" Borodo promised.

"Hey, we haven't agreed on anything." Sanji reminded him.

"That's right!" Usopp agreed with Sanji. "We only want to get our stuff back! Can't we just do that?"

All along Vergil and Zoro looked at Borodo suspiciously.

"But didn't that just make your blood boil?" Borodo tried to persuade them.

Doesn't it make your blood boil?" Akisu repeated.

"As long as those bastards are here, nothing can help this island."

"Nothing can save it!"

"Two things Borodo." Vergil began. "Number one, we are here to get Nami and our stuff back. Number two, no it does not make my blood boil. I don't care one bit about this island, especially if the people themselves have no resolve to save themselves, they are bunch of cowards who only sit and listen without once thinking about what their situation actually is."

"And what do you know about us?" The man snapped at him.

"That you are stupid. Bear King is also on this island. He is either too stupid to realize that he'll also die if he destroys the central key or whatever or he wants to die, since he's not actually doing something to die I'll guess he is just plain stupid. Furthermore you are all bunch of cowards, you look like you grieve over making tools for the killing, you say that you live in hell but what for? The pirate clearly needs you so how come you are all plain 'Yes Sir, no Sir, three bags full Sir' 24 hours a day? People who show no attempt to help themselves deserve no help whatsoever."

"You are cruel bastard." Borodo hissed as he glared at Vergil.

"I'm perfectly fine with that."

"Either way. Aren't you just thinking the Diamond Clock will be easier to steal without them around?" Usopp spoke up.

"Ah, hey!" Borodo clapped Usopp's mouth to stop him from spilling out something else.

"I see. We won't mind. We'd be grateful if you were to take it away. Whenever I see it it only reminds me of painful past." Woman said. "However stealing it is impossible. All of those who tried before have perished."

"It's not impossible! There's nothing Borodo can't steal!" Akisu declared.

"Y-Yeah!" Borodo agreed.

Woman stood up. "You just don't understand just how terrible Trump Siblings are. If you don't want to die please leave this island at once."

"We can't do that." Sanji said.

"We've got some private business with them." Zoro explained.

"Death creates no future for you!" She argued.

"If you don't risk your life, you can't create future." Luffy said.

"Eh?"

The others simply smiled at Luffy's words.

"Right?" He asked and then ran out. "Let's go!"

"Yeah!" Zoro and Vergil agreed.

"Please wait for me, Nami-san." Sanji muttered.

Akisu fell face first on the ground. "What are you doing now?" Usopp helped him get up.

"Akisu, let's go!" Borodo told him.

"OK!" Akisu exclaimed.

"You people…!" The woman and her husband came out but the crew and two thieves were already too far. She noticed a music box that Akisu dropped when he had fallen. "That boy was… Akisu…?" She realized.

-Trump Castle-

A hand with royal flush made out of spade cards was dropped to the floor.

"Ahahahaha! I win again!" And with that the Trump Siblings fully realized just how much of a trouble Nami was, they couldn't win a single round with her there… "It's too bad, huh?"

"_This girl's good… If this keeps up I'll soon be naked-gas_…" Skunk One was sweating nervously.

"But, I wonder what's going on out there, could it be that none of her friends are coming to save her?" Honey Queen asked as if she was trying to get Nami devastated.

"They must've gotten killed by the traps along the way." Boo Jack guessed.

"Those guys won't die that easily! It just wouldn't be a challenge then!" Nami brushed it off.

"A 'dog' in a well knows nothing of the ocean." Pin Joker said.

"You mean' frog'." Nami corrected him, again.

"Well, I think I'll take a look at what's going on." Honey Queen said and stood up.

"What's this? Running away? Do you know how much you owe me? Or will you pay me with your body?" Nami inquired but gasped when Honey Queen stripped all of her clothes off without a bit of shame whatsoever.

It wasn't what Nami inquired though, she wasn't going to pay with her body, instead she turned into some kind of fluid.

"W-What?" Nami could only try to understand what she just saw as the woman went into a pipe.

"Well, I'll go too!" Boo Jack left as well, though he was riding a unicycle over a rope.

"That woman… Did she…?" Nami realized it, Honey Queen had eaten a Devil Fruit.

* * *

_**And that's it.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Raiding The Trump Castle**_


	73. Raiding The Trump Castle

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Guest – Thank you, after this one there will be two chapters at most, though I think I'll be able to put it to an end in one more chapter.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review, glad to hear that.**_

_**KP360 – As you've seen the story takes place after Loguetown Arc. It for the most part follows the basic of the first movie as in two characters that go along with the main crew. For the most part the movie is about defeating the trump Siblings to free the Clockwork Island and to get back Nami and Merry. I don't know what else to say and keep the spoilers for the rest of the movie out of it.**_

_**20th Cboys fan – Thank you.**_

_**Guest – Thanks for the review. Well there's still a long way to go to get there, the confession will happen before Sabaody, that much I can tell you. Although romance is far from the main point of the story.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 73 – Raiding The Trump Castle**_

* * *

"Yahoo!" Luffy cheered as he and the others used a makeshift hot-air balloon to cross over the mine field.

"Sweet! We've got the bird's eye view of the whole place!" Usopp exclaimed.

"Don't get too carried away. There's a field of landmines down there." Borodo's words stopped Usopp from being as amazed as he was.

"Eh? Those windmills…" Luffy pulled out his little windmill toy. "They look just like this thing."

"Maybe it floated away from this island." Usopp guessed as Luffy tried to wind it up, though it appeared to be broken.

"Eh? It's not working." Rubber boy said.

"Let me look at it." Akisu requested and Luffy gave the toy to him. Boy looked at it for a moment before using a couple of tools to fix it.

"That's awesome." Usopp praised.

"Akisu is something else. Even though he's never practiced, he can fix all kinds of machines." Borodo said.

Finally the repairs were done and the windmill began spinning. "All right, it's fixed."

"Whoa! It's working! You're great!" Luffy exclaimed. "Thanks!" He patted the boy's back and laughed along with him.

"Oh my. You're still alive." They heard a voice coming from a pipe nearby. Honey Queen in her liquid state came out of the pipe and the shape of her body slowly formed.

"She's… a Devil Fruit user." Vergil realized.

"It's that sexy lady!" Sanji drooled over her and leaned over the basket way too much so Usopp had to hold him back… "I wonder what I should do first!"

"Get a grip already." Usopp told him.

"She's not a normal human…" Zoro realized as well that defeating her might not be as easy as they originally thought.

"Bingo! Quite right!" Boo Jack threw her her clothes.

"I ate the Toro Toro no mi _**(jelly like substance)**_." Honey Queen revealed. "Boo Jack. Reward them."

"Yay, reward me!" Sanji was still love struck but as the realization that the male was about to reward him dawned upon him he turned back to normal. "Like hell!"

Boo Jack threw a ball at white ball toward Borodo and Sanji jumped in to stop it.

"Something like this…" He was about to say that it was nothing but then black spikes burst out of the ball making everyone's eyes widen. It was too late to do anything as Sanji's foot got impaled by them.

"Sanji!" Luffy yelled.

"It went straight for his foot." Zoro growled out of irritation.

"Damn it, we have to get a grip." Vergil cursed as Borodo caught Sanji.

"You saved him. You shouldn't have!" Her eyes flashed with malice as she blasted them with a wave of some sort of fluid.

Vergil was about to electrify the fluid and Honey Queen but then realized it would affect everyone but him and Luffy as well. "_Shit…_"

The intensity of the attack made Borodo drop Sanji so the blond cook fell right onto one of the mines.

"Sanji!" Luffy and Vergil yelled and Zoro held Vergil back as the demon tried to jump out.

-Trump Castle-

Nami's eyes widened when completely tied up and even more beaten up Sanji got tossed on the floor next to her.

"Sanji-kun!" She gasped and took notice of the state of his wounds, the most noticeable were his feet were covered in blood.

"N-Nami-san… I feel ashamed to look this way." He breathed out.

"Sanji-kun!"

"See how kind I am?" Bear King ran up to her. "I didn't kill him because he's your friend."

All the while Sanji was gasping for breath and Nami sent him a glare before getting an act put together. She stood up and stepped over Sanji. "Hmph. I don't care about him anyways, a strong man like you is better."

"Didn't I tell ya?"

"But, marriage is a very important event in girl's life." She hoped to buy some time.

"I know."

"So in exchange, my nakama…-" She tried to propose but she was interrupted.

"Hey, Skunk One!" Bear King called the male.

"Aye, I'll help her decide-gas!" Skunk One left, it seemed as if Bear King had thought that Nami wanted her comrades dead…

"Wait! That's not what I meant!" Nami tried to stop him.

"So what shall we do next?" Bear King asked as he stood in front of her.

Skunk One flew up by using the gas that came out of his suit.

-In front of the castle's gate-

Luffy dusted off as the crew remained in front of the gates.

"Damn it! How did it end up this way?" Usopp slammed his fist against his leg out of frustration. "It wouldn't have happened if I had my pachinko balls and slingshot."

"Don't make up excuses. You just aren't brave enough." Akisu told him.

"What?"

"Borodo'd try to save me even if his hands and feet were chopped off."

It was true, Borodo didn't have his left hand, instead he had a prosthetic hand, a sign of sacrifice that needed to be done to save Akisu.

"Your hand…" Luffy breathed out.

"For you?" Usopp asked the boy.

"That's right! Borodo's amazing! He risks his life to protect me. He's a great man!" Akisu said proudly.

Vergil glared at him but Usopp was the one to drop down the bombshell.

"Hey. What are you bragging about if you always need him to save you?" Usopp knew it the best, the feeling that you always need to be saved, it wasn't something to be proud of.

Akisu seemed to realize it for a brief moment as he turned away out of shame. "Well… I'm just a kid. I'm not strong enough."

Usopp stood up. "Man or child! Strong or weak! None of those matter once you are out at the sea!"

"That's enough! What do you know about Akisu?" Borodo tried to shield the boy again and again.

"I don't! I just can't stand people who think that it's natural for others to save them!" Usopp yelled.

"It's not like I want to be!" Akisu defended himself.

"What was that?!" Usopp shouted at him.

"You are making a mistake as well. Let the brat grow up, otherwise he's depend on you for as long as he lives." Vergil interfered.

"What's wrong with watching his back?" Borodo challenged.

"There's nothing wrong with taking care of him from time to time, there's nothing wrong with saving him. But there is something wrong with pampering him and that's what you are doing. If the brat ends up depending on you for the rest of his life he'll just die once he ends up alone." The demon stated bluntly.

All the while Luffy looked at the skies, he was thinking about Shanks. He lifted his arms up to stretch out a bit. "Well, let's get going. Hey kid, if you're afraid of dying, go home."

"What?!" Akisu shouted out.

"Because, I ain't going to save a weak little crybaby." Luffy said just as bluntly as Vergil making Borodo fall back for a moment.

"Both of you are crazy." He muttered.

"Who's going back? I'm…" Akisu acted just like any other pampered child…

"Okay. Then, don't hold back!" Akisu's eyes widened. "**Gomu Gomu no Pistol**!" Luffy broke down the wooden gates of the castle's yard. "Here I go!" He was going to rush in but then he saw hundreds of pirates heading straight at him and began running to his left. "Ah! They're after me!"

"You think you can do it alone?" Zoro ran into the castle's yard.

"Don't you dare step back to this bunch of weaklings Luffy!" Vergil shouted out and it seemingly got Luffy pumped up as the rubber man stopped running.

"**Gomu Gomu no Whip**!" He swept about a dozen pirates to the side.

"Leave some to us." Zoro smirked and rushed through a small crowd, he punched one of the pirates and grabbed his sword before he sliced his way throughout the rest of the pirates that surrounded him.

Vergil narrowed his eyes before charging lightning around his body. "Get out of my sight. **Discharge**." Electrified pirates dropped to the ground while some of the others just ran away.

Though for every defeated or scared pirate two more joined the battle…

Pin Joker observed the scene from the top of the castle. "And thus Roronoa Zoro has arrived."

After long time spent in waiting for it, it seemed that Bear King had finally gotten what he asked for, a massive construction was brought in by the three pirates that previously followed El Drago. Behind them stood another one of El Drago's followers, the swordsman defeated by Zoro, Gorashi…

"What?" Nami spoke up as she tried to figure out what the thing under the curtain was.

"It's complete! Finally!" Bear King actually ran, albeit quite slowly, toward his long awaited weapon.

"As expected of the amazing Bear King-sama!" One of the trio praised.

"So much better than our previous lord, El Drago-sama! Even your weapons are special!" Second one added, all three of the pirates were doing some sort of wiggling dance…

"The great killing machine, the 'King Cannon' is complete!" The last one declared.

Gorashi remained silent.

"Like a shooting fish in the quarrel." Pin Joker attempted to get it right…

"You mean barrel." Nami yet again corrected him…

"The King Cannon." Honey Queen gasped.

"Hmm... That's it?" Boo Jack asked.

"And now… Our legend shall begin! With me as the ruler of the world's oceans, the Pirate King!" Bear King declared

Sanji let out a groan as he regained consciousness.

"Sanji-kun!" Nami who was by his side this entire time turned to him.

"Nami-san. Sorry…" He apologized.

"It'll be alright. These guys are idiots, I can handle…" She tried to assure him.

"That's no good." Sanji made her turn back to him.

"Huh?"

"I… I wanted to save you with my own strength." He confessed.

Her eyes softened up as she looked at him, she felt sorry, for getting captured, for him getting this hurt because of her…

"And then…" He began bouncing up and down like some kind of worm shaped bouncing ball… "'Thank you, Sanji-kun!' Nami-san would embrace me, and then we'd do this and that together!" So that's how it was…

"Hey now…" And Nami got irked by the statement, she knew she could be flirty and quite bold but she wasn't that easy to get into the beg… Her thoughts though wandered off to the unfulfilled wish of the slightly tingling massage done by the white haired demon. "_What am I thinking?!" _She berated herself, she was a human not a demon, there was no way they'd ever be anything but friends, comrades, yeah that was all they would ever be.

"Hey, you letch!" Nami's train of thoughts was cut short when Bear King ran up to them. "What's your relation with my fiancée?!"

"The relation being I have rubbed suntan lotion on her smooth skin." Sanji smirked at him victoriously.

"What was that?!" Bear King grabbed the ropes tied around Sanji and lifted him up in the air. "We'll crucify this one!" He declared. "Even if you are her friend, you're going to die in a public execution!" he threw Sanji and the blond cook bounced off the ground a couple of times before slamming against the wall and falling back down to the floor face first.

Boo Jack stepped on Sanji. "You should watch your mouth. Weak pests like you can't be called 'friends'. There's no way you could save her." He mocked.

"You freaking pig… I'll make you eat those words." Sanji promised and he sure as hell was going to keep his word.

-Yard-

Luffy, Vergil and Borodo punched their way through the pirates while Zoro cut them down.

Usopp held onto his nose. "This reeks, what is this?"

Pirates moved to the side as Skunk One stood on the pole. "Welcome to the Trump Castle!" He greeted them. "Your friends have been waiting you for quite some time." He pointed at the highest level of the castle where Sanji's unconscious form rested, he was tied to a cross…

"Sanji!" Luffy gasped while the others greeted their teeth.

"But the mighty Bear King-sama seems to be in good mood-gas. Now who shall be next to be captured-gas?" Skunk One let out the gas from the bag on his back.

"Gross!" Luffy covered his nose.

"What is this?" Zoro did the same.

"It's **Devil Gas**. If it gets into your system you will soon be paralyzed and totally helpless-gas. I'm full, full of gas!" Skunk One revealed.

"**Devil Gas**? Yeah right." Vergil began stepping toward him but he was being affected by the gas as well… To make matters worse Skunk One was ready to let out quite a lot of gas.

"Hey he's not joking! If he lets out that much…!" Zoro tried to move as well but he dropped to his knees. "Luffy! Vergil!"

"It's no good. I don't feel like doing anything." Luffy was sitting on the ground.

"Hey!" Zoro yelled at the captain.

Usopp and Akisu stood at the side while Skunk one laughed. The sniper sweated nervously but he knew he had to do something. "Akisu, you said I didn't have any courage before, right?" He reminded the boy. "Then you better watch me carefully now, brat. And see just how great I, the mighty Usopp, can be!" With that being said he dashed off to the pole and began climbing up.

"Usopp!" Akisu yelled out.

Usopp reached Skunk One and pressed the side of his face against the hole that let out gas.

"Hey! Let go of me-gas!" Skunk One tried to throw him off.

"N-N-No way I'm letting go!" Usopp resolved.

"He's insane." Borodo said.

"I'll take care of him! Don't worry, just hurry and go!" He urged his nakama.

The gas erupted from the hole and made Skunk One fly up to the air. "Have you realized it yet?" he mocked but Usopp pressed his mouth against the hole thus making the gas go directly into his body.

"Usopp!" Akisu shouted.

"Let's go Akisu!" Borodo urged him.

"But…" Boy tried to say.

"Don't waste his courage! Move it, Akisu!" Borodo began running.

Skunk one managed to get back to the highest level of the castle and Usopp fell on the floor unconscious.

"What a nuisance! He should've been unconscious ages ago!" Skunk One hissed.

"Usopp!" Nami gasped and was about to run up to him but Bear King held her back.

"You worried about that man?" Bear King asked her.

Nami pushed his hand off of her. "Of course! He's my nakama!"

"The only person you need to worry for is me! Crucify and execute him too!" Bear King ordered.

"Aye!" Skunk One happily obliged to the order.

Nami wasn't having any more of this, thus she grabbed a broom and tried to hit Skunk One with it. The older pirate easily dodged all of her attempts to strike him and eventually grabbed her by her neck and made her drop the broom as he almost slammed her against the floor. She glared at the man and greeted her teeth out of frustration.

"And what were you trying to do-gas?" He asked her.

"Hey now, you're going to get your lovely dress dirty." Bear King picked her up bridal style. "Fighting's of no use, my dear."

Nami shut her eyes out of frustration as he carried her away…

-With Luffy-

The group of five was quickly advancing through the pirates that tried to stop them.

"Hey, up there!" Luffy exclaimed and they glanced toward their goal to see Usopp next to Sanji.

"Usopp!" Akisu gasped.

"Come on, they don't have much time." Vergil urged them.

They went through another door and found themselves in front of the island's key.

"What is this?" Luffy asked.

"It's the island's main key. It supports the whole island from this castle." Borodo said.

"Hey, let's get going." Zoro said and the four males began running again, however Akisu didn't start running in time and was hit on top of the head with a wooden staff…

"Akisu?" Borodo turned around and saw two pirates, quickly he got in front of Akisu and knocked the two pirates out. "Akisu!" He tried to wake the boy up.

"Tch, stupid brats." Vergil clenched his teeth, children like Akisu had no place in this castle.

Suddenly the doors were shut with iron bars and the floor began shaking.

"What the…?" Luffy looked around before the floor underneath them raised up. Vergil, Zoro and Luffy managed to stop it before it squashed them though.

"Akisu!" Borodo was still worried about Akisu who regained consciousness.

"I had to rely on you again, Borodo." He muttered and fell unconscious again.

"Akisu… Don't worry about those stupid things. We're… brothers." He assured the unconscious boy.

"Why is this so heavy?" Luffy asked.

"It's a trap! We won't last long." Zoro said. "Borodo help us out!" He demanded.

The thief had other plans though as he picked up Akisu and glanced at the trio.

"Why you guys are in a bad predicament. What a disappointment. Looks like even with all your strength you can't beat the Trump Siblings."

"What?" Luffy asked while Zoro and Vergil glared at Borodo.

"I even stole your ship and brought you here." Borodo remembered stealing the Going Merry.

"You were the one who… took our ship." Luffy realized.

"So that was it. I knew you were fishy all along." Zoro said.

"We both did, but we didn't act on it…" Vergil berated himself but glared at Borodo either way.

"You deceived us so you could steal the Diamond Clock!" Zoro came to a conclusion as Borodo jumped down to the safety of the stairs.

"I never wanted that from the start. What I wanted was for you guys to defeat the Trump Siblings. To free this island. That was all." Borodo revealed.

"W-Why?" Luffy asked.

"For him… I wanted to see him return to his family living on this island." Now all the pieces fit in together. Borodo urging them to defeat the Trump Siblings, finding Akisu, everything fit in now…

"So this island is Akisu's…?" Zoro put it together as well.

"It's his hometown, I'm sure of it. Sorry to have dragged you into this. I've got another favor to ask. If something happens to me please take care of Akisu." Borodo made his final request.

"Wha…?" Zoro's eyes widened.

"As things are, looks like it's up to me to fight them."

"Idiot! You know you can't win! Come and help us!" Zoro snapped at him.

"Leave it already. If I risk my life maybe I can create the future." Borodo glanced at Akisu and grinned. "Right?" He was pretty much daring them to say 'No.' and then he ran off…

"Borodo! That fool, does he want to die? Hey Luffy! Can't you do something about this ceiling?!" Zoro snapped at his captain.

"There'll be none of that." A new voice spoke up as elevator dropped in front of them and revealed Pin Joker.

"Are you doing this?" Zoro asked.

"Roronoa Zoro, it's been quite a while. You gave me this scar, right on my face." Pin Joker stated and pointed at his scar. "I shall never forget that." He drew his sword and pointed it at Zoro.

"You… Who are you?" Zoro honestly didn't remember him.

"What, don't you remember?" Pin Joker lost his cool.

"Not a bit. I don't etch weaklings in my memory." Zoro bluntly stated.

"That's for sure." Luffy agreed.

"Seriously, I get it that he's weak but how can you forget that ridiculous makeup?" Vergil asked.

"Then I'll make you feel it. The price for putting your hand in my mouth." And he did it again.

"Don't you mean 'foot'?" Zoro was the one to correct him this time.

"Silence! **Special Attack! Needle Needle Sting**!" Pin Joker threw needles toward the trio and the first one in their way was Luffy.

Zoro stopped holding the ceiling.

"Zoro why the hell did you say that?!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Idiot!" Vergil snapped as the wall of darkness he had created in front of Luffy disappeared.

"Zoro… You…" Luffy's eyes widened as he saw Zoro kneeling there with the needles all over him.

"That was dangerous." Zoro breathed out. "They all got me."

Pin Joker smirked.

"Sorry about that, Luffy, Vergil. Can you hold out a bit longer. I'll clean up right away." He may have said that but he was struggling to even get up.

"Don't try to hide it with that cool face! I put some of the poison from Skunk One's gas on those needles. Your body will soon become unable to move." Pin Joker mocked.

"Damn it!" Zoro rushed toward him but the iron bars stood in his way and he slammed head first into them. Pin joker used the opportunity to stab him.

"Zoro!" Luffy and Vergil yelled.

"One man's feat is another man's poison." Pin Joker said as Zoro fell down.

"'M… Meat'" Zoro corrected him.

"Zoro!" Luffy yelled again as Zoro got taken away.

-With Others-

Usopp's eyes slowly opened and the first thing he saw was the situation they were in, well the situation in which Zoro, Sanji and himself were in.

"What's going on?!" This time it was completely justified for him to lose his composure.

Nami could only watch helplessly, her nakama were in danger and she couldn't do a thing about it…

"Where are the last two, 30 million and 18 million beri guys?" Bear King asked.

"By now they have been crushed under the ceiling." Pin Joker stated.

"We were able to show Bear King-sama's mighty strength without him fighting." Boo Jack laughed.

"And now you can marry her, right?" Honey Queen proposed.

"I'll go immediately to prepare the wedding party-gas." Skunk One assured him.

"All right. The main attraction will be testing our ultimate killing machine, King Cannon!" Bear King declared and took of the curtain to reveal his cannon. "The target will be those three!"

"What did you say?!" Nami panicked as he pointed at her nakama.

"And then you'll become the Pirate King's bride." Bear King told her and then touched the bottom of her chin to lift her face up a bit. "How's that? You must be overjoyed."

Nami lifted her leg up and slammed her heel against his forehead. "Who the hell would want to marry something like you?" She decided to be completely blunt about it.

Bear King's eyes narrowed. "Are you aware of what you are saying?"

"Compared to being married to something like you, I'd rather be killed with them!" She said it.

Bear King made a wrong decision once again and slapped Nami to the side. She skidded across the ground from the force of the impact. "As you wish. Cancel the wedding party and make it a memorial to my broken heart and execute this woman along with them!" Bear King ordered.

"Aye!" Skunk One obliged.

Nami still didn't open her eyes nor did she move after the hit she took…

-With Luffy and Vergil-

Akisu regained consciousness and woke up. He turned to Luffy and Vergil. "Luffy what are you doing? Where's Borodo?" He asked.

"He went to face the Trump Siblings." Luffy told him.

"What did you say? Borodo!" He was about to run after Borodo…

"Akisu come here now." Vergil spoke up in an even voice, however the dangerous intent that came through made Akisu gulp and return to the demon's side.

"We have to help Borodo!" Boy argued and glared at Vergil.

Vergil greeted his teeth. "_The hell are we doing, if we can't get out of this there is no way we can go to the Grand Line…"_ He cursed and resolved once more. "Luffy get closer to me, I'll blast this ceiling into smithereens." He decided.

Luffy looked at his first mate, from the looks in his eyes it was clear to Luffy that Vergil knew what he was doing, most importantly he understood why Vergil seemed so frustrated, they didn't even enter the Grand Line yet… Luffy lowered his arms down and crawled closer to his first mate.

Vergil faced the ceiling that was threatening to crush them. It happened in less than a moment but to Luffy it seemed like time slowed down the moment Vergil dropped his arms as well. As if in slow motion Luffy opened his mouth but no sound came out as surprise clearly showed itself in the young captain's eyes. Surprise disappeared as soon as darkness began forming in Vergil's mouth. As the ceiling came about half a centimeter away from Vergil the ball of darkness hit it and destroyed it.

"Shishishishi! Let's go." Captain laughed and grinned at his first mate who had some light burns around his mouth, courtesy of **Darkness Blast**. The same technique Vergil used to blast the stairs before was used again just about five seconds ago to create a hole in the ceiling.

"You're hurt." Akisu realized as Vergil touched the burns.

"This is what happens when I use **Darkness Blast** or one of my **Breaths** at this range, though **Darkness Blast** makes smaller burns." Vergil explained and motioned toward the stairs. "How about we get a shortcut, or rather make it." He smirked.

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_**That's it.**_

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_**Next Chapter – VS Trump Siblings**_


	74. VS Trump Siblings

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Blazeinferno – Thanks for the review, I'm glad you liked it.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you, I'm glad I did it.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**Ryujin – Thank you.**_

_**Nexus the Ice dragon king – Hm, I guess there are some similarities, though can you explain in which ways exactly. Either way thanks for the reviews, I'm glad you liked it.**_

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_**Chapter 74 – VS Trump Siblings**_

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"Shishishishi! Let's go." Captain laughed and grinned at his first mate who had some light burns around his mouth, courtesy of **Darkness Blast**. The same technique Vergil used to blast the stairs before was used again just about five seconds ago to create a hole in the ceiling.

"You're hurt." Akisu realized as Vergil touched the burns.

"This is what happens when I use **Darkness Blast** or one of my **Breaths** at this range, though **Darkness Blast** makes smaller burns." Vergil explained and motioned toward the stairs. "How about we get a shortcut, or rather make it." He smirked.

"Shishishi! Yep!" Luffy agreed completely and Vergil shot the **Darkness Blast** through the roof.

"Let's go." Vergil said and picked up Akisu by the collar of his shirt before Air Hiking to the next floor. Luffy on the other hand simply stretched out his hand and went up.

Six floors later the blast made a familiar voice yelp.

"So there you are you damned suicidal thief…" Vergil spoke up as he and Luffy looked at Borodo who was sitting on the ground and rubbing his head.

"Borodo!" Akisu happily ran into his big brother's arms but as soon as he touched him he realized that there was something wrong. "Borodo…?"

The older thief looked away from the child. The guilt was evident on his face.

"You were trying to take down Trump Siblings by blowing yourself up, eh?" The bored tone of Vergil's voice turned to a chillingly cold one as he asked that.

"This is my way of doing things. I need to free this island." Borodo stated, he was fully ready to get himself killed if that meant taking the Trump Siblings down as well.

"Don't die! Borodo!" Akisu tried to talk him out of it as tears threatened to fall from his eyes.

Vergil looked at Akisu for a moment and then looked at Borodo. "If you make someone depend on you then make a damn good effort to see them grow out of that dependence." With that being said the demon prepared to shoot one of the last **Darkness Blasts** needed to reach the final level of the castle.

Borodo looked at Akisu who was still clinging to him and smiled bitterly at his own recklessness. "Sorry…" He whispered and then turned to Luffy and Vergil. "Can you two defeat them?"

"Of course." Luffy assured him and the large grin on the straw hat wearing captain's face backed up his confidence.

"**Darkness Blast**." The blast hit the ceiling…

-With Nami-

Nami woke up and could only watch as Bear King prepared the shot of his King Cannon.

Much to the joy of the Trump Siblings and misfortune of the present Straw Hats the cannon worked just fine and it began blowing out the steam, in this case it signaled that it was getting ready to fire.

Zoro greeted his teeth, while the others braced themselves, though Nami and Usopp were on the verge of screaming. Well they did let out a yelp when the floor about five meters from them got blasted.

"What are you screaming for, Princess?" Vergil asked as he, Luffy, Borodo and Akisu stepped onto the final floor.

"Vergil!" Nami cried out from joy.

"Luffy!" Usopp was just as happy as the orange haired girl.

"About time." Sanji said.

"Heh, you're slow." Zoro grinned.

"Sorry, shishishi!" Luffy laughed.

"So you are Straw Hat Luffy, and you are Black Thunder Vergil?" Bear King walked up to them.

"What about it? Want an autograph?" Vergil smirked.

"Why you… Gorashi take care of the small fry, leave the Straw Hat to me." Bear King ordered making Vergil's eyes widen.

"Gorashi?" The demon repeated and turned around just in time to see the familiar man swing the large sword toward him. "You again. Tch, don't waste my time." Leonidas electrified his fist and slammed it against the wave that Gorashi's swing created. The lightning discharged around Vergil's fist and forearm before breaking apart the wave.

"Luffy I'm taking this one down." Vergil assured his captain and charged toward Gorashi who was ready to slice him.

Vergil punched the blade with darkness engulfed fist and a small trail of blood dripped down…

Even if he wanted to interfere in the battle between Vergil and Gorashi Luffy ended up having to dodge bear King's punch.

"**Gomu Gomu no Gatling**!" Every single none of the punches hit bear King but he didn't even budge. "Eh?"

"N-Not a scratch!" Borodo realized as Luffy stopped the assault.

"My power is as strong as steel, with the power of the Kachi Kachi no mi. _**(Sound of knocking stones together to create a fire)**_ A flimsy little rubber twerp like you can't beat me." He bragged.

Luffy seemed to understand that as he tapped his palm. "I see. That's how it is. So it's impossible." Though Luffy agreed he was still as calm as anyone could be.

"You agree with him?!" Borodo snapped.

"Heh, admitting defeat already?" Bear King mocked.

"Nope, not at all. We never lose, you know."

And to prove the words of his captain Vergil pushed away the blade that he had managed to block earlier. "**Lightning Rush**." He went by Gorashi thus electrifying the former crewmate of El Drago. It still wasn't enough as the larger male still gripped on his sword.

"Try finding a right man to follow." Vergil said and charged lightning into his fist before slamming it down into Gorashi's guts thus sending him quite a lot of floors down.

"Amazing!" Akisu cheered and Nami let out a small sigh of relief.

Vergil quickly went to the others and blasted the crucifixes thus freeing the remaining three males.

"Thanks Vergil." Usopp thanked him as the they stepped forward.

"Your turn, make it count." Vergil said and stepped back to let them take care of their opponents.

And so it was, Usopp yelped as he jumped out of Skunk One's way and quickly climbed up the wall to the pool at which Merry and two other ships were.

"Usopp!" Zoro shouted but he didn't have time to go and help Usopp as he dodged Pin joker's blade.

Sanji untied Nami's hands and then stepped in front of her to stop Boo Jack.

"I won't let you touch Nami-san… and I'll beat the crap out of your riddling ass." Though Sanji did say that Vergil walked up to Nami as well.

"You're going to kick me?" Boo Jack laughed. "What can you possibly do with feet as badly injured as that?"

Sanji growled. "Bast-" He was cut off by his very own shoe hitting his face. "What are you…?" He realized that it was his shoe and looked up. "Usopp!" The sniper had thrown the shoes from Merry.

Usopp went to toss Zoro's swords down as well, however as Skunk One rushed to him he had to delay that for a moment.

"**Sure Kill: Egg Star**!" The rotten egg hit Skunk One straight to the face causing the older pirate to fall onto Merry's board and start trashing around.

"It reeks! A rotten egg-gas! I can't stand smelly things-gas!" Well that was certainly ironic.

"You're the one to talk!" Usopp pointed out the irony of the situation.

"Why you!" Skunk One stood up and ran toward Usopp who slipped to the side and then leaned back forward to grab Zoro's swords.

"Here! Catch these!" The sniper dropped the swords down into Nami's hands.

"Thanks!" Zoro ran up to Nami to take his katana but Pin Joker attacked him from behind.

"Zoro!" Nami gasped, Vergil smirked and Pin Joker's attack was easily blocked once Zoro got Yubashiri and Sandai Kitetsu out of their sheaths.

"Attacking from behind, are you?" Zoro scolded him.

Sanji had finished putting on his shoes and Nami stepped to the side in order to stay out of Sanji's way. Either way she was glad to see Vergil walking up to her.

"Thanks…" She muttered, she knew her crew could take anyone down but she liked it, being by his side.

"Anytime." He grinned.

Boo Jack was still confident he could take Sanji down. "Hmph. What difference will it make by putting those on? A weak guy like you can't protect anything."

"Hey, got a light?" Sanji asked, he wasn't one to get angry so easily, or at the very least he wasn't the one to show getting angry so easily.

"Just die against my **Spike Spike Armor**!" Boo Jack jumped up and began spinning as the spike filled armor protected him.

Sanji just kicked him away all the way to the bell making Boo Jack bounce from the bell to the other end of the room.

Borodo's eyes widened as Boo Jack coughed up blood.

Sanji jumped up. "What is it…" He kicked Boo Jack from the upside down thus sending him straight to the floor. "That I can't do!" He kicked him again and it was only the miracle that allowed Honey Queen to evade her almost defeated comrade.

Sanji ran by her and shop kicked Boo Jack through the floor.

"That guy's really great!" Akisu realized.

"I told you before!" Boo Jack fell to the ground. "I'm gonna make you eat your words." The final kick to the stomach ended the battle. In the end Boo Jack was no match for Sanji.

"He did it!" Akisu cheered.

"Bastard." Sanji turned around and began walking away. As he left his defeated opponent he tossed the cigarette that he hadn't even lit onto Boo Jack's head.

On the other hand Zoro was having a bit of trouble, he was panting because the of the strain he was putting himself through to fight back the poison. He ripped off the sleeves and tied the silk scarf around his waist before tying up his bandana.

"Roronoa Zoro, I admire you. You can still stand after taking my poisonous sting." Pin Joker praised. "But merely standing takes up all your energy!"

Zoro put the Wado inside his mouth. "Doesn't matter. I'll tell you up front, I'll never lose to anyone." He declared. "Because losing is… Absolutely unacceptable!"

Up above them Skunk One had recovered from the egg and easily dodged Usopp's pachinko.

Usopp let out a yelp and maybe he did try to move but Skunk One punched him and then kicked him in the face thus sending him onto Merry's figurehead.

As Usopp tried to breath normally again Skunk One took a break from fighting him. "Stop struggling-gas. You've got nowhere to run-gas! Have you forgotten about the power of my gas?"

Usopp began screaming while the gas using pirate rushed and jumped above him. Skunk One was ready to fire his gas again…

"Stop! No! Stop! Stay Back!" But suddenly he grinned and stopped panicking. "Yeah Right! **Flame Star**!" The flame producing ball caused the explosion of the gas that made Skunk One fly far away from the castle while Usopp jumped into the water. "You got what was coming for you, damn it!"

Back in the castle Luffy staggered backwards to evade a couple of punches before finally jumping backwards.

"**Gomu Gomu no Whip**!" He tried to kick Bear King, however the kick had no effect whatsoever, well not on Bear King anyways. Luffy spun around due to his leg snapping back to him so he couldn't evade Bear King's fist, he slammed into the wall and dropped to the ground. "Well… this isn't going so well." He tapped the floor with his finger while he lied there.

The only other battle seemed to drag out as well. Zoro was pulling back and dodging the relentless assault of Pin Joker's blade.

"Watch out!" Akisu had every reason to shout that out as Zoro stopped a step away from the edge of the castle…

Having no where left to step back Zoro had to wave his body left and right to evade the attempted stabs.

"Looks like you're in great deal of pain. You're getting crusty." And he got the word wrong again.

"You mean rusty." And of course Zoro corrected him.

"You wretched knave! **Needle Needle Sting**!" Once again Pin Joker tried to stab the needles into Zoro.

Zoro spun around and used **Dragon Twister** to make sure the needles were stopped and to attack while doing so. The blast of wind created by Zoro's swords pushed Pin Joker back quite a lot.

"Awesome!" Akisu exclaimed.

"Bastard! You should be paralyzed by now. How?" Pin Joker slowly got back onto his feet.

It wasn't so noticeable but Vergil could clearly see it, the aura that surrounded Zoro… It made the white haired demon ponder on it, was it because of the cursed, blood thirsty sword or was it Zoro himself…

"Unfortunately for you, I can't fall here." Zoro looked up and Pin Joker leaned back when he saw the way Zoro's widened eyes looked, the mad determination was clearly penetrating right through him and if the looks could kill this look would cause a mass death… "Because at the end of a distant road, there's a man waiting for me. Dying before I face him is out of the question!"

Zoro dashed forward and Pin Joker tried to counter… "**Demon Slice**!" It was over before Pin Joker could even try to react…

Pin Joker dropped down as blood spilled from the wound, it was hard to say if he would even survive…

"He did it!" Akisu pumped his fist up.

Zoro dropped to one knee due to exhaustion, though it was mostly caused by the poison…

Honey Queen was utterly terrified, her comrades were all defeated, well with the exception of her captain but it was pretty much clear that she was the next one.

"No! This is bad!" She realized, striped down her clothes in a brief moment, turned to liquid and went into the pipe to escape.

Her attempt to escape was quite predictable and Nami knew it. The orange haired thief had trapped Honey Queen in a jar. "Hope you had fun!"

"No way! Hey! Let me out! Let me out!" She ordered but Nami sealed the jar with the tape.

"It's no good." Nami teased making Vergil smirk.

"Nice job Princess." Vergil praised her and she grinned at him.

A sudden blast made them turn their attention back to Luffy's fight.

The rubber captain dropped from the wall once again… "Crap. What's with this guy?" He stood up and tried to punch Bear King, however Bear King caught his arm and tossed him up.

"Luffy!" Nami yelled.

Bear King jumped up and slammed his fists into Luffy thus making him break another column.

Akisu's eyes widened as it seemed that Luffy had no way to win this.

"Vergil help him!" Nami snapped at the first mate.

"If he can't win this he can't even hope to become a Pirate King…" Vergil hissed and even though Nami wanted to argue the way he clenched his fist in frustration, the way he greeted his teeth and narrowed his eyes, the way he forced every single muscle in his body to stand still and not to interfere, it made her drop the topic…

Bear King clenched his fist and it ignited in flame briefly. "**Hot Boiling Special**!" He hit Luffy's back causing the rubber man to scream out of pain. Luffy turned around and tried to strike back.

"**Gomu Gomu no Pistol**!" Bear King grabbed the fist and the hot stone hand burnt Luffy's fist. Luffy's eyes widened as he tried to pull his fist out. "HOT!" Bear King released his hand and Luffy quickly pulled it back before retreating slightly. "That won't work!"

"Heh, rubber man, it's over!" Bear King went to punch him again.

"Bear King!" Borodo momentarily took Bear King's attention off of Luffy.

Bear King jumped out of the way just in time as Borodo fired the King Cannon, the rocket went right through the glass and flew quite far away before hitting the ocean and causing the large waves to hit the island's shore.

"Wow." Nami gasped at the destructive power of the weapon.

"Borodo!" Akisu called his older brother.

"This one won't miss." Borodo threatened.

"Why you, that's my King Cannon!" Bear King was enraged, that much was clear. He pulled out a gun and aimed it at Borodo.

"Shit." Vergil cursed and rushed forward.

He wasn't the only one, as Bear King fired AKisu jumped in the way of the bullet.

"**Lightning Soul**." Vergil blasted a current of lightning into Akisu but instead of hurting the boy it encircled him and destroyed the bullet.

"Akisu!" Borodo left the cannon and ran up to his little brother who was now in Vergil's arms.

"Tch, reckless brat." Demon sounded quite annoyed.

"Akisu, are you alright?" Borodo asked him.

"I'm fine. I just wanted to help you." Akisu said.

"You helped me enough." He kindly smiled at the boy and then turned to Vergil. "Thank you."

Vergil simply nodded. "Luffy! You are the man that is going to become the Pirate King! You can't afford to lose to the pathetic bastard like him!" Vergil snapped at Luffy, not that it was needed as the rubber captain seemed enraged and determined even before Vergil said that.

"I won't let you get away with that!" Luffy shouted at Bear King. He shot out his arms and grabbed the heated hand, he ignored the pain of the burns and threw Bear King into the wall just above the cannon.

"That's more like it." Vergil said as he, Borodo and Akisu moved out of the way.

The impact caused the castle to slowly fall apart and two shops that were next to Merry fell off.

Bear King somehow got up and staggered forward. "How dare you… Grab me like that!" He lifted the fallen cannon and climbed into its seat. "You will be the victim of the King Cannon!"

Luffy rushed forward.

"Die!" Bear King fired the cannon.

Luffy grabbed the rocket and it pulled him along.

"Luffy!" Sanji shouted.

Luffy circled his feet around the steel construction and swirled his arms to change the course of the rocket.

Vergil smirked as he realized what was going to happen. "Let's get on Merry." He urged the others.

"What?!" Bear King gasped as the rocket got back to him.

"**Gomu Gomu no Screw**!" The rocket hit Bear King and as Luffy fell onto the floor the glass underneath the cannon began cracking.

The glass gave in and cracked making the cannon along with Bear King fall down, barely few moments later the rocket exploded thus destroying the island's main key.

Back in the village area people gathered outside because of all the commotion.

"What the?" Sanji spoke up first.

"It can't be! The island's key!" Nami realized.

"Yeah, let's scram." Vergil motioned them to go.

"Luffy!" They all called their captain who was panting, Nami threw him his straw hat and he caught it before putting it on his head.

Zoro and Sanji helped out Borodo and Akisu to climb onto the Going Merry where Usopp was waiting for them.

"Let's go." Vergil said and moved to get Nami.

She stopped for a moment, they had a couple of seconds after all. "I swear you and Zoro have a knack for getting injured." Nami muttered as she touched the corner of his lips, the slight burn had for the most part healed but she could see the faint mark of it.

Vergil lifted his hand up and touched the back of her hand. "We also have a knack for surviving." He said and she smiled.

"Yeah…" She looked him in the eyes and reluctantly pulled her hand back.

The former Despot looked toward Merry and then glanced at the damage they did to the main key. "We're running out of time here." He picked her up bridal style and **Air Hiked** up to the Going Merry.

"Say, did I ever mention that you look good in that?" Vergil asked out of blue making Nami's eyes widen, she followed his line of sight to make sure that he was talking to her and he sure was.

"No, you never did." She said and he grinned a bit.

"Well you look beautiful in the wedding dress." He complimented her before he landed on board of Going Merry.

-Village area-

"The main key has been destroyed. The island is destined to crumble with it." The male scientist from before was the one to state the situation… "Is everyone ready?"

People responded affirmatively.

Suddenly the citizens and the Straw hats heard the chiming.

"The Diamond Clock is chiming." Scientist realized.

"It hasn't chimed for so long." His wife added.

-With Straw Hats-

"This melody…" Borodo realized.

"It's just like Akisu's music box." Usopp said as he and the others tied the parachute to Merry.

"Come on, I'll take the two of you there." Vergil said and offered his hand to Akisu.

The boy took it and Vergil picked him up and placed him over his shoulder, Borodo held onto Vergil's other shoulder and the white haired demon jumped off of Merry.

"Vergil!" Usopp panicked.

"I'll meet you out on the sea!" Vergil assured them and **Air Hiked** downwards. "Hold tightly, this won't be an easy ride." He warned them and **Demon Slid** to evade falling onto the rubble. Once again he directed the **Air Hike** downwards and landed a couple of floors lower.

He repeated the combination once again and landed in the yard.

"How much time do you think we have left?" He asked.

"I'd say five or so minutes." Borodo guessed.

"A race against time, eh?" Vergil smirked and began **Demon Flashing** through the mine field, the explosions were left behind them as the demon moved toward the city.

"_I can do about two_ **Demon Flashes** _per second and with one I can get through about five to fifteen meters depending on the area. This is a quite decent area so I can cover about twelve meters per_ **Demon Flash**, _which means I need about forty two seconds to pass one kilometer. The area I need to pass through is about four and a half kilometers long so I'll need about three minutes and ten to twenty seconds to get to the city… I haven't tested my limits after the sealing, so I can't be sure that I can make it but I'll have to…"_ He strengthened his resolve and kept going.

Three minutes later they saw the people not too far away from them. "_Come on, just fifteen or so to go_." Vergil pushed himself a bit more and finally stopped about five meters away from the people. "Go." He breathed out as he sat down to catch a breath. "_So I can do about three hundred without a problem and my limit is about four hundred, pitiful…_" He faced the truth he was far weaker than before, two hundred Demon Flashes were needed to pass the exams for joining the troops of one of the normal Districts and you needed five hundred to join the Combat District…

Akisu and Borodo went to the female scientist holding Akisu's music box.

"Were… Were you the one who made that music box, miss?" Akisu asked.

She nodded.

"Are you…" Borodo seemed to connect the facts quite quickly.

"Yes." Male stated.

-Flashback-

"There's no other way!" They placed the shell into the water.

"What are you up to? You can't escape!" Pirates were already closing in on them…

Baby Akisu cried…

"Live! Survive!" His mother, one of the two lead scientists told him as he drifted away in the shell… "Somewhere the Trump Pirates can never reach!"

-Flashback ends-

"I could only hope that my child wouldn't die." Akisu's mother said as tears threatened to fall. "I could only hope." She began crying.

Akisu realized it as well, this was his mother…

"Then you are, Akisu's…" Borodo still couldn't say it.

"His mother."

There was no time to talk, the Diamond Clock stopped chiming and the island began crumbling, the mines that haven't exploded did so right now, the castle fell down and the gears dropped into the sea along with the entire island… It was the picture of utmost destruction of a human creation.

"Here!" Borodo threw a parachute toward Vergil. "It's a spare one." He assured the demon.

They weren't the only ones with the parachute, every single person on the island had one.

"_It's so ironic. The weapons we created destroyed our island."_

"_It couldn't be helped. It was fate. With it go our dark memories of the past seven years. As long as we still have our skill we can build a new island!"_

"_Yes. This is the future that we opened by risking our lives. We will gladly take it."_

As soon as the Going Merry closed in on the ship Akisu's parents took Vergil boarded it and let out a sigh.

"What's wrong?" Nami asked him as he lied down on the deck.

"I'm kinda tired, though I'm happy." He said and she gave him a bit of a puzzled look. "It's been ten years since I felt like I'm home." Her eyes widened as she realized that he was calling Merry his home.

"Are you sure you are a demon?" She teased.

He just laughed.

Akisu was standing next to his mother. "Are you hurt?" She asked, she didn't see any visible signs of injuries but she had to be sure.

Akisu blushed but then reacted the only way he knew, he snapped. "I'm fine! I'm a brave man of the sea!" But as he took his mother's hand tears fell down… "Mom…" He said and she began crying as well. "Mom's hands are warm."

Mother and her son hugged after so many years of being separated.

"Akisu…"

-A couple of hours later-

"Brat, I know you're here so come out." Vergil stepped into the Going Merry's storage.

"I'm going to go with Borodo." Akisu stated firmly.

Vergil sighed and sat down on one of the crates. "I'm not telling you not to go with Borodo, just make sure you give a chance to your parents. Make sure you see just what kind of people they are and then decide whether or not you want to stay in touch with them." The demon cut to the point right away and Akisu lowered his head a bit.

"I'm kinda scared of that…" The boy admitted.

"I don't blame you, but let me tell you. Blood ties are the least important thing in relationship. If you don't love them, if you don't agree with them, if you don't feel comfortable around them then don't force it upon yourself. Family is not made out of people that are blood related, it's made out of people that genuinely care about and love one another." He stood up. "Good luck, Akisu." He said and left the boy to ponder on his words.

-On the board-

Luffy leaned against the railing. "Hey, you okay with this?" He asked Borodo whose ship was sailing next to theirs for now.

"Yeah. His folks are great people. Akisu's gonna be happier on that island. I don't feel the least bit lonely. In fact I'm relieved to be alone. He's always tripping me up. Now I can keep all this treasure I took from the Trump Siblings for myself." Borodo tried to fake it but there were clearly tears in his eyes.

"But, will you really be alright alone?" Nami asked him.

"You've lost your only partner, right?" Sanji added.

"You can't call yourself a 'gang' of thieves anymore." Usopp added the salt to the wound.

"I'll find someone someday." Borodo stated.

"I don't think you have to." Zoro simply said as he saw Vergil stepping on the board along with Akisu.

"Hold up, Borodo!" Akisu jumped over to Borodo's boat.

"Akisu!" Borodo gasped.

"How could you leave me behind?! I knew you'd go and try something like this!"

"But you finally met up with your folks and…"

"Don't talk stupid! I'm a brave man of the sea now! I gotta risk my life to finish what I want to do!"

"But you…"

"We're the world's best 'Thief Brothers' aren't we?"

"Akisu…" Borodo could only stand speechless in front of his little brother. Finally he smiled. "Right." With that two ships slowly separated.

"Okay. Let's split the Trump Siblings' treasure now." Akisu said.

"Hey now."

"50/50 right? I'm an adult now, too." Akisu suggested.

"We agreed 70/30." Borodo reminded him.

"What? Don't be so stingy!"

"I'm not being stingy!"

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_**Movie 2 Arc – Finished**_

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_**That's it I swear this chapter was so boring to write and I find it to be one of the worst chapters of the story, maybe it's due to the fact that I'm so happy to soon reach the Grand Line.**_

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_**Trivia:**_

_**-Vergil was supposed to blast through the floors with a Lightning Breath.**_

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_**Next Arc – Warship Island Arc**_

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_**Next Chapter – The Puzzling Girl, Apis**_


	75. The Puzzling Girl, Apis

_**No answers on reviews since I can't see the reviews, I'll answer on them once the issue is fixed.**_

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_**Arc 9 – Warship Island Arc**_

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_**Chapter 75 – The Puzzling Girl, Apis**_

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Yet another storm was raging through the East Blue as five Marine ships held the formation. On one of those ships a girl that clearly didn't belong on a Marine ship looked through a window. Guessing what time it was she hid behind the doors and waited…

She didn't need to wait for too long, a marine knocked on the doors of her room. "Hey, I brought your food." But then the Marine realized that he couldn't see her in the room. He barged in and looked a bit more carefully or rather hectically… "Where're you hiding? Hey! C'mon don't even try it, there's a big storm outside! Come out right now damn it!" He looked under the beg hoping that she was just trying to fool him…

The girl was actually hit by the doors, as evident by the red marks on her face, she stepped out of her hiding spot but being the klutz she was she tripped and fell on the floor. She wasted time and allowed the Marine to grab her by the back of her robes.

"Look here! I keep telling you that you can't run away! If you'd behave I wouldn't have to be like this!" She just grinned nervously at him and for a moment he blindly believed that she would remain calm.

The girl began struggling to get free as she trashed her arms and legs around. "No way! Put me down! Let me go! Stop it!"

"Hey now, don't struggle!"

Luckily for the girl and extremely unfortunately for the Marine she kicked him in the family jewels.

"Let me…" And he did, he let go of her and she fell face first on the floor. Quickly she scrambled to the opposite wall and looked around to see if anyone else was coming, when she realizd no one was coming and that the unfortunate marine was pretty much frozen she gave herself a thumb up.

Bell ran to sign the escape of the girl as Marines rushed out to the board of their ship to find her.

"Don't let that girl escape! Search every part of the ship! Grab her the instant you see her! Remember she's just a kid. Don't do anything to hurt her." Quite considerate of him to worry about her…

Girl in question opened the doors next to him and tried to walk out but the wind was strong enough to blow her all the way to a little boat. She rubbed her head as she whined a bit.

"There she is!" Marines spotted her and ran forward to catch her.

She may be a clumsy girl but she still managed to climb all the way up to the crow's nest before Marines could catch her.

"Come down right now!"

"It's dangerous!"

Seeing that some Marines tried to climb to her she grabbed a knife and cut the ropes thus unfurling the sails. Of course in the middle of a storm it proved to be quite an amazing idea. The mast began falling and the entire ship threatened to sink.

"Don't unfurl the sails during the storm!" Marines yelled at her.

The supplies and a small boat fell from the ship and some Marines held onto the railing for their dear lives.

Girl looked at the small boat that floated on the raging ocean and strengthened her resolve. She held onto a necklace around her neck. "_Protect me, Ryu-ji_."

"She wouldn't…!" Marine realized what she could be thinking.

"It's too dangerous! Come back down!"

Ship turned to the side and she jumped…

-Inside one of the ships-

A way too fat for his own good man crumbled the report he had received from his men.

"YOU BLUNDERING FOOLS! What is the meaning of this report?!" He yelled as loudly as he could. "That girl may have been the key to obtaining the Dragon Bones I have searched so long for! Do you have any idea what you have done?!"

The unfortunate marine saluted out of fear.

"Eric!" The fat marine called and a tall, slim man with a slightly dangerous demeanor stood in the shadows.

"I am humbly at your service." Eric assured him in an even voice.

"After finally finding the key to the 'elixir of eternal youth' we shall not let it get away. Take the fleet, find her and bring her back at any cost."

"A word if I may. I do not believe searching for little girls was in our contract." Eric reminded the Marine.

"I'll pay whatever's necessary! This is exactly the purpose you are being employed for. Or would you prefer to let our only clue escape? Now get on with it."

"Very well. As are orders from the great Nelson Royale."

-Going Merry-

Storms were quite occasional lately and the last storm was quite bad, now on the other hand it was sunny, warm and peaceful.

Still someone had to stand as a lookout and this time the duty went to Usopp.

"Nami! Aren't we at Grand Line yet?" Luffy asked yet again, the captain was sitting on his favorite spot.

"We just left the Clockwork Island two days ago. It's gonna take a few more days to get there. Just be patient." She told him.

Well Luffy was still in a good mood as he grinned. "OK! Shishishishi!"

"What a beautiful day! It's like that storm never happened." Sanji commented.

Usopp looked around and then saw a bunch of birds surrounding something. "What's that?" He wondered and decided to inform the crew. "Hey! I can see a big flock of birds off to starboard!"

"Birds?" Luffy repeated.

"Yeah. And in the water I can sort of make out a pretty big… Ah, I can't tell. What do you think?"

"Maybe a fish?" Luffy suggested.

"Or a rowboat? Well it does kinda look like a big fish." Usopp mussed over it.

"I hear that when sea birds flock over the ocean it's usually because there's a school of fish around." Sanji told them.

There was only one word Luffy heard… "FISH?!"

"Luffy, catch us some lunch." Sanji instructed and the eager captain happily obliged.

"Gotcha! **Gomu gomu no Net-Catch**!" He stretched out his arm to grab whatever the birds were surrounding.

"Whoo! Nice stretching!" Usopp cheered for him.

"What a handy guy." Sanji simply smirked.

Birds were flocking around a rowboat, to be precise around the very same rowboat the little girl from the Marine ship took. Luffy grabbed the sleeping girl and pulled her toward the ship.

"Got it!" He informed the crew.

Zoro simply slept through the day."

"It's a huge one!" Luffy said.

"Nice, Luffy!" Nami praised him.

"Doesn't look like much of a meal though." Vergil said.

"H-Hold on! What about when it comes back?!" Sanji realized where Luffy's arm was heading to. Quickly he lunged forward.

Zoro continued sleeping and a couple of moments later he began regretting it as Luffy slammed his arm into him thus sending the swordsman overboard.

"Ah- Sorry Zoro." Luffy apologized.

"YOU DAMN MORON!" Sanji yelled at him.

"He just can't keep his record clean, eh?" Vergil grinned.

"_One day… I am… Going to kill him_…" Zoro swore as he got pulled back up by Luffy and Vergil.

"Hey look, this ain't fish at all." Sanji realized as he, Nami and Usopp looked at the unconscious girl.

"It's a little girl." Nami said.

Vergil peaked over. "You don't say, Princess." He teased.

"Shut it you! How about you make an assumption on your own here!" Nami yelled at him.

"A mermaid? Where's her webbing?" Luffy asked.

"Give me a break here." Usopp sighed. "How the hell does she look like a mermaid?"

Vergil took a bit of a better glance. "I don't think she's on the sea voluntarily."

"Why do you say so?" Usopp asked him.

"Look at her, she is a child, in clothes that are clearly not that fitting for someone on the sea. Those are more than likely some tribal clothes. More importantly she's alone, in some kind of a rowboat. Maybe she was in some shipwreck." He deduced.

"Makes sense, I guess. Maybe some passenger ship sailed somewhere around here. It wouldn't be too strange." Nami agreed with him.

"Well, we'll know when she wakes up, assuming she decides to talk about what happened." Vergil said and slowly picked the girl up. "Let's take her inside for now."

-A couple of hours later-

The smell of cooking was the reason for pain caused to two specific individuals. The smell woke the unconscious girl up and she abruptly stood up thus she knocked Usopp on the chin with her head.

"OUCH!" She screamed as she held onto her head.

"So you're awake! And even more lively than I expected. You hurt anywhere?" Nami was the first one to speak with her.

"I bet you're hungry, I'm whipping up some soup now." Sanji told her.

Girl looked around and seemed happy. "_Lucky_!"

"Were you in a shipwreck or something? You were really in trouble out there. What's your name?" Nami asked her.

"When you ask for someone's name, you're supposed to say your own first." Girl stated.

Nami chuckled for a moment and then winked at the girl. "Ok, my name is Nami. The guy making soup in the kitchen is Sanji." Sanji waved in response. "The guy with a mean face and waist band is Zoro."

"Shut up." Zoro grumbled.

Nami continued either way. "The guy lying unconscious over there is Usopp. The guy with white hair is Vergil." Vergil simply grinned at her. "And this is…"

"I'm Luffy. The Captain of this pirate ship." Luffy also grinned at her.

Girl's eyes widened and her jaw dropped out of horror at the word pirates. "PIRATES?!"

"We're heading to the Grand Line!" Luffy blurted even more things out.

"What's wrong?" Nami asked even though the answer was obvious.

"She ain't moving." Luffy pointed out.

"What are you gonna do with that kid?" Zoro inquired.

"Well now that you mention it… What should we do…? I'll think about it tomorrow." Luffy decided.

Girl remained utterly horrified.

"Good thing you didn't tell her I'm a demon." Vergil though out loud and then smacked the palm right over his forehead, he just made things worse, the girl paled even more, not to mention that she was now pretty much frozen…

Nami stared at him blankly. "You just had to do that?" She asked.

"Sorry." He sheepishly apologized as he rubbed the back of his head.

-That night-

"_Why me?! Why, why, why, why is this happening? It was so hard getting away from those creepy Marines! And now of all places I end up trapped on a pirate ship!_" A quite unrealistic, well for the most part, evil looking version of the crew appeared due to the girl's imagination. "_You've got to be kidding me…_" And then her stomach hollered making her blush out of embarrassment. "_Maybe I should eat something before I think about it._" She decided and stood up. Being in the kitchen already made the thought of taking some food sin in easier.

A rope was pulled and the trap activated making the girl scream.

"Owwie…" Someone whined on the floor.

Sanji turned on the light and looked at the one who activated the trap. "You at it again? Luffy. How many times do I have to tell you? Would you just listen for once?" He noticed the girl in front of the fridge. "And what are you up to?"

She chuckled nervously.

Ten minutes later Luffy was stuffing his mouth with a piece of meat. "This is so good!"

"Yeah, I made it ya know? Now stay the hell out of my fridge." Sanji stood next to the table as he scolded the captain.

"Couldn't help it, I was hungry." Luffy said and as if on cue the girl's stomach growled again.

"What's wrong with you, not gonna eat?" She turned her head to the side at the question. "You didn't eat at lunch either, right? What are you afraid of? C'mon, it's not like I'm going to put poison in it." Sanji tried to persuade her to eat.

She shook her head, whether to say no to a meal or to say that she didn't think he would poison it wasn't clear at the moment.

"If you just sit there, that jerk is gonna eat it for you." Sanji told her.

Right on cue! "Well since you're not going to eat it, I'll have it!"

Determination filled her eyes as she grabbed the plate of soup. "HANDS OFF!" She snapped and took the plate.

"S-Sorry." Luffy apologized.

Girl drank the soup quite quickly. "It's delicious!"

"Of course it is, I personally picked Sanji to be our cook!" Luffy bragged and the cook bowed slightly to her.

"I've never had something this delicious!" She admitted happily.

"So she's finally come around." Nami, who was at the doors with the rest of the crew, said.

"Nami-san!"

"Luffy are you eating again?" Nami asked.

"But I didn't have enough at lunch…" Captain defended himself.

"You had two full pots." Usopp reminded him.

"Did I?" Luffy tried to remember it.

"Well better full and ready to fight than hungry and useless." Vergil grinned.

"Yep!" Luffy quickly agreed with his first mate.

Nami leaned a bit closer to the girl and smiled. "You got scared when you heard we were pirates, didn't you?"

"Well…" Girl muttered.

"Well I guess that's just the natural reaction nowadays." Nami said the solid truth, it was natural to be scared.

"You won't sell me off?"

"You thought we would?" Usopp asked her.

"Everyone must've seemed pretty scary, eh?" Zoro grinned.

Usopp pulled at his face. "With this face you think you're the one to talk?"

And the two got in a childish brawl…

"What are you hitting me for?!" Usopp hissed at him.

"Would you two cut it out…?" Nami sighed.

Luffy just laughed at them while the girl chuckled a bit.

"There's more if you would like, little lady." Sanji told her.

"At the very least this isn't the kind of pirate ship you thought it was. And even though he is a demon and quite scary Vergil isn't that bad. Relax." Nami felt the need to address two potential topics and the causes of the fear.

Girl relaxed and smiled. "More please!"

"Right away, madam."

"Me too!" Luffy requested.

"Do it yourself, bastard!" Sanji snapped at him.

"Meanie…"

-Next morning-

As the male part of the crew raised the anchor and prepared to keep sailing a loud explosion was heard from the kitchen.

Nami stopped putting her shirt on. "W-What?" She wondered out loud.

The small girl stepped out of the kitchen as if she just caused an experiment to fail and blast into her face.

"Hey, what the heck's going on down there?" Sanji asked from the crow's nest.

"I'm making breakfast!" Girl told him.

"Eh?" The cook was baffled.

"Everyone, breakfast is served!" She yelled so that everyone could hear her.

"Oooh, food!" Of course the captain was happy.

"What kind of food?" Zoro couldn't help but wonder.

"Who knows." Vergil said.

Six plates with some black mass that looked more like earth than like food were set in front of the crew and the only one who seemed happy was Luffy, on the other hand only neutral one was Vergil, the remaining members of the crew looked worried.

"_Vergil if you say one thing I'll kick the crap out of you._" Sanji swore and carefully prepared himself to kick the demon if he thought the food was bad and said it bluntly.

"Ehehe… You made it all by yourself?" Nami asked the slightly bandaged klutz who nodded happily.

"It has a rather… Unique appearance." Usopp tried to say something that didn't sound too bad or harsh.

"Time to eat!" Luffy said enthusiastically.

Vergil grinned at the captain's enthusiasm and picked up the fork now a bit more happy than neutral.

"On top of saving me, you're even feeding me." While the girl said that Sanji glanced regretfully at the ruined dishes. "So from now on I'll do anything to help out!"

Nami had to grin uncomfortably. "That's great to hear. Thank you." She tried to act happy about it, after all it wouldn't be nice to hurt her feelings.

"Are you sure this is edible?" Zoro whispered.

"Yep, it is." Vergil who was sitting next to him whispered back as he chewed on a bit of it.

"To humans I mean." Green haired swordsman argued just as quietly, tough he let out a loud yell when Nami stepped onto his feet, with her heel.

"Quit being such a baby and eat it!" She hissed and stuffed the entire content of the plate into his mouth.

"But you really think it's okay to eat this?" Usopp asked as well.

"What are you talking about? It's great." Luffy said making the girl smile happily.

"It's fine, a bit too spicy but fine." Vergil added and the girl became even happier.

"There you have it." Sanji said and picked up a bit of his meal. "I'm sure it only looks bad." He and Nami put a bit of it in their mouths.

"You sure about that?" Usopp eyes the food suspiciously before taking a bite as well.

Each one of their faces turned pink while Zoro's turned blue and then they screamed.

"I warned you." Vergil said as he and Luffy ate.

Usopp, Zoro and Nami tried to ease the burns by drinking the water while Sanji tried to bear with it.

"Was it really that terrible?" Girl asked and tried it out herself to realize that it was in fact way too spicy. "TOO SPICY! What happened? Did I use too much seasoning?" She was trying hard to realize just where she went wrong.

Sanji finally recovered from the spicy food and chuckled a bit. "Well, everyone makes that mistake, just make sure you watch for it next time." He turned to the crew. "Hey, this girl put her heart and soul into that food, don't leave a crumb."

Zoro and Usopp looked at him as if he was crazy.

"Shut up." He didn't even let them complain. "You'll hurt her feelings, this girl-" He realized something. "Come to think of it, what's your name anyway?"

"Apis! My name is Apis!" Apis finally revealed her name.

"Apis-chan's feelings are at stake! I'll beat the hell out of anyone that leaves even a scrap of food!" Sanji assured them all and Usopp sighed. "I'll make you a little something later, Nami-san." He leaned to whisper to the only other girl on the ship.

"Thanks." Nami thanked him.

"I'm sorry, cooking isn't something that I'm best at. But if there's anything at all I can help with…!" Apis wanted to help, that much was certain.

"Oh don't worry about it. It's fine if you're enjoying yourself." Nami assured her.

"If it's cooking just leave it to me." Sanji added.

"Why not? I love this stuff." Luffy randomly said.

"Me too now that you mention it. I like spicy food." Vergil agreed.

"_You would_." Four human pirates thought.

"You'll get used to it. Try eating some." Luffy encouraged the crew.

Soon enough the food was eaten, mostly by Luffy and Vergil.

"Now that I think of it… Apis, why were you out on the ocean in that rowboat?" Nami asked.

"I was running away from a Marine ship…" Apis admitted right away, there was no need to hide it, not from the pirates anyway.

"A Marine ship?" Usopp exclaimed, he fully expected her to run away from a pirate ship but a marine ship, that was unexpected.

"At night during the storm three nights ago." She said.

"You were out in that storm in that tiny rowboat? You've been through a lot." Nami asked.

"Now tell us what you were there for." Zoro got to the point.

"Eh?"

"The fact that you had to run away means you weren't riding on that battleship as a guest, right? And the Marines don't waste their time on just anybody." Swordsman pointed out.

"Well… I mean…"

"What, so you're a criminal?" Luffy figured out.

"Of course not! How could someone like me have done something wrong?!" Apis shouted. "I didn't do anything, but… I can't really… tell you the reason…"

"What's up with that?" Usopp asked.

"Just let her be. She must have her reasons." Sanji stood up for her. "If she doesn't want to say, you shouldn't ask."

"I guess you're right." Nami agreed.

"You're too careless." Vergil who was leaning his back against the wall spoke up.

"I don't know about demon children but human children are pretty much harmless, so get off her case, Vergil." Sanji said.

Nami didn't really approve of Sanji's choice of words but she agreed to a certain extent. "You should soften up a bit, relax once in a while."

Vergil opened his eyes and looked at Sanji. "I don't know about children but I know there are adults that would go through anything to obtain what they want, even if it means involving a child. I may sound cruel Sanji, but say we get her to her island, you think Marines will just leave her alone? Do I really need to remind you of what happened back on Rashca, Nami?" When he was met with silence he sighed and turned to Apis.

"Apis, I don't need you to speak about the details, nor to tell us your life story. Just tell me one thing, is there a reason, specific only to you, for the Marines to go after you again? This is the only answer I'm asking for." Vergil assured her.

"I don't know, if it's for what I think it is, then I guess there is." Apis muttered.

"I see." The white haired demon pondered on it.

"Would you also tell us where're you from?" Nami asked.

"Eh? Sure. I'm from Warship Island." She answered.

"Warship Island?" Nami repeated.

"You know it?" Usopp asked.

"Nope, let me check." Nami took a map of East Blue and unfolded it.

"Why do they call it Warship Island?" Luffy asked curiously.

"They call it like that because the silhouette of the island looks just like a warship." Apis explained.

"Hey, cool!"

"Ah, here it is!" Nami pointed at the island on a map.

"It's right next to the Grand Line." Usopp noticed.

"Right now we're somewhere over here." Nami pointed to the left side. "We're not that far away. What do you want to do? Do you want to go home to Warship Island? We were planning to go straight into the Grand Line, but…" Nami offered.

"Me? You went through all the trouble of saving me and I know it will be a burden but… I want to go home to my island!" Apis stated her wish. "I'm sorry, that sounds selfish. If you let me get on any ship we meet along the way, I'll manage somehow…"

"Honestly, you really are trouble! There's no way a pirate ship can go around approaching other ships!" Nami teased.

"That's true."

"But you know, that island is not that far out of our way. And it's not like we're in a hurry to start our journey. It's fine by me, furthermore you've charmed our First Mate." Nami motioned toward Vergil. "You want to take her back to her home, right?"

"I'm all for it." Vergil agreed and turned to the Captain. "It depend on you, Luffy."

"Heh, it's cool with me." Luffy agreed.

"We'll get to Grand Line soon enough." Usopp added.

"So, you say the island looks like a warship." Luffy grinned at Apis.

"And there you have it." Sanji added.

"Really? You'll really take me back to the Warship Island?" Apis asked for one last confirmation.

"Yup." Luffy assured her.

"Great! Thank you, Luffy! Yay! Yay! I'm so happy! Thank you so much! Thank you! Everyone, thank you so much!" Her happiness was contagious as everyone on the crew smiled warmly at her. "To thank you, I'll make you breakfast every day!"

"Oh, please don't." Sanji, Zoro, Usopp and Nami said.

"Why not?" Luffy asked.

-Somewhere else-

Being not too far away from Merry allowed the Marine fleet to notice it.

"MAJOR! Ship sighted a 1 o'clock! Medium Caravel class! There's a skull marking atop the main mast!" Marine yelled from the crow's nest.

"Pirates eh? Barging into Commodore Nelson's jurisdiction… They must be insane." The Major mussed to himself. "They must be just a bunch of weaklings, ignore them!"

"Actually, that mark doesn't belong to any weakling. I believe it belongs to Straw Hat Luffy. The man with a 30 million bounty on his head." Eric stepped onto the deck as well.

"We've been hearing about him…!" One of the marines realized.

"Even with all these ships, we've yet to have any success in our search… It's quite possible someone else picked up the girl. And what's more, the fact that they are such a well known pirate crew means that it would be most unwise to ignore them. Seize the ship!" He ordered.

-Going Merry-

Nami stepped out of the kitchen to take some fresh air and to ponder on something as well, her train of thought didn't even begin as she felt something strange. "_What is this… feeling?_" She wondered.

"Hey! There's some ships from the aft bow!" Usopp yelled.

Nami snapped her head up to look at Usopp.

"Oh my god! That's a Marine's ship!" He realized.

"The Marines?!" Nami shouted out.

"A-And we're not talking about one or two here!"

Nami ran to the side to look at the fleet that was sailing toward them. "You're right. But what is a fleet that size doing here?" She couldn't help but ask.

"What's going on? What's happening?" Luffy ran out with the others.

Apis' eyes widened in fear when she recognized the fleet.

"I bet they've come for my head!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Even so, why that many?" Nami asked.

"They just know about how tough I am to beat! I'm just too strong!" Rubber Man seemed quite happy about this.

"You're too careless!" Nami scolded him.

Apis took two steps back.

"Hm? What's wrong?" Sanji asked her.

"Them, eh?" Vergil connected the dots.

"Those ships are from the 8th Division. Those are the Marines I ran away from! Oh no…" Apis started panicking.

The crew looked at one another for a moment.

-Marines-

"There she is! I can see a small girl on the deck!" One of the Marines informed.

"What?" The Major asked.

"So it was just as I said, Major." Eric seemed to enjoy this a bit more than he should've. "Did I injure your pride? If due to your blundering, that girl, the key to the elixir of the eternal life, the Dragon Bones, were to be lost… You can imagine how upset Commodore Nelson would be." Eric played with words and got the marines to do his bidding.

"READY CANNONS!" The Major acted just as expected. "We're seizing that pirate ship!"

Eric simply smirked.

The cannons fired.

"Ah! They've started shooting!" Usopp yelled just before the cannon balls hit the water around Merry.

Sanji held Apis to make sure she wouldn't get hurt, Zoro, Luffy and Vergil stilled themselves while Nami screamed and held onto the railing.

"Attention pirate vessel! Stop your ship immediately! You've had your warning shot, the next round won't miss!" marines warned them.

"Like hell we're gonna stop!" Usopp said.

"What do we do, Luffy?" Zoro asked. "If you're gonna fight them, do it now."

"Yeah, let's fight." Luffy agreed.

"H-Hey hold it!" Usopp pretty much flashed to them. "Why do you guys always do this?! How do you plan to take on a whole fleet?"

"Apis, you should get inside." Sanji instructed the child.

"We'll raid them." Zoro and Vergil said like one.

"What the hell will raiding them do?" Usopp snapped at them.

"It'll do something." Luffy said casually.

"WHAT?!" Usopp kept panicking.

"It's not like we're telling you to come with us, just shoot the cannons to cover us." Zoro tried to make him stop with the rant, and it worked.

"Really?! I get to stay on the ship? Great, leave it to me! And just in case we need to get away I'll be ready to do that too!"

Apis was looking at the seagulls.

"Hey Apis, what's wrong?" Sanji asked her.

"A wind is coming…" She said making Nami turn to look at her. "A big wind…"

Nami's eyes widened and she gasped when she noticed something. "Zoro, Vergil, face the sails south! Usopp, Sanji-kun, turn us hard to starboard! NOW!"

"Huh?" Usopp was a bit confused.

"Hurry!" She urged them.

"Yes, Nami-san." Sanji said as they all ran off.

"What's up?" Luffy asked.

"A squall is coming. We'll catch it and get away. There's no way we could take them head on with what we have." She stated.

"We'd be fine…" Luffy pouted.

Nami looked at Apis. "_This girl…_"

The Major looked nervous and quite frustrated as he got no response from the Straw Hats.

"There are no signs of acknowledgement."

"Damn it." He cursed but then the wind Nami and Apis predicted blew and it blew hard.

"_Now!_" As if on Nami's cue the wind pushed Merry away from the marines.

-Marines-

"The pirate vessel has increased speed and changed course!" Marine from the crow's nest informed.

"What?"

"They're heading south!"

"South?! Do those idiots have any idea what lies that way?!" Major questioned the sanity of the Straw Hats, he wasn't the first nor would he be the last one to do so.

"Do not hesitate, Major! Pursue them! Don't let them escape!" Eric exclaimed.

-Going Merry-

Luffy held onto his hat as Merry went faster than ever before. "Hey! We're going pretty fast! This wind's fun!"

"Check it out Luffy! We're losing the Marines! Haha! Just try to catch us now!" Usopp dared to mock the Marines.

-Marines-

"It's no use! We're losing them!" Marine informed them.

"An entire Marine fleet cannot catch one little ship. Pathetic." Eric was pretty much disgusted by this failure.

"Smaller ships are more maneuverable." Seemingly the Major's right hand man said.

"I do not want to hear excuses." Eric told him.

"Major, we're getting closer to that place…" The Marine turned to his commander. "Major!"

"I heard you! All ships, full stop! Prepare to reverse course!" Major ordered.

"Stop, Major. Why are you stopping the ship?" Eric questioned.

"If we continue this course we will become trapped in the Calm Belt." He stated.

"That is of no consequence!" Eric argued. "Follow the!"

"Absolutely not!"

"Fool. Do you understand the seriousness of your actions? That girl must not escape! How do you plan to explain this to Commodore Nelson?!"

"I'm prepared for the consequences. But I will not let my men come to any harm!" Major firmly stood to his code of honor. These men put their lives in his hands and he was not going to put them through unnecessary harm. "No matter what you say, the pursuit ends here!"

"Such… Insolence…" Eric hissed.

-Going Merry-

"Ahahahahahah! Those Marines can't follow us now!" Usopp laughed once they escaped. "Another great victory for the great Sniper Usopp!"

Zoro glanced around, something was definitely strange.

"Vergil." Swordsman got the demon's attention.

"Hm?" The look on Zoro's face gave Vergil all the answers he needed, something was wrong, they just didn't know what…

"Awesome! Cool! That's my navigator!" Luffy praised Nami.

"Nami-san is so wonderful!" Sanji sang lovingly. "She can even predict the wind!"

"Well I just had a feeling." Nami tried to brush it off.

"Ah! Nami-san is splendid when she is so humble!" Of course it was once again Sanji.

"So, let's get going to Warship Island." Luffy decided.

"Eh? You mean it?" Apis asked happily.

"Of course I mean it!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Alright, to Warship Island!" Usopp shouted.

"GO!" They cheered.

"What's wrong, Zoro, Vergil?" Nami asked. "You two have been looking real serious for a while now."

"Nah, it's just something weird." Zoro said.

"Say, is it just me or is there no wind?" Vergil asked.

"And the ship hasn't moved for a long time." Zoro added.

Nami looked at them for a couple of moments and then looked around to finally take notice of the sails and their flag, clear indicators that there really was no wind… "Come to think of it… There isn't any wind in the sails at all…" And it dawned upon her. "AAAAAHH!" She screamed. Thus stopping the fooling around done by the rest of the crew.

"What's wrong, Nami?" Luffy asked.

"Nami-…san?"

"Oh no… WE'VE ENTERED THE CALM BELT!"

* * *

_**Well that's about it. **_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Warship Island**_


	76. Warship Island

_**I still can't see the reviews so, yeah…**_

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_**Chapter 76 – Warship Island**_

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"What's wrong, Nami?" Luffy asked.

"Nami-…san?"

"Oh no… WE'VE ENTERED THE CALM BELT!"

"Charm Belt?" Usopp misheard it.

"What the heck is that?" Luffy asked.

"Calm Belt! A region of calm water!" Nami was starting to panic.

"Nami's superhuman strength?!" Luffy misheard it and sounded quite excited about it.

"IDIOT!"

Apis looked toward the ocean and just a moment later Merry shook a bit.

"Eh? An earthquake?" Luffy guessed.

"Earthquake? On the ocean?" Zoro seemed skeptical.

"You guys, stop talking like we're fine! Hurry! Take in the sails and start rowing! Get us back to where we were!" Nami ordered.

"Right away, Nami-san!" Sanji was happy to obey.

"What are you so worked up for? Why do we need to row? This is a sailing ship." Zoro pointed.

"He's right! Why would we go back there when we just ran away from the Marines?" Usopp agreed with Zoro.

Nami was getting more frustrated by every second. "Would you just listen to me?! We're in real deep trouble here!"

"But the sea's so quiet." Luffy pointed and Usopp nodded.

And Nami had enough. "Fine! I'll explain it to you! Listen. We took the ship out of there in a hurry and we ended up a lot farther south of where we're going." She began, right away the crew was confused and they didn't exactly see the problem with that.

"So, we're in the Grand Line?" Luffy understood, or so he had thought.

"Woo-hoo-hoo!" Usopp jumped.

"No, we're not." Vergil sighed. "We should get ready to row, Princess finish the explanation while we are doing it."

"Yeah. If it was that easy to get into the Grand Line, everyone would go. Luffy stay here and listen, everyone else can get to work." She said to them while Vergil, Usopp, Zoro and Sanji went to get the ship ready while Luffy and Apis looked at the map Nami unfolded for them to look at.

"Listen, our destination, the Grand Line, runs between two stripes of ocean, okay? Both of these regions are called the 'Calm Belt'. No one knows why, but these regions never have winds or ocean currents. It's quite simply a permanently 'calm' region. For ships that depend on wind power it's an extremely dangerous place to travel! Luffy? Do you understand?" With the explanation being brief Nami could only hope that Luffy understood at least one bit of this.

"Yeah! Just that it's bad." He honestly replied.

"Yes, that's right. I'm glad you got it." Nami let out a small breath of relief.

"So when that old fart said it was dangerous, is this what he meant…?" Sanji wondered.

"Who knows…" Vergil said.

"That's why there hasn't been any wind." Zoro understood the situation quite well.

"Well if the ship won't move, there isn't much we can do, right?" Usopp seemed more willing to get to work now.

"We'll just wait until the wind starts up again!" Luffy didn't understand it, at all.

"Like I said! Once you enter this region there won't be any wind no matter how long you wait! And that isn't all… There's another reason why this region is known to be so dangerous. This place is…" Nami was about to say it when the ship began waving back and forth.

"What's going on?!" Usopp panicked.

"Something's coming!" Apis exclaimed.

Many large things were emerging from the ocean all around the Going Merry.

"They're here!" Nami screamed.

"What's that?" Luffy asked.

"Overgrown sea kings…" Vergil muttered to himself, as he had said sea kings way bigger than the one near Foosha Village emerged from the water In fact Merry, that was now on the nose of the largest sea king, was barely as big as the creature's eye.

"HUGE!" Luffy yelled.

Every single one of the Straw Hats was utterly speechless and shocked, maybe even scared to a certain extent.

"The Calm Belt is a sea king breeding ground…" Nami said, she was the only one crying as she held onto Vergil.

Vergil wasn't unfazed by this, he would have to be downright mentally unstable to not feel any kind of respect and fear due to the large creatures but with Nami silently breaking down in his arms he kind of had no choice but to act and calm her down.

"And for only the big ones, too…" She added, maybe she planned on saying something else but arm around her shoulders made her relax a bit. She dared to open her eyes and look at Vergil who was once again holding her protectively.

"I'm here, relax." Well she at the very least knew that he'd defend her as long as he is alive and that did make things a bit easier.

"What are we supposed to do now?" Sanji asked the question that was on pretty much everyone's mind.

"F… For now, everyone, don't move! We'll be back in the water soon… And then… We're gonna row like hell!" Zoro instructed them.

"Yeah, that's about everything we can do at the moment." Vergil agreed.

"YOU'RE KIDDING ME?!" Usopp just had to scream and got attention of a yellow, frog sea king.

"Idiot!" Nami hissed and Vergil shot him an annoyed glare.

"Why?" Usopp wailed.

Frog sea king jumped up. "THE FROG'S COMING!" Luffy yelled.

Usopp screamed. "Wha- What's with that?!"

He wasn't the only one screaming, Nami buried her face in Vergil's chest and gripped tightly onto his shirt while she also screamed.

Apis fell off and was falling toward the frog's mouth.

"Watch out!" Luffy stretched out his arm and grabbed Apis before the frog could swallow her.

Apis' eyes widened when she noticed Luffy's arm and she was sure that she wasn't imagining things when he shot his arm up toward the crow's nest. "His arm's stretching! Luffy, have you eaten a Devil Fruit?"

Now that was strange, it wasn't easy to find an adult that knew about Devil Fruits and wasn't a pirate or a bit of a higher ranking Marine, it was even harder to find a child that knew about it.

"Yup." Luffy replied.

From this height Apis could look at the sea kings and find a way to turn the situation around and she sure found one way.

"Luffy! Stretch down to the bottom once again!" Apis instructed.

Luffy didn't question her and did as he was told.

"Hey, hey, Luffy!" Usopp exclaimed.

"What the hell are you doing?" Nami asked as she finally turned her head slightly away from Vergil.

"I dunno." As honest as always.

"Apis!"

"Watch out!"

Girl grabbed onto the nose hair of the sea king and as Luffy's arm began stretching back she pulled the hair out…

"What did she do?!" Zoro hissed.

"Pulled out a nose hair." Luffy said.

Vergil sighed. "Great…"

Merry sized eye watered up.

"Wait a damn second…!" Usopp gasped.

"If you do that…" Nami began.

"The thing's gonna sneeze!" Sanji finished the sentence.

Luffy let go of Apis and she landed in Zoro's arms while the large nose hair bounced off. "That's a HUGE nose hair! Alright, here we go!"

The sea king sneezed thus blasting Merry away.

"WHAT?!" The crew yelped as they all separated from the deck. "How can you be so carefree about this?!" Nami and Usopp yelled at the captain.

"AWESOME! It feels like we're flying!" Luffy exclaimed.

"We really are flying!" Usopp yelled.

"We are almost flying! Why the damned hell are we always doing this?!" Vergil snapped.

"Shishishi! It's fun!" Luffy laughed.

"I swear you…" The demon grumbled as they began falling. He shook his head to shake off the images.

-Ten minutes later-

Going Merry was sailing in a normal, not completely and utterly calm, area once again.

"Looks like we're back to there we were before." Nami said.

"And no sign of those Marines." Zoro added.

Usopp was lying on the deck. "I thought I was gonna die…"

"Right on!" Luffy praised the girl.

"Thanks!" Apis gave him a thumb up.

"Alright, full sail!"

"Our heading?" Nami grinned.

"Of course! Warship Island!"

Quite some time passed and the ship entered a foggy area.

"Caaaan't see a damn thing." Usopp was bored, way too bored.

"You can see the fog!" Luffy made a good point and even teased Usopp, though unintentionally.

"Apis, are you sure it's around here?" Sanji asked.

"Dunno." She bluntly told them.

"How can you say 'dunno'?" Usopp mumbled.

"It should be somewhere nearby…" Nami said.

"You're so great, Nami-san!" Sanji praised her.

"I don't really get you." Luffy admitted.

"It's up ahead!" Vergil yelled from the crow's nest.

"Huh?" Luffy narrowed his eyes to take a better look and he indeed saw the silhouette of the warship in the distance. "Oooh, a ship! It's HUGE!"

"Come on now…" Sanji groaned.

"Is there anything you won't call huge?" Zoro was just as annoyed.

"So, should I say that it's super-duper huge?" He was probably not doing it on purpose.

"NO!" Nami shouted.

"That's Warship Island! It looks like a warship so we call it Warship Island!" Apis said once again.

"Heeey, cool!" And Luffy reacted the same way every single time.

-Warship Island-

People near the shore that the Going Merry was approaching carefully watched the sails.

"T-That… sail… Pirates!" Someone yelled. "Pirates! Pirates are here!" He ran through the village to inform the people.

"Pirates?" A child asked.

"Get inside!" His mother berated him and closed the window.

"That sail…" Someone recognized the Jolly Roger…

People gathered on the shore to fight against the pirates however the one that appeared first was one of their own, Apis.

"Yo! I'm back!" She happily greeted them.

"Apis!" Someone gasped.

"Why did you… on a pirate ship…? What's going on here?" One of the males asked.

"Hey, you there." Luffy began making them all gulp.

"W-What do you want?" One of the middle aged people asked.

"Is there a smoked meat store on this island?" That was all Luffy wanted to know.

"Huh?" Collective confusion was so evident and no one had the right to blame the villagers. "W-Who are these guys?"

"Well you see, even if they are pirates, they're good pirates!" Apis explained.

"Is there even such a thing as a good pirate?" Someone from the crowd asked and Apis nodded happily.

"But, weren't you taken by the Marines?"

"That's right! But I ran away! Then…" Apis pointed at Luffy. "Luffy and his crew saved me, right?"

"Yup!" Luffy confirmed it.

"Apis, what have you done?" Villager asked.

"I don't know why but the Marines were looking for you. You shouldn't go back to your home. They're still around here." Another one added.

"Oh no…" Apis whispered.

"We'd like to help you out, but… These guys are pirates!"

"Ah, what a fix…" Apis muttered.

"But she said we are good pirates." Usopp reminded them.

Suddenly a child ran through the crowd and before anyone could stop him rushed toward the Straw Hats. Hearing the footsteps Straw Hats turned to look at the person that was running up to them only to, with exception of Sanji and Luffy, remain speechless.

"What's with that kid?" Sanji asked.

"Hey!" Luffy happily greeted him.

"Vergil-san!" Boy that the crew met quite a while ago jumped and hung his arms around Vergil's neck.

"Dinahi…" Vergil finally spoke up as he let the boy hug him.

"I never thought I'd see you again." Dinahi mumbled and tightened his hold on the demon.

"Who is that child, Nami-san?" Sanji asked.

"We met him a bit after Usopp joined us. I'll tell you later." Nami said and Sanji nodded.

"You are living on this island, eh?" Vergil grinned at Dinahi once the boy let go of him.

"Yes. Were you the ones who saved Apis?" He asked.

"Yeah, you could say it like that, though she escaped on her own." Vergil replied.

"Dinahi!" Apis exclaimed and two children hugged briefly.

"Sorry I couldn't help you, I'm so glad you're back!" Former Cambion grinned.

"It's fine! No one could do anything." Apis assured him that everything was still fine and heeis mood lightened up once again.

"Apis, they are the pirates I've been telling you about! He is the Black Thunder Leonidas Vergil!" Dinahi sounded as happy as one could.

"Really?!" Apis's eyes widened.

"Yeah! They're awesome, right?" Dinahi then turned toward Vergil. "Come with me please, there's so much I want to tell you." Dinahi requested.

"I'll go and take a walk with Dinahi." Vergil said to the crew.

"Sure." Luffy grinned.

"How will you find us?" Nami inquired.

"Dinahi will help me out, right?" Vergil asked and the boy nodded happily.

Vergil grinned and then followed Dinahi toward the forest.

"So you're here with your mother, right? How is she?" Vergil started the conversation.

"Mom's fine. She is working in a local restaurant." Dinahi grinned as he enthusiastically spoke about pretty much everything. "We came to this island after we left Rashca, mom thought that it would be better to pick an island that's not that close to Rashca."

"I see, I guess that was a good choice. And you? Did you get used to the place?"

"Well there aren't many children around here, Apis is pretty much the only one around my age that accepted me right away, but I'm just happy to have some company. I like this island, it's… I don't know… It makes me happy." He tried to explain it but couldn't really word it.

Vergil ruffled the boy's hair. "I get it. Its home."

"I saw your bounty by the way! You look so awesome, scary but awesome!" Vergil could easily see the progress Dinahi has been making, since he was no longer Cambion he didn't look any different than any other ordinary human child and the white haired demon could see that he was much more talkative and to put it simply he was making a huge and quite positive progress.

Vergil grinned. "That's sort of a point, right? Though Luffy wouldn't agree."

Dinahi laughed a bit as he remembered the picture on Luffy's wanted poster, it was downright opposite of scary.

"Now that I think about it, Luff'y wanted poster picture is scarier than mine." Vergil stated.

"How come?" Dinahi asked.

"Well you know scary thing about me is that you can tell right away that I'm dangerous, but that's not the case with everyone. Luffy may be innocent, childish and his heart may be in the right place and he won't hurt an innocent person, however he can and he will hurt those who threaten his nakama. That's what's scary, the fact that such an innocent person is the last person you would point a finger out and say 'He did it' for something I guess bad. That's the scary part, the fact that even with that honest, innocent grin and attitude Luffy is fully capable of hurting someone and doing something that would be labeled as 'evil'." Vergil explained. "It's not just Luffy and that's even scarier because there will always be people like that."

Dinahi pondered on it for a moment and then looked at Vergil. "I don't think I really get everything you said…"

"That's fine. It's better to admit it, at the very least to yourself, than to live thinking that you understood. Don't worry about it anyway, you'll understand one day." Vergil assured him.

"Do you ever miss it? The Demon World?" The question came out of blue.

"Sometimes I do. I can't lie and say that I never had a single good moment over there, there were many nice moments to be frank. I guess I do miss some of it." White haired demon answered.

"Is something wrong?" For some reason Dinahi could feel that something was wrong with Vergil.

Vergil looked at him curiously. "Perhaps…" He thought but then pushed the thought aside. "It's nothing important. It's just that I can't really summon my Devil Arm."

"What is a Devil Arm?"

"Part of my soul. You see there is a way to create a weapon by reshaping certain parts of your soul. Well that's the gist of it anyway."

"So it's your soul?"

"Yeah, in a way."

"Maybe you are feeling conflicted over something so your soul doesn't know what to do."Dinahi offered a guess.

"I guess I am kinda conflicted. I cared about a human once, long ago, so I guess there is some space for doubt and worry before connecting with humans again. Not that it matters, every single one of my nakama is easily breaking through all of my defenses." Vergil admitted without a hint of hesitation, one thing he didn't say was the fact that Dinahi's words made him think about the entire Devil Arm issue.

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_**And that's it. By the way 'Nami's superhuman strength' part is due to playing with the words, Nagi no kaiiki means region of calm water and it's quite similar to Nami no kairiki.**_

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_**Next Chapter – Ryu-ji**_


	77. Ryu-ji

_**Chapter 77 – Ryu-ji**_

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"I'll go and take a walk with Dinahi." Vergil said to the crew.

"Sure." Luffy grinned.

"How will you find us?" Nami inquired.

"Dinahi will help me out, right?" Vergil asked and the boy nodded happily.

Vergil grinned and then followed Dinahi toward the forest.

The rest of the Straw Hats were left on the shore but not for too long.

"Apis!" That was the voice she knew all too well. "Come here this instant." The old man said.

"Who's that?" Nami asked.

"Dunno." Luffy said bluntly.

Apis on the other hand happily ran toward the old man. "Grandpa Bokuden!" She hugged him.

"I'm glad you are alright." Bokuden said to her and then looked at the remaining Straw Hats. "I thank you for saving Apis. How about it? I'd like o give you a warm welcome at my hous." He offered.

"Is your house… a smoked meat store?" Luffy asked.

"It's not a smoked meat store, but grandpa Bokuden makes the best pork filled buns on the island!" Apis said.

"Alright! Let's go!" Luffy was happy with pretty much any food.

"Sure, let's go." Zoro agreed, with first mate gone he pretty much took the position.

Unfortunately they were spotted by a marine lookout…

-Unknown location inside a marine ship-

Commodore Nelson Royale was furious when he heard the news.

"Eriiiiic!" He yelled and spat out the meat he was chewing on until just a moment ago.

"I am humbly at your service." Eric stepped closer to the man.

"That girl was trapped in the Calm Belt. She shouldn't have been able to return alive." Nelson stated.

"Impossible. That little girl?" Eric found it hard to believe.

Nelson took one more bite. "Now you…" He began but then began choking, he held onto his neck and then coughed up chewed pieces of meat all over Eric's face.

Man took it quite well as he simply wiped it off.

"Now you're going back to Warship Island! Recapture her at any cost." Nelson ordered.

"So, they made it through the Calm Belt?" Eric muttered.

-Bokuden's house-

Bokuden set up his pork filled buns and now all that they needed to do was to wait for them to get cooked.

"All set. Everything is prepared, now we just have to wait." He said.

"Wow!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Smells good!" Usopp was almost as excited as his captain.

"Oh, this sure is old-fashioned." Sanji commented. "Gramps, how long's this gonna take?"

"Hmm? Oh I guess about 4 or 5 hours."

"Ehh?!"

Time passed and the Straw Hats weren't getting any food.

"I'm so hungry." Luffy complained.

"Bokuden-san, why was Apis kidnapped by the Marines? Any idea?" Nami asked.

"Apis, do you have any idea?" Bokuden asked the girl.

"None!" Apis told him.

"But you told us there was a reason you couldn't say anything!" Nami reminded her.

"Oh, that was a lie." Apis said.

"_And to think Vergil got so worked up over nothing._" Nami felt a vein pop on her head.

"Well… There is something."Bokuden said.

"But she just said there wasn't!" Usopp reminded him.

"There really isn't much on this island, but if there's something it does have, it's our ancient legend." Bokuden revealed.

"Legend?" Zoro just had to ask.

The look on Apis face that said 'Not-this-again' was the foreboding sign of what was to come…

"The people on this island are known as the descendants of the Lost Island that sank thousands of years ago at the peak of its prosperity. Lost Island was home to dragons called the Millennium Dragons. The bones of those dragons are called Dragon Bones and are believed to be an elixir that grants eternal youth."

"Interesting…" Sanji said. "But that legend is no reason for the Marines to get involved."

"Yeah. Where do the Marines fit in?" Usopp wondered.

"That's something I don't get either." Nami admitted.

"Shouldn't there be some sort of hint in the legend?" Zoro asked.

"To begin, Lost Island's first kind was Iskandaq…" Bokuden began.

"There he goes…" Apis mumbled, she knew all too well what his meant.

"Now, Pokepo soon had three sons. The eldest was Bokehontasu. The second son was Bokebonbon. And the third son was Bekebokepon." As Bokuden continued the tale Apis started sneaking out, Luffy looked at her and she just showed him to stay silent. "One day the king told them this: 'Listen you three, go find the tree that bears stars as its fruit in the Valley of Dragons.' And so, Bokehontasu, Bokebonbon and Bokebokepon bravely set off the find the valley…"

Apis sneaked out and had one last peak at the room. "When grandpa starts that story he just keeps on going. He never stops!"

Hours later… "And then, in the 317th Generation, Ingrimori III's son Yugrimori became a great ruler."

"Hey, how long is he gonna go on?" Nami whispered to Usopp, honestly each and every one of them was exhausted due to the story…

"Dunno…" Usopp lifelessly replied.

Zoro and Luffy found a good solution and fell asleep.

"Our demon sure is born under a lucky star…" Nami muttered.

"Now that you mention it I wonder what he and Dinahi are doing right now." Usopp wondered.

"I don't think they can be as bored as we are." She took a page from Vergil's book and said it bluntly.

"He went on to have 18 children. Those 18 children…" And Bokuden kept going.

"As king, he implemented a great revolution. But that king sure had a lot of children!" Night was beginning to fall and Bokuden was still talking.

Usopp's stomach growled. "I'm hungry…"

"We can't leave until he finishes his story…" Nami cursed being polite.

"When are we gonna eat those pork filled buns?" Usopp asked.

"By the time his grandchildren were born, he ended up with 65!"

"Pork filled buns…" Luffy mumbled as he woke up.

"They said if you threw a rock into the kingdom, you'd hit one of the princes, hehe."

"Luffy?" Nami called the rubber man that has sleepily stood up and began walking out.

"Gonna take a piss." He said.

Luffy got out and immediately sensed the food.

Inside of the place where the prepared pork filled buns were left Apis was dropping all of them in a bag. "Hold on, Ryu-ju." She heard and then saw Luffy drowsily walking toward her, or rather toward food. "Oh no." Pirate captain was getting closer. "He's coming! What should I do?" Apis hid with her pork filled buns filled bag. "Please don't come in here!" She pleaded and prepared a frying pan so she could knock out Luffy, or at least try to do so.

Luffy sniffed the air happily. "Pork filled buns, smell so good…" He took a couple more steps and then fell asleep.

"You're kidding!" Apis looked at the sleeping male. "I didn't even hit him yet." Well not that it would work…

"Pork filled buns…" Luffy mumbled in his sleep.

Apis leaned toward him and due to being thankful and kinda taking a pity on him she put a pork filled bun on his cheek.

-With Vergil and Dinahi-

Dinahi and Vergil lied on the grass after spending pretty much entire day on some catching up and simple playing.

"I didn't think that you'd accept playing with me so easily, Vergil-san." Dinahi grinned.

"What have I been telling you, it's 'Vergil', not 'Vergil-san', we are friends DInahi, there's no need for honorifics. As for playing, well I don't know, I guess it's helping me as well, I didn't play much as a child so I guess that's why I don't mind plying or fooling around under the right circumstances." Vergil said.

Dinahi sat up. "Can you tell me about your childhood?" He asked and Vergil scowled a bit.

"There aren't many pleasant stories to tell." Vergil said.

"Come on, tell me something." Dinahi pressed on.

"How about we make a deal, I'll tell you a story and you'll answer a couple of questions." Vergil set the deal.

"Sure." Dinahi said without hesitation.

"Do you know why Marines kidnapped Apis?" Vergil's eyes made Dinahi's eyes widen.

"I… I don't." He was looking away.

"Didn't you mention something about not being able to protect Apis? Also don't lie to me Dinahi, the two of us aren't that different." Vergil pressed.

Boy seemed to think about it, if he remained silent he would keep the promise, but if he told everything to Vergil… "If I tell you will you help us?" Dinahi asked. Promises be damned, Apis could be in danger if they had no one to help them…

"Help you? Well don't plan on leaving the matter with the Marines unsolved, if it's something serious they'll surely come back for her so I'll help either way. It will help me to know what's going on though." Vergil said.

"Then follow me, I'll tell you everything on the way." Dinahi said and stood up.

"Lead the way." Vergil said and followed the child.

-Inside the house-

"And then in the 1111st generation, no it was the 1121st generation, it was Hokehontasu." The Straw hats, minus the Captain and the First Mate, were downright ready to quit it with the polite treatment… "Thereupon, Nemenemetasu entered the civil service and began to think: 'How shall I protect this man?'"

Nami began crawling in between Usopp and Sanji and toward the doors.

"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Usopp asked her.

"I'm just worried why Luffy's taking so long, I'm just gonna check on him." She excused herself and winked at Usopp.

"Then! Before the other countries could invade, he ordered for the preparation of the kingdom to commence."

"No fair…" Usopp whined.

"Nami-san is so wonderful when she's stealthy!" Sanji drooled over Nami, again.

Nami was finally out of the house and she let out a sigh of relief. "Wow… What a relief." She said and walked toward the sound of snoring.

"Luffy!" She shook him awake and the movement of him waking up dropped the bun into his mouth.

Nami looked at what were supposed to be dishes filled with buns and screamed, they were all empty. "THEY'RE ALL GONE!"

Not knowing what he was eating Luffy dug his own grave. "This is tasty!"

Nami punched him. "How can you say it's tasty?! You didn't leave any for us! What do you have to say for yourself?!" For once the poor rubber man was being accused of eating the food that he didn't eat, well not all of it anyway.

"What're you talking about?" He asked.

"Jeez…" Nami sighed but then noticed the traces of a big bag being pulled. "Huh? What's this?" She noticed that the mars went from the room to the outside and that they didn't end anywhere she could see. "Where's it go?"

Two followed the trail toward the mountains.

"It just disappears?" Luffy asked.

"What's going on?" Nami wondered.

Luffy however noticed something and dropped to his knees.

"Hey Luffy, what are you doing?" Nami asked.

"A hole." Luffy said and Nami joined him, the two went through the hole and got out deep in the forest in the mountain.

Apis was going that was as well though she had made quite a distance, at the moment she was climbing a tree so she could lower a rope and get over a small canyon.

Not too long afterwards Luffy and Nami reached the spot as well.

"It seems it got across here somehow." Nami pointed out. "Luffy!" That was all she needed to say.

"Sure. **Gomu Gomu no Suspension Bridge**." He stretched his body and made a bridge which Nami slowly crossed.

-With Apis-

Apis reached a large cave and it seemed to be her destination.

"Ryu-ji?"

-With Vergil and Dinahi-

"So what you are saying is that that legend is true?" Vergil asked once Dinahi told him the legend Bokuden said to the Straw Hats, the part about the Millennium Dragons anyways…

"Yeah, Ryu-ji is a Millennium Dragon, I don't know about the part about Dragon Bones and the eternal youth stuff but they exist." Dinahi assured him.

"So that's why Marines are after Apis." Vergil realized.

"I guess so, there's nothing else I can think about."

-With Luffy and Nami-

"We're behind the mountain." Nami realized just how far they went.

"Where's it going?" Luffy asked.

They walked for a bit more and saw the cave. "Ah… What's that?" Nami asked.

-Inside the cave-

"Yep, I was okay. Some weird pirates saved me. Nah, they're not that bad. I bet you're hungry. I have some of Grandpa Bokuden's pork filled buns. Here. No, don't swallow them all at once!" Apis scolded whatever she was with. "I'm sorry, I still don't know. I'm trying hard to find out, but I still don't have any clues."

"Apis… Who is she talking to?" Nami muttered.

"Yo, Apis! Who are you talking to?" And Luffy just had to approach her like that.

"Don't shout out suddenly like that!" Nami yelled at the rubber man.

Luffy began approaching Apis and the girl stood to defend whatever was behind her. "No, stay back!"

Luffy's eyes widened when he saw the thing behind Apis.

"Luffy, what's so-" Nami approached as well curious as to what could leave her captain speechless. What she saw scared and surprised her as she screamed. "EH?!"

It was a dragon, more specifically it was a Millennium Dragon, a green feathered large creature with golden eyes lied on the ground and it wasn't looking so good.

Luffy got over his initial surprise and began jumping all over the creature. "Cool! This is so cool!"

"Stop! Please stop!" Apis pleaded.

"Wait, Luffy…" Nami tried to come to grips with the situation.

"It's real! It's alive!" Luffy was hugging the creature and nuzzling against it while Apis tried to pull him off.

"Stop it! Leave him alone!"

"_I can't believe it… They exist! I thought dragons were just legendary creatures!_" Nami's brain was tried to process everything.

"Don't go fainting on me now, Princess."

"Great now I'm hearing Vergil's voice, of all people why do I have to hallucinate hearing his voice."

"What's wrong with my voice?" He sounded a bit irritated.

"It's not the voice it's the fact that I feel like I'm completely safe and that's not good if it's just my imagination."

"Glad to hear that." He dropped his arm around her shoulder and she screamed.

"Don't sneak up on me like that!" Nami yelled at him and he just gave her an 'Are-you-kidding-me' type of look.

"Seriously, with who do you think you were talking to up for the last fifteen seconds or so?" He asked and removed his hand.

"Awesome! Where'd you come from?" Luffy failed to notice his First Mate and Dinahi.

The dragon looked at Luffy and suddenly Luffy's expression changed.

"I see… You want to go back to your home." Luffy said in a much calmer voice.

Apis's eyes widened and she gasped. "Ryu-ji says it's okay to be friends with you, Luffy. He knows you're a good person."

Nami, Vergil and Dinahi remained silent while Luffy smiled at Apis.

"Luffy, how did you understand Ryu-ji?" She couldn't help but ask.

"Just somehow." Luffy explained.

"Somehow?" Apis asked.

"You can understand him too right?" Luffy asked her.

"No, actually… I…" Apis looked away and the realization dawned upon Nami.

"Could it be the Devil Fruit? You have the ability of the Devil Fruit don't you?" Nami asked her.

Dinahi looked away when Apis's eyes widened, she didn't expect to see him here as well.

"Yes, I ate the Hiso Hiso no mi (Whisper Whisper fruit)" Apis said. "After that I could understand the heart of any animal."

"So that's why back then you knew that strong wind was coming." Nami guessed.

"Yep! The seagulls told me. Meeting Ryu-ji was also thanks to the Hiso Hiso no mi."

-Flashback-

Apis was on a flower field when she heard, or rather felt something.

"Who?" Her eyes widened. "_Such a sad voice… I've never heard_…" She began running toward the voice. "Wait for me, I'm coming to help!"

She found the cave and though she was surprised at first she smiled. "So it was you who was calling?"

-Flashback ends-

"Ryu-ji had lost all of his strength and had gotten separated from his friends. He was searching all alone for the location of the Dragon's Nest, Lost Island." Apis explained.

"Lost Island? The island that sank thousands of years ago?" Nami asked.

"Ryu-ji says the island is going to rise again. 'It should be about time.' He says, but he doesn't remember the location anymore. He's lost all his strength and the ability to fly, but he keeps saying 'I want to go home!' I want to do something to help, but I have no idea where the island is. That old legend didn't have any clues… So I accidentally asked some Marines passing by the island. But that was a mistake. They were looking for the Dragon Bones." Apis revealed.

"Dragon Bones? The ones that grant eternal youth? They kidnapped you because they were after those, Apis?" Nami asked.

"Yes, they told me that I had to tell them everything, and kidnapped me. Probably because I was wearing the claw pendant Ryu-ji gave me. Dinahi, who found me and Ryu-ji one day, tried to fight them but he couldn't do anything. They didn't take him because it looked like he just noticed everything and tried to save me." Apis answered.

"So you fought, eh?" Vergil asked.

"I lost, miserably." Dinahi said bitterly. "That's why I decided to tell you everything, so that you can make sure Apis and Ryu-ji are safe."

"That's why you were out in the storm. You're pushing yourself too far!" Nami told her.

"I know, that's why I'm keeping it a secret from the villagers and Bokuden-san, I can't burden them with this. Well I tried to keep it a secret from Dinahi as well but he is really good at tracking." She chuckled nervously at the last part and then got serious again. "But, I want to get Ryu-ji back to his birthplace no matter what! Ryu-ji, you always say that right? If you return to the Dragon's Nest, you'll surely regain your strength. No matter how long it takes, I'll find it for you. Absolutely, no matter what happens. I'll find it for you." She was set on doing that, that much was clear.

"Yosh! Then I'll take you there!" Luffy decided.

Apis turned to look at him.

"Luffy?! Were you listening? She said Lost Island sunk into the sea!" Nami reminded the rubber man.

"He's set on doing it, now we can only tag along for a ride." Vergil grinned at her. "Think of it as a treasure hunt without a treasure map."

"Even if you put it like that…" Nami muttered.

"The legendary Millennium Dragon said so! This Lost Island has to be somewhere!" Luffy exclaimed.

"I swear… Going to an island that isn't on any map…" Nami was getting a headache that quickly passed as she flicked her fingers. "Well, if you say so. Let's go!"

"Alright!" Luffy cheered.

"Really? You really mean it?" Apis asked.

"Yeah!" Luffy said.

"Thank you!" Both Apis and Dinahi thanked him.

"Now that that's decided, have some more!" Luffy tried to feed the dragon.

"Ah Luffy, I forgot to tell you before but…" It was already too late as the dragon clamped his mouth over half of Luffy's body.

Nami's mouth fell open and Vergil sighed.

"Ryu-ji's a little but senile." Apis said.

"I'd say he is a bit more than just a little bit." Dinahi sighed.

-8th branch Marine fleet-

"That girl had a pendant made from a Millennium Dragon Claw." Eric said to himself. "Undoubtedly, she knows the location of Lost Island. Little girl who guards the secret to the Dragon Bones, this time I shall have you!" He announced as the fleet approached the Warship Island.

The Marine fleet was spotted by a villager who was working on a field.

"N-Now what? Pirates again?" From this distance they couldn't see that it was the Marines.

-Bokuden's house-

Luffy, Nami and Vergil had returned to Bokuden's house.

"Hey! Guys! You gotta see this!" Luffy exclaimed but everyone was sleeping.

"What happened?" Nami gasped.

"And then… the 1201st generation…" Bokuden was still talking.

"Incredible. He's still talking." Nami commented.

"You think he was talking about each generation?" Vergil asked.

"Trust me, he did. I listened to about 1100 of them and each one is longer and longer…" Nami said, the fatigue from the story returned as soon as she thought back to it.

"You could have just told him that he is boring." Demon said.

"Sometimes I wish I could be as blunt as you…" Nami admitted.

"Hey, you gotta hear this." Luffy said and popped the balloon that Usopp made while sleeping.

"OK!" I'm up!" The sniper panicked.

Zoro woke up as well. "What? Morning already?"

"For once it is." Vergil said.

"Yo, Vergil. Where's Dinahi?" Zoro asked him.

"With Apis." Vergil simply said and Zoro nodded.

"That geezer's story was so long that we just fell asleep here." Sanji sat up as well.

Suddenly a villager barged in. "B-Big trouble! Bokuden-san! Where's Apis?!"

"What's wrong?" Nami asked.

"You're a pirate, right? There's a Marine fleet anchoring in the bay right now!" Villager informed her.

"They couldn't be… still after Apis?" Nami's eyes widened.

"What did you think was going to happen? She is too valuable to them." Vergil gritted his teeth in frustration.

"What is with this kid?" Usopp asked.

"Hey, everyone come with me!" Nami urged them.

"Yes, Nami-san!" Sanji sprung to his feet.

"Why?" Luffy asked.

"Just come on!" Nami was ready to snap.

"What about the gramps over there?" Zoro asked.

"Um… We'll let him rest here for now." Nami then turned to the villager. He, if Bokuden- san wakes up, tell him this: 'We're going to protect Apis.'."

"O-Okay." The villager agreed.

* * *

_**Well that's it.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter –Escape From Warship Island**_


	78. Escape From Warship Island

_**Finally, after about five days the bug has been fixed and I read the reviews.**_

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Guest – Thank you for the reviews.**_

_**Naroku – Thank you for the reviews. I like Vivi as well, I would really like to see her again and part of me really wanted her to join the crew but I guess I have to agree with the way Oda did things with her. Either way I can't wait to write the Grand Line part of the story and then the New World as well. As for Zoro and Vergil, yeah I suppose they do, though I didn't really plan for them to get this close this early on I guess it just felt natural to write the scenes between the two of them the way I did.**_

_**Blazeinferno – Thank you for the reviews. Trust me no one is as glad to finish those types of arcs as myself. I agree the chapter 74 was for the most part dragged out. I'm quite glad you liked the other chapters. Yeah, DInahi was kind of a surprise I guess, though I had it planned from the moment I decided to keep him alive.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you for reviews. I guess I kind of understand the fact that you dislike the fact that I'm writing the Warship Island but there is something that this arc will allow me to do and that part will be essential to the Demon World part of the story. I'm glad you like the arc so far.**_

_**WakeL – Thanks for the review. I don't know, I might come back to Fairy Tail one day, maybe after the anime ends, maybe I won't return to it at all, at this point it's uncertain. As for Bleach, well that depends on many things, for the most part it depends on anime coming back. If it comes back and we get the animated version of the last arc than I might do it, however as it is I can't say I enjoy the manga as much as I used to, mainly because of the way Kubo has been handling stuff. Well this isn't really a place to discuss this, if you want me to I can send you a PM with more detailed explanations.**_

_**Black Eclipsed Soul – Thank you for the honest opinion and the review. I'm unfortunately going to have to agree with you. I also understand how you feel about them, I'd find it hard as well. The problem here is the fact that I have one OC for the most part of the story, Vergil has made some changes and demons in general have made some changes as well. Still, there's only so much I can do in set up chapters, you'll find it that the next chapter will be similar to the canon as well, however from the title of the next chapter you can guess that the arc is heading to a new direction. I have a couple of options, ignore everything that isn't Vergil related, which I'm not going to do, combine original plot with the canon material, I'll do that from time to time, but once again I can't do it all the time, make plot changes that switch the story around but feel a bit out of place, I don't feel like doing so and do what I've been doing so far, providing a change through Vergil and gradually moving through the One Piece series. Either way thank you for praising Vergil and my writing, it does mean a lot.**_

_**Nexus the Ice dragon king – Well that was a bit of a random one, but I'll answer it as good as I can without spoiling, it's Acharon Leonidas, he appeared in the end of the chapter 63. He was originally named Sparda but I decided to change the name since he didn't appear much in this story. **_

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_**Chapter 78 – Escape From Warship Island**_

* * *

"Hey, if Bokuden-san wakes up, tell him this: 'We're going to protect Apis.'." Nami said.

"O-Okay." The villager agreed.

-The bay-

Main Marine ship was getting closer to the island.

"Their ship is anchored off to starboard!" Marine informed them of the position of the Going Merry.

"Excellent! I want a landing party accompanying me to Warship Island! The rest of you, seize their ship!" Commander of the fleet ordered while Eric polished his nails.

-With the Straw Hats-

Usopp's jaw dropped when he saw Ryu-ji, his reaction was the most apparent one, however Zoro and Sanji weren't unfazed by the sight of the large creature.

Apis was on Ryu-ji along with Dinahi.

"Hey, everyone!" Apis greeted them.

"It's good to you guys again!" Dinahi grinned.

"Just like Grandpa Bokuden said, the legendary Millennium Dragon." Nami casually explained.

"Yeah! Isn't it cool?!" Luffy was still excited because of the dragon.

"It's not like he's yours!" Nami scolded him.

"Don't give him any ideas or he might start finding gigantic pets or some other kinds of monsters for the crew." Vergil smirked and Nami's eyes widened, then she smirked as well.

"Well he did begin with a demon. So if we assume demons are monsters to humans does that mean you are the crew's pet?" She was obviously teasing him, if her voice wasn't giving her away then the way she reached up to pet the top of his head certainly did.

"I'll be your pet Nami-san!" Sanji wanted a bit of her attention as well.

"Here you have it, Sanji can be your pet." Vergil smirked.

"Maybe later Sanji-kun. Ryu-ji is our priority now." Nami smiled at the cook.

"Yes, Nami-san!" Sanji said happily but then got serious and turned back to the Millennium Dragon.

"So when you get closer to the Grand Line, you see things like this?" Zoro questioned.

"Well we saw those Sea Kings before, but this isn't one of those…" Sanji stated.

Usopp on the other hand still had tone of fear to overcome. "Are… Are you sure it's tame?" As a response Ryuji licked the sniper's face.

"Oh! Sometimes he gets a bit senile! If he thinks you're food, he'll try to eat you!" Apis warned him, though it was too late.

And once again someone's head was in Ryu-ji's mouth.

"Too late!" Usopp panicked.

"It doesn't hurt at all, right?" Luffy asked before he laughed at his sniper. "You look like a trout!"

Usopp began stomping in place. "A-A-Are you just going to stand there? Get me out!"

"Let's just let him eat him." Zoro suggested.

"Zorooooo…!" Usopp pleaded.

"You better not, he'll give you food poisoning." Sanji warned the dragon.

"Shut up, Love cook!" Usopp yelled.

"Come on Ryu-ji, Usopp-san is not food." Dinahi petted the dragon's jaw and it let go of Usopp who ran behind a slightly bigger rock.

"So, now that we had some fun we should sum up what we know." Vergil glanced at Nami, she'd do this better than him and she seemed like she had a plan.

"That the marines want is… this Millennium Dragon. The truth, after thinking it over… Is that we've decided to take the Millennium Dragon back to Lost Island." Nami informed everyone who wasn't present at the time of the decision.

"Y-You can't be serious! The Marines are closing in! It was hard enough getting away just by ourselves, but with something that big…" Usopp tried to talk her out of it.

"Ryu-ji really want to go home! So…" Apis exclaimed, she looked at Usopp and she seemed ready to plead for help.

"And I bet Luffy said: 'Sure! I'll take you back home!' or made some other stupid promise…" Usopp seemed to almost mock his captain. He missed a small glare Vergil offered him.

"Yeah, I promised we'd take him there." Luffy confirmed it.

At that Usopp screamed and once again began making a fuss. "But we don't have any idea where that island is! How are we supposed to get there?!"

"Things will work out." Luffy simply said.

"No they won't!" Usopp cried out.

"Just calm down Usopp." Vergil said.

"It's easy for you to say! You, Luffy, Zoro and Sanji are as strong as monsters!" Usopp snapped.

"And you think that we'll just stand idly if you're in danger you damn idiot?!" Vergil snapped back, Usopp's eyes widened and he looked down, he never looked at it that way but when it came down to it none of the four allowed him or Nami to get hurt if they could help it. Sure the two of them fought as well, but for the most part they had one of the four to keep them safe.

Nami seemed to think about this as well, she subconsciously knew this quite awhile back but she never really thought about it. For both her and Usopp it began even before they joined the crew, she was protected from Buggy Pirates and Usopp was protected from the Black Cat pirate that tried to strike him with a hammer. For a moment she clenched her fists, she was going to try her best to help them as well, as much as she could.

"I think if Ryu-ji returns t his birthplace, he'll get better." Apis brought them back from their thoughts.

"Animals have instincts. This Millennium Dragon may be able to tell us something." Nami stated.

"Yeah, let's find this Lost Island!" Luffy agreed.

"But how…?" Usopp asked.

"Well, it'll work out somehow." Zoro said.

"Zoorooo… Some actual plan." Usopp pleaded.

"But what should we do with him? Just taking him down the mountain alone will attract attention." Sanji stated one of the biggest problems they had at the moment.

Nami smirked. "First we'll need a cart. One big enough for Ryu-ji to ride on." She said.

"Let's do it!" Apis exclaimed.

"I'll help as well!" Dinahi grinned.

"Sure, but leave getting the wood to us." Vergil grinned as well.

"**Gomu Gomu no Gatling Gun**!" Luffy punched the trees and they easily broke down.

"**Lightning Breath**." Vergil blasted them down with quite small **Breath**, though it was concentrated enough to break through ten trees that stood in line.

Sanji dealt with the job in a fashion similar to Luffy, though he did it with his legs.

Finally Zoro cut the trees down.

In a few minutes four pirates rested on their piles of trees.

"This enough?" Luffy asked.

"Maybe we overdid it a bit." Vergil said.

"OK!" Nami was sure that it was more than enough.

"Guess the next part is ours." Usopp said to Dinahi.

"Yeah!" The boy seemed eager to help.

Nami and Apis observed as Usopp and Dinahi put on the first wheel for the cart while the other four finished the remaining wheels.

"That should do it." Usopp wiped the sweat off his forehead once they were done with the cart.

"It looks awesome." Dinahi marveled the work.

"This should be perfect for Ryu-ji to ride on!" Apis and Luffy seemed to test the durability of the cart as the girl jumped up and down and Luffy stomped it.

"For sure!" Luffy agreed.

"But… The Marines are still anchored in the harbor." Sanji reminded them. "What about our ship?"

This made Luffy and Apis stop for a moment.

"Something will happen." Luffy guessed.

"No, it won't." Sanji assured him.

"But we do need it to get to the Lost Island, this can carry Ryu-ji but it doesn't exactly sail on its own, well we could always paddle our way to it but it will be easier to get the Merry." Vergil explained and Luffy remained puzzled. The demon sighed. "Think about it this way, you've got a piece of meat, now you can set it next to fire and let it by some higher miracle get cooked after days of waiting, on the other hand you can get the meat to cook as it should be cooked and it will take a couple of hours at most."

Everyone but the Captain and the First Mate sweat dropped at this, Luffy on the other hand completely understood it now.

"So we need Merry to get there faster." Luffy grinned.

"That's right." Vergil smirked.

"Let's just go and get it, we can fight them." Zoro said.

"Yeah. That suits fine to me." Sanji agreed.

"No, we can't. It'll put Ryu-ji in danger." Nami told them. "Let me think about how to transport him. But of course, the Going Merry is still anchored in the harbor…"

"Yosh! That's the precious ship we got from Kaya. I'll go get it." Usopp volunteered for the job.

"That's so cool!" Apis was amazed by his bravery.

"However…! Zoro and Vergil come too." And there it was, the brave and scared all at once.

"Why us?" Zoro asked.

"It's better that way. We'll pretty much even the strength of each group like that so in case either group has to fight it'll be easier." Vergil said.

"Then I'll leave it to you!" Nami said.

"Now that that's settled… How about we wait until nightfall?" Usopp suggested.

"NO!" Nami snapped.

"So where should we bring Merry?" Vergil asked.

Nami took a moment to think about it and then pointed toward a familiar looking cape. "Bring the ship around to that cape that looks like Usopp's nose."

Luffy laughed. "Hey, you're right! It's Usopp's nose!"

"But what will you do? If we only bring the ship…" Usopp tried to ask but she went to reassure him.

"Don't worry. I don't think they'll be able to find us here right away. Just be sure to hurry." Nami told him.

"Ohh, so now we have to hurry…" The sniper groaned.

"Sanji-kun and Luffy, get Ryu-ji onto the cart." Nami ignored Usopp's complains.

"Okay!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Right away, Nami-san!" Sanji agreed.

-Bokuden's house-

Six marines rushed into Bokuden's house and pointed their rifles at the sleeping man before their commander walked in.

"Hey, gramps. Tell me where this girl is hiding." Marine ordered as he showed Apis' picture. When Bokuden kept sleeping Marine began shaking him. "Hey I'm serious! Wake up, now!"

"The war lasted until the 1201st generation…" Bokuden was actually still telling his story.

"What are you blathering about?" Marine asked.

"Major! Something seems to have left a trail in the backyard!" One of the Marines came to tell him.

The troop ran along the trail and found Eric inspecting it.

"Eric, what have you found?!" Major asked.

Eric stood up and pointed at the trail. "I believe they are sitting at the end of this trail. They are hiding somewhere on this mountain."

"Alright! Commence search!" Major ordered.

-Harbor-

Zoro, Vergil and crying Usopp stood behind one of the houses and observed the Marines that guarded the Going Merry.

"This is why we should have waited until dark…" Usopp cried.

Zoro pulled out his Wado and sliced four times.

"What are you doing?!" Usopp would have screamed if it wasn't for the Marines being nearby.

Zoro stuffed the piece of gutter into Usopp's mouth, put the second one in his own mouth and handed the third one to Vergil.

"Good thinking." Vergil commented.

About ten minutes later the trio swam to Merry without being spotted, they managed to breath through the gutter pieces that Zoro cut off.

Finally they emerged near the anchor.

"I'm going up." Zoro said while Usopp tried to pull out the gutter.

Vergil sighed and pulled the piece of gutter out for Usopp.

"Thanks Vergil."

"Come on, the faster we finish this the faster we can go back to the others." Vergil took a hold of Usopp and Air Hiked to the deck.

At the same time Zoro cut the ropes and lowered the sails.

Marines turned around to see what was making the noise but Merry already started sailing away.

"Halt! Stop right there!" Marines yelled at them.

"Halt or we'll shoot!"

"This is kinda bad." Vergil said.

"Huh?" Usopp looked at where they were heading and screamed. "Zorooo!" He called the swordsman.

"Go, I'll do something from here." Vergil assured the sniper who was already on his way.

Marines began panicking as well.

"They're going to ram us!"

"Full sail!"

"We can't move in time!"

"**Darkness Breath**!" Vergil blasted the large ship, it didn't destroy the ship but it moved the ship away, damaged it and made it pretty much useless. Usopp and Zoro managed to steer Merry in the last moment and it sailed right by the damaged Marine ship.

Marines still had four ships at their disposal.

"Prepare to pursue!" The commander of one of the ships ordered and the Marines ran around to get the sails down and follow the Going Merry. "Raise anchor! Full sail! Pursue the pirate ship!"

-The mountain-

Marines, led my Eric and the Major were advancing up the mountain. Though they were unaware of that being important they had a seagull as a temporary company.

On the other hand Straw hats were ready, Ryu-ji was set on the cart and all they needed now was to wait for the rest of the crew to bring Merry to the Usopp nose shaped cape.

"There they are!" Nami exclaimed when she spotted Merry.

Seagull landed on Ryu-ji's head and spoke to Apis.

Hearing the news Apis gasped and her eyes widened in fear. "Oh no! The Marines are coming up the mountain!"

The crew could see Marines marching toward them.

"Ahh… They're earlier than I expected." Nami admitted.

"But what are we going to do?" Apis began panicking.

"Relax, alright? We still have these two." Nami showcased her faith in the abilities of the crew's captain and cook.

"They are really strong, you'll see." Dinahi assured the girl as well.

"When the Going Merry gets in front of the Usopp-nosed cape, we'll move out!" Nami stated.

-With the Marines-

As the marines climbed up the mountain Eric glanced around to see if he could locate Apis and he certainly did locate her. "_That kid again_."

And Ryu-ji just had to raise his head up.

"What the heck is that?!" One of the Marines shouted.

"A monster!"

Eric smirked. "_And thus, the elixir of eternal youth, the Dragon Bones, is found_."

Major turned around to his troops. "Don't back down! That's our main objective, the Millennium Dragon! We'll sneak up on them and capture it in one swift maneuver!"

"Yes sir!"

-Going Merry-

"Is it over?" Usopp asked hoping that the marines gave up.

"No, it's still not over." Zoro told him.

"Don't let them escape! Capture them!" Marine yelled.

"Zoro-Zoro-Zoro-Zoro-Zoro-Zoro! T-T-Take care of the sails!" Usopp began panicking again.

"I got it covered!" Zoro exclaimed.

"V-V-V-Vergil! Blast them! Do something about them!" Sniper pleaded.

"Fine, fine. Blasting their mast off should do the job, right?" Vergil asked and Usopp frantically nodded. The demon sighed and fired a **Lightning Breath** at the masts of the marine ship thus immobilizing it.

-The Mountain-

Dinahi was looking around so he could spot Marines before they approached them too much and he did a fairly decent job.

"They are coming." Boy ran up to Nami.

"Good job Dinahi, we'll leave it to you two, Luffy, Sanji-kun." Nami said to the males.

"Sure! / Yes Nami-san!" Both quickly agreed.

As the Marines approached Apis stood in front of Ryu-ji.

"Leave Ryu-ji alone." She pleaded.

"Apis…" Nami muttered, the girl was safe with not only Sanji and Luffy there but also with Ryu-ji shielding her with his wing.

Ryu-ji raised his head up and Marines were quite tempted to take a step back.

"As I thought, that brat did know about the Millennium Dragon. Although, even I hadn't suspected her of meeting a live one." Eric was still as calm about everything, it looked more like he was seeing a little cat rather than a dragon. "The girl is no longer important. Right there! That is our prize, the elixir of eternal youth!"

"Fire!" Major ordered and the marines obeyed.

Bullets were shot and Apis was about to jump in front of them, she would have if it wasn't for Dinahi and Nami holding her back. The bullets didn't hurt anyone though as Luffy stood in their way.

"NO GOOD!" The bullets bounced off as usually and Major was only lucky one of the bullets didn't hit him.

"How did he…"

"He just… the bullets…"

Even this close to the grand Line common Marines were oblivious to the Devil Fruits.

"So you have an ability of the Devil Fruit." Eric realized it quite quickly.

"You got it. I'm a rubber man." Luffy confirmed it.

"Rubber man?" One of the marines asked.

"D-Devil Fruit?"

"What's he talking about?"

"Swo-" Major tried to order but he was cut off by Eric.

"Use your swords! Guns won't affect rubber!"

Marines rushed forward with the swords in their hands.

"Sanji-kun!" Nami gave him a signal to go.

"Yes, Nami-san!"

Much to Apis and Dinahi's awe Sanji easily dealt with the Marines and Luffy joined him as well. The barrage of kicks and **Gatling Gun** left only a handful of them standing.

"Hm. So much for the Marines. If you want something done right…" Eric walked by the Major quite displeased with the results that Marines had in the battle against merely two pirates.

One of the marines managed to stand up and tried to run away but as he passed by Eric the mercenary swept his hand and Marine gained an open wound, one he could not get from Luffy nor Sanji.

"What?" Luffy was puzzled.

"A knife?" Sanji searched for any sign of knife or any other small blade being hidden in Eric's sleeve.

Nami, Dinahi and Apis could only watch as Eric approached them.

The mercenary finally came to a stop. "My name is Eric the Whirlwind. A mercenary under the employ of Nelson Royale. I have no interest in you lowlife pirates. My only concern is that Millennium Dragon behind you. If you oppose me, you will taste to power of the Kama Kama no mi _**(Sickle Sickle Fruit)**_ from Eric the Scythe Weasel."

"What's he mean by 'Kama Kama'?" Sanji wondered.

"You see, I too have the abilities of a Devil Fruit." Eric continued bragging.

"Okama?" Luffy supplied.

"Now what?" Sanji asked him.

"Now what?" Luffy repeated and then turned to Nami. "Nami! Aren't you ready yet?"

Nami glanced toward Going Merry. "A bit more!"

"Being able to see the ocean from so far away, Nami-san is so wonderful!" Sanji Exclaimed happily.

"Well, just hurry up." Luffy urged her.

Eric on the other had turned as red as a tomato. "Hey! You riffraff! Are you listening to me?!"

"It's Eric the Okama, right? I heard you." Luffy told him.

"NOO!" Eric seemed to lose his composure quite quickly so it must have been a sensitive topic, one that he probably encountered quite a lot of times as well. "Not the 'kama' in 'okama'! The 'kama kama' as in 'scythe weasel'!"

"Well they are both 'kama', right?" Luffy pointed out jokingly.

Eric gritted his teeth and then prepared to swipe his hand toward them. "You will regret angering me."

"Hm?"

"**Kama Kama no**…" He began blowing into his fingernails lightly. "**Whirlwind**!" Gust of sharp wind went toward Luffy and Sanji and made cuts on Luffy's left and Sanji's right arm.

Nami and the others were shielded by Ryu-ji's wing.

"What the?!" Luffy exclaimed.

"I got it. He means whirlwind scythe."Sanji realized as he held onto the wound.

Eric chuckled. "The wind I create is as sharp as a Meito. Tearing a person limb from limb is child's play." The mercenary laughed maliciously.

Apis grew worried because of this and she turned to Nami. "Are they there yet?"

"No, not yet." Nami muttered.

"Now, step aside. Hand over the Millennium Dragon." Eric requested.

"Like hell!" And Luffy defiantly refused to do either one of the two things.

"My Kama Kama no Whirlwind… Want another?" Eric offered to give them another taste of his power.

"Can we go now, Nami-san?" Apis was desperate to leave.

"Yes! They're set! We're leaving! Sanji-kun, Luffy!" Nami yelled to the other two.

"Yes! Nami-swan!" Sanji exclaimed.

"What?" Eric gasped when Luffy and Sanji began running to the dragon.

"We'll be right there!" Sanji assured the navigator. The cook got behind the cart and was about to push it. "Nami-san, my catapult of love!" He kicked off and the cart began going down.

Apis screamed and Luffy simply laughed while the others braced themselves.

"You won't escape!" Eric shouted.

"**Gomu Gomu no**…"

"**Kama Kama no**…"

"**Pistol**!"

"**Whirlwind**!"

The fist broke through the wind and Eric had no other choice but to jump over the cart and let them pass.

"You won't escape." He assured them.

The cart was moving down quite quickly as two kids tried their best to stay calm.

"There's a boulder in the way!" Both Apis and DInahi yelled.

"Luffy!" Nami just had to say that one word.

"**Gomu Gomu no Gatling Gun**!" Luffy broke through the boulder and Sanji and Ryu-ji defended the others from the rocks.

"This is nuts!" Apis screamed.

"We all are!" Dinahi came to grips with the fact.

"Shishishishi! That's just the way it goes!" Luffy laughed but then his neck got stuck to a branch and his body would have went along with his head if it wasn't for Ryu-ji grabbing him with his tail.

"YOU IDIOT!" That on the other hand didn't stop Nami from yelling at him.

Luffy was finally free from the branch and he lied on Ryu-ji's large neck. "Thanks for that…"

Apis looked at the captain and began laughing as well. "Yahoo!"

"You no longer have the right to complain, Apis!" Dinahi laughed as well.

-Going Merry-

The trio steered the ship closer to the cape.

"She said to pull right in front of the cape, right?" Usopp asked.

"Yeah." Zoro confirmed it.

"So how do you think Princess plans on getting that dragon down?" Vergil wondered.

"Well just leave it to her." Usopp decided to just trust her, there was no point in thinking too much into it.

Zoro's eyes widened as he was the first one to notice just what ended up being Nami's plan.

"GO! / Yahoo!" They heard Luffy and Apis shouting and the cart took flight from the cape. As they laughed the cart finally landed not too far away from the Merry.

Al three males on the ship face faulted at the plan their only female nakama had.

"That was their plan?!" Zoro couldn't believe it.

"I'm never letting her lead our escapes again without listening to the plan first." Vergil swore.

"So! Result, alright!" Apis found it entertaining and even gave a thumb up to Luffy.

"Shishishishi! She's right! Shishishi!" Luffy laughed.

About fifteen minutes later everyone but Usopp who was tying the cart to the Merry and Apis who was with Ryu-ji was on the deck.

"That was fun!" Luffy exclaimed.

"So much fun!" Apis agreed.

"Apis, you all right?" Nami asked the girl.

Apis nodded with a big smile on her face.

"All set, Luffy! We can leave any time." Nami told him.

"Alright! To Lost Island! Forward!" Luffy shouted out.

"And which way's that?" Usopp asked the most obvious question.

"Hmmm… Over there?" Luffy pointed at his left. "Maybe over here?" Then to his right. And he was confused.

"Are we really going to be okay?" Usopp wondered.

"Guess we just have to pick a direction and try it." Zoro stated.

"It's not on any map." Nami winked.

"The keep Nami-san is so wonderful!" Sanji was amazed.

"What's so keen about that?" Vergil asked.

"Shut it, pet." Nami reminded him of the conversation they had before.

"A half pet." Vergil grinned.

Nami blinked. "Half?" She asked.

"You still haven't tamed me." The white haired demon brushed it off.

"Is that a challenge?" Navigator asked.

"Perhaps." He answered.

"Are they always like this?" Dinahi asked.

"For the most part." Zoro said.

Usopp was once again amazed by how relaxed his crew could be, though he was amazed in a negative way. "Why me?" He sighed.

Either way they lowered the sails and picked a direction.

"We're headed to… Lost Island!" Luffy exclaimed.

* * *

_**And that's it. Kamaitachi, the term Eric used can mean scythe weasel and whirlwind scythe.**_

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_**Next Chapter – Lost Island, Grom's Unfinished Job**_


	79. Lost Island, Grom's Unfinished Job

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review, glad you liked the chapter.**_

_**KP360 – Thanks for the review, yeah, you got that right. Trust me I can't wait to get to Drum either mainly because of Chopper.**_

_**Blue VanLocke – To put it as bluntly as possible, no. First of all she is a child, I don't think there's any need to go further into the explanation.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks for the review, hopefully this satisfied your hopes.**_

_**Naroku – Thanks for the review. I quite like Vivi, though I can see some of the flaws that could irk of people, she overall ends up as an amazing and quite deep character. Unfortunately there are too many things that prevent me from doing that. Just like with killing off a character one has to take many things into consideration before letting someone join the crew. Yes the thought of making a Naruto story crossed my mind, but I feel like writing through One Piece will pretty much exhaust me even with all the enjoyment writing this brings me, so there is a small chance of writing a companion to canon story for Naruto, however story as a story, perhaps.**_

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_**Chapter 79 – Lost Island, Grom's Unfinished Job**_

* * *

"Get messages to the leader of each unit! All hands to the command ship deck!" Marine yelled.

"Where's the maintenance officer?!" Another one asked.

"Face the yard this way!"

"No, to the right, right!"

Well they pretty much couldn't get a thing done…

"Get some repair planks from another ship!"

"Repair crew! Hurry up the repairs to the command ship!"

"Those damn pirates. They run away faster than expected." Major said.

"No cause for concern." Eric calmly assured him. "For now we should just let them swim."

"What do you mean by that?" Major asked.

"They ran away in an awfully headstrong manner, correct? Why do you suppose that is?" When he got no immediate response Eric continued. "Have you forgotten that this island has a legend about it? About the location of the Dragon's Nest, the story of Lost Island."

"What? So they…" Major piece it together.

"It's just a hunch." Eric fixed his glasses.

"Pull! Pull!" Marines pulled up a main mast.

"If I'm right, they'll lead us straight to it." The mercenary stated and left the deck.

-Inside the ship-

One of the Marines was busy sending the report that Nelson was going to receive.

"A report to commodore Nelson?" Eric walked up to the other side of the table. "I don't believe that's necessary."

"But, sir! I mean…" Marine tried to say something but the Den Den Mushi fell asleep already and Eric walked out of the room.

"_I've searched so long for those Dragon Bones, the elixir of eternal youth. I'll not hand them over to that disgusting Nelson Royale. I will keep it for myself. And Eric the Whirlwind shall become invincible."_

-Main ship-

"Perhaps I've been wrong about you, Commodore Nelson, is the eternal youth not worthy enough of all your effort?" A man questioned via Den Den Mushi.

"Of course it's not, we will find the Dragon Bones." For once Nelson Royale wasn't talking arrogantly.

"Good, I am only interested in the portal between the two worlds, I'll come to pay a visit soon enough." Voice said and the Den Den Mushi fell asleep signaling the end of the conversation.

Either because of the state his body was in, or because he was playing a dangerous game with a dangerous person wasn't really important, Nelson Royale was sweating worse than a pig…

Frustrated Nelson realized that he wasn't getting a report.

"Where is it?" He demanded but his underlings didn't understand what he was asking for.

One of the Marines ran in carrying a meal. "Your meal." He fearfully whimpered but Nelson smacked both the meal and the Marine to the floor.

"That's not what I want." He snapped.

"Commodore Nelson Royale!" Another Marine ran in and saluted.

"Ah, I've been waiting for this! You have Eric's report?" Nelson asked.

"No, it's a report from one of the soldiers operating at Warship Island. Eric has found one of the legendary Millennium Dragons. Presently, due to damage to their flagship the entire fleet is engaged in repairs." Marine read but he halted when Nelson gripped his fan.

"Eric… Why didn't you tell me that you had found a Millennium Dragon? Do you intend to find the Dragon Bones yourself?" He was enraged. "Then again, he is a mercenary after all." He grinned and then covered his face with the slightly crumbled fan before revealing it again. "Have the main sleet set a course for Warship Island immediately. All ships, disembark!"

-Straw Hats-

Merry was sailing around without a direct goal and the dragon was getting weaker and weaker.

"Lost Island, huh? Judging from the maps… There doesn't seem to be any other island within the vicinity of Warship Island." Nami sighed.

"Hey, Grandpa Dragon! Where are we supposed to go?" Usopp asked.

Ryu-ji's sight blurred and for a moment the fish that jumped out of the water seemed like another dragon. The picture suddenly shifted to Luffy's upside down head as the captain of the crew looked him in the eye.

"Hey." Luffy tried to talk to him but he simply closed his eyes. "Looks like he's dozed off again."

The remaining three pirates on the deck just looked at him, this was harder than they hoped it would be.

"Sorry to keep you waiting guys!" Apis exclaimed as she ran up to them. "Lunch is ready!"

And they didn't look so excited about it.

"More of her cooking?" Zoro asked.

"I wasn't 'waiting' for this…" Usopp muttered.

Nami tried to smile but simply couldn't bring herself to do so.

Sanji, Dinahi and Vergil followed Apis as well.

"Oo-hoo-hoo! Sanji! Ah, great! You made the food today!" Usopp was showing his relief at that way too much and it was evident by the annoyance on Apis' face that she wasn't pleased with that.

Apis stepped on Usopp's foot when she went to the railing and she stepped hard… As Usopp nursed his feet Nami smiled nervously and Vergil glanced at Dinahi.

"If you want to stay alive, never annoy a woman, no matter how young or harmless she looks." Vergil advised him.

"I won't…" Dinahi assured him.

"Ryu-ji! Eat up!" Apis raised the pot up.

"Ah, food!" Luffy stretched his hands out to grab the pot and then realized that it was too hot… "AH! HOT!" He dropped the pot.

"AH! YOU DUMBASS!" Sanji yelled and the hot pot with rice fell on top of Ryu-ji's head making the dragon's eyes widen and swirl around and part of his head turned bright read from the heat.

"Ryu-ji!" Apis slid down the rope to her friend.

"Apis!" Nami called.

The girl stepped on the cart and calling out the dragon's name she ran to help him.

It was probably because of the shock but more visions of dragon's reemerged in Ryu-ji's mind and he looked at the sky with his eyes completely wide.

"Ryu-ji. Are you alright?" Apis asked him and he looked at her. Apis' eyes widened as if he had told her something.

"Good grief, you waster the food I made specially for him." Sanji was annoyed at the wasted food.

"You can just make more, right?" Usopp asked.

"What have I told you about wasting food?" Sanji tried to remind him.

Apis stood up and looked to the side and Luffy, who was using his sandals to hold the pot, noticed it. "What's up?" He looked at where she was looking but couldn't see anything.

"Lost Island… The Dragon's Nest… is east of Warship Island." Apis said.

Luffy took a moment to process the words and then grinned. "So that's where Lost Island is?!"

"Ryu-ji remembered!" Apis exclaimed happily.

"We've got it!" Luffy shouted to his crew. "Lost Island is east of Warship Island!"

"Ryu-ji just said so!" Apis added.

"Just like that!" luffy grinned.

"Usopp, come help me!" Nami urged the sniper to follow her.

"Sure!" They ran down the stairs.

"Seems like it wasn't wasted, maybe we should heat the water up and drop it onto his head so he can remember some more information." Vergil said.

"That's not funny Vergil!" Dinahi pouted at the demon.

"I'm serious." Vergil bluntly said.

Zoro smirked at that.

"Yosh! Set course for lost Island. FULL SAIL!" Luffy yelled out the order.

As Merry changed course Sanji turned to Luffy. "Moron, you better eat all of this."

"Sure! Don't worry!" Luffy didn't have a single complain about that.

-With Eric-

Eric set down his knife as stopped eating the meal once the marine finished telling him the news.

"Yes, sir! The pirates' ship seems to have altered course towards the region east of Warship Island."

Eric smirked. "They're making their move."

The alarm for the marines to gather and act was sounded and hectic preparations began yet again.

"Face all ships east! Full speed ahead! We will now eliminate all distance between us and the Straw Hat Pirates. Artillery squad, man the cannons! Unit leaders, prepare to command your units! Our course is…" Major handed out the orders.

"Lost Island." Eric and Major said at the same time, though Eric spoke only to himself.

"All ships, set sail!" The fleet began closing the distance…

-Going Merry-

As Zoro lifted the weights in a slight workout Sanji and Vergil took care of the dishes. Dinahi on the other hand watched Zoro in awe, how the swordsman could effortlessly move his arm up and down was beyond his comprehension.

Sanji was washing the dishes and Vergil was drying them.

"Here, Vergil."

Demon took the plate.

"Here Vergil."

Once again.

"Here Vergil."

Repeat.

"Ver-gil." He dragged it out.

"How did the escape go? Were there any obstacles before the cart reached the ocean?" Vergil asked.

"Here." Sanji handed him another plate. "Not really. Marines weren't any problem to deal with. Why do you ask?"

"So that you can stop chanting 'Here Vergil.' Every ten seconds. On the other hand I'm curious about our enemy, is it just normal Marines or do they have anyone specific on their side." Vergil bluntly said making Zoro smirked at the first part.

"They have a Devil Fruit user, some mercenary Eric the Whirlwind." Sanji said and handed older male another plate.

"Never heard of him. Did you figure out what his Devil Fruit is?"

"He had quite big mouth so he told us. Kama Kama no mi." Blond said.

"Okama?" Vergil smirked.

"That's what Luffy and I said as well." Sanji smirked back.

-With Luffy-

Luffy stretched his arms up a bit as he sat on the figure's head.

"Somewhere in this wide ocean Lost Island is waiting for us. Wonder what kind of place it is." Captain raised his head up toward the crew's nest. "Hey! Usopp, can you see anything?" He asked.

"Nope, not a thing." Usopp replied.

"Okay." He took it surprisingly well.

Usopp sighed as he and Nami took a moment to rest from looking around so much.

"But, you know, if the island's sunk, it's not like it'll simply appear right in front of us or something. You sure about this?" Usopp asked the navigator who just sighed in reply. "I wish Ryu-ji would try to remember a little more for us." He turned to her after raising up his goggles and his eyes fell on large piece of metal. "This will do! Let's give Ryu-ji's head a clunk with this. Maybe the shock will jog his memory some more."

"Would you cut that out." Nami smacked his arm and he dropped the heavy block onto his foot, once again he was whining as he tried to nurse his hurting foot…

Nami looked down and smiled.

She wasn't the only one, as Sanji went to set away some wine he looked throughout the small round window just to check on Apis.

Usopp slammed his fist onto the wood next to Nami and was about to complain, but the smile on her face got him curious enough to look at what she was looking at.

"Hey Ryu-ji! Not long now!" They were looking at Apis who was talking to Ryu-ji. "Soon we'll be at Lost Island! It's there right? The Dragon's Nest? If you go to the Dragon's Nest, you'll get better right?"

Ryu-ji told her something.

"Huh?" Apis smiled. "That's silly, saying thanks already! We're not ever there yet!"

The dragon seemed to remain silent for a moment.

-Marines-

Eric smirked as he looked at the sight in front of him.

-Going Merry-

Zoro's eyes narrowed as he looked outside the window.

"They showed up, eh?" Vergil asked.

"They followed us." Zoro stated.

Outside Luffy saw a silhouette of something. "What? Is that smoke?" He began looking around for an answer and when he found none he just brushed it off. "Oh well. I'll find out when we get closer."

"Oh come ooon!" Apis shouted at Ryu-ji. "I do not think you're a bother! What's with you?! Hey Ryu-ji are you listening?!"

"It looks like Apis is having a fight." Nami said.

"Actually, it looks like Apis is just making herself mad." Usopp corrected her and it was kinda true, if one didn't know about Apis' Devil Fruit then this scene of her and Ryu-ji having an argument would look just like a little girl shouting for no reason whatsoever.

"It's not fair for you to keep quiet! Say something!" Apis demanded.

"Do you think we should stop her-?" Nami began her question but then something caught her eye.

They finally got closer to the silhouette Luffy saw and now it looked more like a ship.

"Ship… maybe?" Luffy asked. "But something's weird about it… For sure…" As Merry got even closer to the silhouette Luffy touched the glassy looking area with his foot only to cause a bit of a ripple.

For some reason a moment later Luffy could see himself and Merry right there in front og him, it was almost as if he was looking at a mirror.

"Whoa!" Luffy exclaimed without a hint of worry as Merry seemed to disappear through the mirror like anomaly. "This is cool, Nami! Come look at this!"

She was in fact looking utterly scared just like Usopp next to her. "I'm… already looking."

Luffy's head went through the anomaly as well. "Where am I going? Shishishi."

Usopp began crying and both he and Nami went blue with fear and worry. Seeing no other solution the two decided to do one thing, scream.

The scream got attention of the rest of the crew and two kids.

-Marines-

Major dropped the binoculars once he saw the Going Merry disappearing.

"The pirate ship…" He began.

"Impossible…"

"What happened…?"

"I-It disappeared."

"What the heck happened?"

"Hey. What happened? How did they disappear?" Major turned to his subordinates for the answer.

"We don't know, sir!" The response was quite expected but still frank.

"Stop the fleet!" Major ordered.

"Aye!"

"Tell them not to advance until given further orders!"

"Aye!"

"Continue on this course." Eric said.

"Don't be absurd. We don't know what lies in that ocean ahead! Absolutely not." Major firmly stated that his fleet wasn't getting anywhere near the strange area.

"That again?" Eric sighed and took a couple of steps back. "Very well, get me a rowboat."

"Wait… You're…" Major realized where the conversation was going.

"Exactly. I will go alone."

-Going Merry-

Despite the panic that had taken over Nami and Usopp everyone was fine, they were just surrounded by hell of a lot of fog.

"What, fog?" Zoro noticed.

"I thought it was important, the way Nami-san screamed like that." Sanji said.

Vergil on the other hand began climbing up to Nami.

"What just happened?" Nami asked.

"What the hell was that back there?" Usopp asked.

"Are you alright?" Vergil reached them and stepped into the crow's nest.

"I saw our ship right in front of us and then… we kinda plunged into it." Usopp explained in the best way he possibly could.

"I can't see anything at all!" Luffy was still as carefree as he could be.

"It was almost like… a mirage." Usopp said.

"A mirage?" Vergil and Nami asked and then something made Nami connect the dots.

"Of course! I read it in a book once. When cold sea water and warm sea water mix, mirages can appear on the sea!" She said.

"Guess everything's fine then." Vergil said and began climbing back down.

All of a sudden thunders cracked in the sky and rain began soaking all of them.

"Is this a mirage as well?" Usopp asked.

Nami clenched her fists in frustration. "What is WRONG with this ocean?!" She screamed at the skies.

Just as she said that the storm got worse and almost made the ship turn over.

Usopp and Nami managed to hold onto the crow's nest, Luffy jumped and held onto the railing, Vergil held onto the ropes and the remaining four got tangled together on the deck.

"Bastard, watch what you're doing!" Zoro snapped at Sanji.

"I don't exactly like it either, shithead!" Sanji argued.

"Sanji-kun, Zoro, Vergil! I'll take in the sail! Unfasten the ropes!" Nami ordered from above.

"Yes Nami-san!" Sanji went to business right away and Vergil jumped down.

"You have to get below deck!" Zoro tried to lead the two kids to the safety.

"No way! I have to be with Ryu-ji!" Apis argued.

"Apis get inside! Ryu-ji will be fine with them!" Dinahi cried out but Apis already tried to run to Ryu-ji.

"Idiot! Just being there for him won't help out!" Zoro tried to persuade her.

"Ryu-ji is just sitting there helpless! I have to get to him-" She slipped and slid down the boards.

Dinahi managed to stop her near the doors. "Listen we can't help Ryu-ji, we are too weak to do so! Only a burden, that's what we are going to be if we don't get out of their way." Dinahi said and Apis looked down.

"But Ryu-ji…" She wasn't giving up.

"Damn brat just get inside!" Vergil snapped once he took care of the ropes on his side.

Apis defied him with a glare that only further annoyed the demon.

"Damn selfish and stubborn brats. Fine stay here or go to Ryu-ji, I certainly won't go jumping into the ocean if you fall off." Vergil made it clear and Apis ran closer to Ryu-ji. Dinahi sighed and followed after her.

Usopp was dealing with the sails.

"Hurry! We'll be in danger too, if we don't get below deck!" Nami urged them.

Skies roared and the rain intensified.

"What a weird ocean… It's like it's trying to sink the ship." Luffy said to himself.

"Ryu-ji! Ryu-ji! Don't worry, this storm won't stop us-!" The sudden splash of water that hit her in the face interrupted her and the water loosened the ropes that were tied to Ryu-ji's cart.

The rope snapped Apis in the face and knocked her off her feet.

Dinahi jumped to grab one of the ropes and Apis took the other one but the rope cut into their hands causing them to bleed.

Ropes finally stopped when Zoro and Vergil grabbed them as well.

"Zoro! / Vergil!" Apis and Dinahi exclaimed.

"Ryu-ji! No, don't say that! We'll beat this yet! You can't give up now!" Apis yelled at the dragon.

Ryu-ji looked at her and the flashes of other dragons flying away engulfed his mind once again.

"Didn't we promise to find the Dragon's Nest together?!" Apis was on the brink of crying.

Luffy jumped in as well and wrapped himself around the mast. "**Gomu Gomu no Lasso**!" He stretched his arm and wrapped it a couple of times around one of the cart's wheels.

Sanji's eye widened. "Nami-san! I see a light up ahead!"

"That's the eye of the typhoon!" Nami realized.

"Hey! I can see an island under that light!" Usopp informed them.

"We'll take the ship there." Nami decided and went to change the course of the Going Merry.

"Luffy!" Apis muttered.

"I'm fine! Leave it to me! I promised to take you to the Dragon's Nest, didn't I?!" Luffy reminded her.

"Right!" Apis confirmed it.

"Next time we are making sure we are not making promises to spoiled brats…" Vergil groaned.

"Vergil…" Dinahi tried to scold him.

"Save your breath." Vergil cut him off before he could say anything.

Zoro glanced at Vergil. The demon wasn't heartless, that much they all knew, a person could get him to help and he was willing to do so, but Apis' behavior was clearly testing his patience.

Slowly but surely Merry sailed out of the storm.

"So that storm surrounds the whole island, huh? Almost like it's to prevent people from entering. Until now, no one has ever been able to find this place. Must have been because of that storm." Nami pointed out.

"You know what? Instead of an island, it looks like a castle sitting on the sea." Luffy pointed out. "Right, Vergil?" Captain was oblivious to the mood the First Mate was in.

He let out a sigh and took a better look at the island. "Guess so."

They sailed to the island and found out that it was once inhabited, if the ruins were any giveaway.

"Hey, look at that! Doesn't that look like the shape of a dragon?" Usopp asked and then let out a short laugh, a happy and excited one. "This must really be the island of the Millennium Dragon."

"Oho! Those dragons were pretty slick!" Luffy exclaimed thinking that the dragons made the buildings.

"Idiot! Obviously humans built these buildings." Sanji scolded him.

"Well, whoever built it…" Zoro didn't really care.

"We're here! Lost Island!" Luffy was getting more excited with every passing second.

The crew set foot onto the once inhabited island.

"In any case, I wonder how long it's been since anyone lived here. Looks like the jungle took over long ago." Sanji pointed out.

"Oh yeah, where do you suppose the Dragon's Nest is?" Nami asked.

"Hey! Ryu-ji!" Apis' calls made them look at her, well made everyone but Vergil look at her. The demon was too absorbed in something else to care. "Come on Ryu-ji! Really! We're at island there the Dragon's Nest is! C'mon, get up!" She tried to talk him into getting up.

Ryu-ji just opened his eyes for a moment and closed them again.

"What'd he say?" Luffy asked.

"He doesn't know. Maybe this isn't Lost Island." Apis said.

"What?" Zoro's eyes widened slightly.

"You gotta be kidding!" Sanji exclaimed.

"We had to go through that huge storm to get here!" Usopp complained.

Apis sighed.

"Apis! Take a look at that summit! If we climb up there, we'll be able to see the whole island!" Luffy told her.

"He's right. We won't gain anything by sitting here thinking." Nami agreed with the Captain.

"Yeah!" Apis agreed.

"Alright! Set off!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Were are you going?" Dinahi suddenly asked thus getting Zoro's attention.

Zoro followed Dinahi's line of sight and saw Vergil walking toward something. "Vergil?" Zoro questioned the First Mate.

"There's something I have to check, keep going, I'll catch up with you." Vergil said and picked up a pace.

"Where are you going?" Nami asked as he walked toward some ruins.

"There's something here. I can hear it." Vergil said and Nami looked at Apis.

"I can't hear anything." Girl said but Vergil had already ran off.

Luffy looked down the path his First Mate took and grinned. "He'll be fine, let's go."

Dinahi shook his head and ignored them, the sounds…

Vergil ran through the ruins trying to find the best route to take, He wasn't paying any attention to his surroundings, only to the sound, it was already weak to begin with, sightseeing was not an option. He finally seemed to get the clear idea of where the sounds came from and went into a ruined house.

Looking around he tried to notice anything that could help him out, he was sure that the sounds were the loudest here, but he couldn't see where to go from here.

"Blasting this is not an option, I could lose the wavelength." He muttered and began walking around, he tuned out the sounds he heard and focused on the sound of his footsteps, finally it paid off.

The corner of the room seemed to be hollowed out and Vergil took a step back before finding an indication of the opening carved into it.

"_Some other house I guess?_" He could only hope that this wouldn't last for too long as he climbed onto the roof of the ruin to take a better look.

Sounds couldn't help him, he could only rely on things he knew and the logic, going from house to house would take too long so he tried to rule out the possibilities.

"_Putting the switch or something similar way too far would be too much of a risk so I can rule that out, circle of the houses around this one seems risky and it's most predictable, but that could be the location_." Vergil began going into the houses one by one only to get out more and more frustrated. "Where is the damn thing?!"

Growing impatient the demon also got reckless, he went to the ruins and the sealed opening and blasted it with Darkness Blast big enough to create a small hole in the makeshift trapdoors.

Vergil raised the concrete and jumped into the hole.

As he had guessed the sounds got weaker due to his impatient nature, not to mention due to his current state, but he could still hear them to a certain extent.

He began walking through the tunnel and after about one hundred meters Vergil turned around the corner and saw the way too familiar markings. "That's…" The white haired demon was utterly speechless. The demon began walking toward the paintings with only one thought on his mind. "Grom…" It was barely a whisper.

-Flashback-

'I guess I wasn't always as bent on killing Mundus as I am today, back when I was a kid I simply wanted to make Grom proud. Somewhere along the line I began dreaming, I wanted to find a way to revert the consequences of unsuccessful Devil Arm creation, once again it was Grom's fault. Despot of the Special Combat District, 'Wicked Storm' Parzifal Grom, he was the one who changed my opinion on demons, he was the one who saved me, taught me and forged the person I am today from the mess of a confusion my mother left. Yet for all the power he had he left an unfinished job behind him…'

Eleven years old Vergil peacefully slept in his room when a sound of knocking made him stir from his slumber and furrow his eyebrows. A bit more of annoying and persistent knocking against the glass that Vergil desperately tried to ignore later the white haired boy was on his feet.

"Damn it Grom… Do you know what time it is? More importantly you're Despot here, you can do whatever you want to so knock on the damn doors." Boy complained sleepily before yawning.

"Forget about that, I'm going to the Human World, wanna tag along?" Grom didn't even have time to finish the question and Vergil was already dressed up and ready making the demon laugh. "Come on." He motioned for Vergil to follow.

Vergil jumped out of the room and ran after his kinda mentor.

"You're not going to ask me about my recent absence?" Grom brought up the topic as they began walking toward slightly more secluded area.

"If you think I should know, you'll tell me." Vergil simply brushed it off.

"I see. Well I'll tell you once we get there. By the way how are you adjusting to everything? I know I've been absent way too much at a wrong time, so I'm a bit worried." Grom admitted.

"I'm getting used to the squad. They are all strong so I feel weak, but that just makes me want to get stronger." Vergil said and Grom nodded.

"We'll get back to the training tomorrow, depending on when the squad is called again I'll be able to see how much you've improved on the actual battle field." The Despot said and Vergil grinned, his red eyes sparked with admiration but more than anything Grom could easily see the determination and excitement in the bloody colored eyes.

Finally the two reached a small lake in the middle of the forest.

"You're going to open the portal, right?" Vergil asked.

"Nope, you're the one that's going to do it." Grom said making the boy's eyes widen out of shock.

For a moment Vergil considered the possibility of failing and thus causing the death of the demon, however it soon perished, if Grom believed that he was ready to do it then he will prove that he really was.

Grom watched him as he took a deep breath and began gathering pure energy, without a single tint of darkness or lightning in front of him, the energy was red, barely a couple of shades lighter than Vergil's eyes. The artificially made gate began forming in front of Vergil but it seemed ready to collapse.

"Envision it. Concentrate on creating the doors and open them." Grom instructed him.

Vergil gritted his teeth as the gate began stabilizing only for it to collapse and the young boy dropped to his knees.

"Sorry." Vergil panted as Grom approached him.

"Make sure you stabilize it completely before you try to open it, you also forgot the key factor. Pay more attention next time." Grom wasn't exactly a mentor, besides a couple of instructions here and there and demonstration from time to time he didn't exactly teach Vergil, but the boy understood it, by now he knew Grom's way of doing things.

In a blink of an eye, Grom created the solid gate in front of them.

"Let's go." Older male said and then grinned. "You want to see the Human World, don't you?" This seemed to snap Vergil back to the right mood as he quickly followed through the portal.

They stepped into the middle of a mountain and Vergil's eyes widened.

"This is the Human World?" Boy asked.

"Yeah, I can see why you're surprised. The sky is filled with stars, the nature itself varies from place to place, the variety is so amazing that you can't paint it on a single painting. You should see the sky during the day, it's clear and blue." Grom told him.

Vergil laughed and dropped to the grass, he lied there and just looked at the starts. "So this is what mom was talking about…" He muttered. Despot sat down next to him knowing that right now, while thinking of his mother the boy needed someone to be by his side, just a proof that he wasn't alone, he needed a parent figure in his life and that was something that Xenia couldn't provide. Acharon sure as hell wasn't going to either, not after this many years.

Looking at the sky Grom figured they still had a lot of time. "We are in West Blue, you know about it right?" Grom asked.

"Yeah, Xenia told me about it." Vergil confirmed it.

"I came here to destroy the natural portal between Human World and Demon World. You see there are five portals in total, one here in West Blue, one in East Blue, one in North Blue and one in South Blue, this makes the four portals that serve as a shield to the main and largest portal located in the Grand Line. To destroy it we have to destroy the first four portals. I destroyed the ones in North and South and I know one is here on this mountain, but I can't find the one in the East." Grom explained.

"Why do you need to destroy them? And what's the point of them anyway?" Vergil asked curiously.

"Those are the only portals that can withstand an army going through them. If Mundus finds a way to open the central one he'll be able to send his army and enslave this world. There aren't any specific gates in the Demon World, so I can't destroy that side of the portal, well that I certainly can do."

"If Mundus wants to enslave humans, why isn't he opening the portals?"

"He needs you, well he needs the ones like you to do it." Grom said and he knew he didn't need to say anything else.

"Let's go and destroy that portal." Vergil stood up and the sudden distress caused by Grom's revelation made him clutch his head.

"Vergil?!" Grom shouted as if to snap the boy out of it.

"I can hear it…" Vergil muttered.

"Hear what?" Grom asked.

"I don't know. I never heard anything like this before." Boy admitted. "But I think it's important."

"Do you think it'll pass if I take you there?"

"I can walk on my own." Vergil defied and ran off to the direction the sound was coming from.

"Stubborn kid…" Grom sighed and followed him.

Vergil narrowed his eyes as he climbed up the mountain. "_There's no doubt about it, besides those strange sounds I'm definitely hearing Anshoku's voice. Where is it coming from?" _Vergil looked around and it seemed like the sounds were coming from the rocks.

"Did you find anything?" Grom joined him.

"I think it's coming from the rocks." Vergil muttered and walked up to the rocky mountain, he began knocking on the area and Grom got the idea, he was looking for a hollow part of the mountain.

Finally Grom heard the quite welcome sound and blasted the rock in front of him with a simply **Spark Explosion** fired from the palm of his hand. The smoke cleared and a route was open for them.

"Are you getting a headache?" Grom asked.

"Yeah, I'll have to learn how to control that, otherwise it'll keep giving me a headache and I'll have to stay focused so I can hear normal things." Vergil complained.

"Try calming down, accept it completely and it'll turn into just another sense." Grom advised him.

"I already accepted it and it's not really working." Vergil argued, this was quite a sensitive topic to him.

"You believe you fully accepted and embraced it?" Grom question.

White haired boy looked away, he wasn't not completely, he sighed and looked at Grom. "It's not that easy."

"Then make it easy, in the end it's you, if you can't do it then you are still confused. You may have awoken it, You may have gained it, but you still have to fully embrace it, you still have to conquer it. Vergil don't ever close your eyes, that's what's keeping you from conquering yourself." Grom Tried to make him see but the boy remained silent, still from the look in Vergil's eyes Grom know that his words got through.

As they walked through the cave it got dark to the point of both of them having to charge lightning in their palm so they could actually see something.

The sounds Vergil kept hearing became louder and louder until they finally reached a larger space.

"It's in front of us, no doubt about it." Vergil said, Grom nodded.

"Spark Firework." He shot spars throughout the area to lighten it and the small lightning balls remained there even though he relaxed.

Vergil's eyes widened when he saw the huge gate, markings originating from the Demon World and Human World covered part of the doors, but he couldn't understand it. From what he could tell Grom couldn't understand the human signs either. An engraved eye caught his attention, it was a red eye, just like his.

Grom took out a blood filled vial from his pocket and emptied the content over his right palm.

"What the hell Grom?!" Vergil exclaimed, but the demon seemed to disconnect from the rest of the world.

Grom's usual dark blue energy was mixed with red one and he raised his blood stained palm and placed it onto the gate, what happened next temporarily blinded Vergil as a flash engulfed the space around him. When he regained his sight he had no other choice but to cover his eyes and shield them, he could still make out the motions of Grom drawing something on the gate. The crashing sound of opening, intense electricity charging and collapsing slowly took away the blinding light and when Vergil could finally remove his arm to look around all he saw was the dust and some rubble here and there.

"Three down, one to go." Grom smirked at the boy.

Vergil smirked as well but due to the sounds disappearing with the portal Vergil seemed to fell even more exhausted then he should have been. As he sat on the ground to regain his composure Grom just shook his head.

"Let's go home." Grom walked up to him and offered him his hand, too tired to complain Vergil took it. Grom pulled him up and then pushed through the portal he himself created.

Once they returned to Vergil's room and entered, through the window, Vergil fell down on his bed completely exhausted and Grom closed the window.

Slumber seemed to get a grip on Vergil as soon as he connected with the bed as the sound of even breathing filled the room. Grom glanced at him and noticed that he was sprawled on the bed without the covers on. Sighing he walked up to the bed, picked the boy up and pulled the sheets. Gently he lowered the sleeping boy onto the bed and covered him.

"Don't build your confidence on my beliefs…" Demon muttered, a hint of worry crossed his featured but as Vergil shifted into a more comfortable position he couldn't stop the small smile from making its way onto his face. "Well, you'll figure it out one day, sweet dreams Verge."

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_**And that's it.**_

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_**Next Chapter – Dark Edge Reawakening**_


	80. Dark Edge Reawakening

_**Answers on reviews:**_

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_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review, I'm glad you liked it.**_

_**Naroku – Thank you. There will be one more flashback by the end of the arc. I agree about the OC stories, I prefer them over most of the other ones. As for Vergil's character, I guess so, it depends on perspective but he will have a bit more of development in the upcoming arcs. AS for the recommended story, I think I'll give it a try, thanks for recommending it.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks I guess you are right.**_

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_**Chapter 80 – Dark Edge Reawakening**_

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Vergil's eyes widened as realization hit him, here was written the location of the portal in the East Blue, one that Grom couldn't find, the problem was, he couldn't understand a damn thing written here…

"_Lady Luck, she fucking hates me_…" And he hated her too, with grand passion. Nothing could go as planned with this, it was printed in bold letters that even if he found this it would be for nothing because for all the time and effort Grom and Xenia put into teaching him the ancient Demon language he didn't get a thing. Human letters weren't even a topic at the time, neither Grom nor Xenia could read them… On the brighter side he could hear the words as long as they were carved with something from the mid dimension back then so they figured he could still pull through. Downside of that is the fact that they never counted on Vergil's ability disappearing ten years ago and barely emerging back in the previous year.

He could hear them, somewhat but it all sounded so messed up and he couldn't decipher any words from the sounds he heard.

Glaring daggers at the carvings was all he could do at the moment and he knew that he was the only one to blame for that and it frustrated him, a lot.

"Maybe I should write it down again." Vergil pondered if doing so could make him remember even a single thing, biting his thumb to draw blood he colored the first symbol with his blood.

A sudden jolt in his brain caused him to clutch his head as the word 'blood' repeated itself again and again… Vergil let out a sharp breath and braced himself, this was going to be painful and long process…

-Straw Hats-

While Vergil was away the rest of the crew was making their way up the mountain. Nami and Apis casually lead the male part of the crew that was busy pushing and pulling the cart, DInahi who was excluded from the job as well was trying to be productive by pushing the cart along with Usopp and Sanji.

"That conniving Nami, making the men do all the work. Why doesn't she help push a little?!" Usopp complained.

"You over there, stop chattering and push!" Nami heard him and brushed it off as she almost teasingly encouraged him to keep pushing.

"Quit enjoying this so much, damn it!" And enjoying this she was…

"I shall stop chattering and push! Ah, the lively Nami-san is so wonderful!" Sanji was happy to comply to Nami's orders.

"You weren't even chattering…" Dinahi reminded him.

"Would you shut up!" Usopp cried out.

Slowly but surely they reached the ruins, the same ones that Vergil was inspecting some time ago.

"A town?" Nami took a guess.

"Wow. Everything's run down. Looks like people really lived here." Luffy said

"But you can only tell cause of the houses." Zoro pointed out.

"But why is there no one here now?" Usopp asked.

"Who knows, maybe they found someplace easier to live." Sanji guessed.

"Or maybe they had to escape." Dinahi suggested.

"What makes you say that?" Sanji asked the boy.

"I don't know, guess I think it's possible." Dinahi muttered, truthfully the sounds he briefly heard from time to time were what made him think that.

Apis on the other hand found somewhat of a toy with a Millennium Dragon carved into it.

"It's a Millennium Dragon toy. Maybe the Millennium Dragons and the kids on the island used to play together." She hoped that it was true. Three birds came flying above her and seemed to tell her something. "Hey, are you guys friends with the Millennium Dragons too?"

Nami stopped for a moment. "Hey, Apis? You're gonna get left behind."

Apis ran up to her with a bird on her shoulder. "You know what? This bird just told me: 'There is a building with a dragon mark on it at the top of the mountain!'"

"You serious?" No one took these words as well as Usopp.

"Let's hurry, it might be the Dragon's Nest!" Apis ran forward.

"Easy for her to say, she ain't the one pushing…" Dinahi muttered.

Sudden gust of wind took Nami's attention for a moment. "I wonder where Vergil is…" She muttered to herself.

"Nami! Hurry up!" Luffy urged her.

"Wait up!" She ran after them.

About half an hour later the crew reached the said temple and Nami and Apis already observed the doors.

"Heave ho!" Luffy exclaimed as they pulled the cart over the last stair.

As soon as the cart was safely in place Usopp dropped down to the ground. "We finally made it, I can't go anymore."

Bird flew off and Apis waved at it. "Thanks for showing us the way!"

Sanji looked toward the ocean. "Hey, we sure came up long way."

"Thanks for your help guys." Apis thanked them.

"Yeah, good work." Nami praised them as well. She then turned to the picture on the building. "This picture is… a Millennium Dragon, huh?"

"Yeah, looks like it." Luffy agreed.

"Is this building the Dragon's Nest?" Sanji asked.

Zoro and Dinahi just looked at the building feeling utterly speechless.

"This place?" Usopp doubted that for some reason.

"Hey hold on, where's the door? How are we supposed to get inside?" Zoro asked.

"The door's right here!" Luffy stated the obvious.

"Oh you nitwit, we don't have a key. How are we gonna open it?" Nami reminded him of the fact that they didn't have the means to get the doors open.

Apis looked at the dent in the carving, more specifically the claw was incomplete and the dent surprisingly matched her pendant.

"Hey!" Usopp went after Apis who walked up t6o the doors.

"Apis… That pendant…" Nami realized. "Could it be?"

"Is it the key to open the Dragon's Nest?" Sanji questioned.

Apis seemed completely sure about it and nodded. Determined to open the doors Apis reached out and failed to put it in…

She turned around teary eyed. "I can't reach it…"

"Shishishi! You sure are small, Apis." Luffy leaned toward her.

"What was that?!" Apis was irked off by his observation.

"Hey, leave it to me." Luffy took the claw and went to place it, unfortunately he was too late as the floor beneath them crushed and they fell under the temple.

They took a couple of moments to comprehend with what just happened. "We're… alive, right?" Usopp was the first one to speak.

"Yeah, seems so." Zoro agreed.

"By the way, whose idea was it to use a key up there?" Sanji asked.

Apis laughed nervously before Luffy handed her the claw back.

"Here." He grinned and laughed a bit.

"Well doesn't matter, we're inside now." Sanji assured her that everything was fine.

"Result, alright!" She gave them a thumb up.

"But… What is this place?" Zoro asked.

"And… What do you think that is?" Luffy was looking up as he asked the question so Zoro and the others looked up as well.

"What is it?" Apis asked as well, above them was a ceiling painted with dragons, islands and what not, in a way it looked like a map…

-With Vergil-

Vergil panted on his knees, it was a time and energy consuming process that pretty much drained him quite a lot but he knew it now, the location of the East Blue portal, the gate between the Human and Demon World…

"_So in the end Mundus couldn't actually take everything away_…" Vergil placed his left hand over the right side of his chest. "_Probably because of the research still being incomplete._" He tried to keep his mind off of the topic but he kept turning back to it.

"I wonder if that means Blixtar and Erebus are still somewhere…" There was no way of answering that question, all he could do was hope for that to be true. Vergil was confused over the course of the last couple of weeks, but now he finally knew what to do, accept it, conquer it, that's what he needed to do from the start. Until he got Blixtar and Erebus back, under assumption that it was possible of course, he'd have to deal with the Dark Edge and that was the current situation.

He stood up ready to go back to his crew.

-Straw Hats-

The ceiling covered with dragon and island paintings, the map…

"Wow, what a huge house! What's that picture of?" Luffy asked.

"It looks like some kind of map…" Usopp said and tried to stand up but he was still sore from the fall so he remained down for a few more seconds.

"Yeah, but you can't tell what it says since it's crumbling." As Sanji pointed out the state of the painting Nami noticed something. "What is this place anyways? Isn't this supposed to be the Dragon's Nest?"

"Dunno." Luffy answered honestly. "What do you think, Apis?"

"I don't know. Ryu-ji says he doesn't know what this place is either." Apis told them.

"Luffy-san, look." Dinahi pointed at piece of rubble near them and he and Luffy began walking to it.

"Geez, the same useless geezer as always." Usopp complained.

"What was that?!" Apis demanded.

"Well… it's true!" Usopp pointed out.

"And how are YOU being useful?!" Apis snapped.

"M-Me?" Of course the accusation took Usopp by surprise.

"Hey, everybody take a look at this! The ceiling collapsed here." Luffy said making the others look at the painting of a Millennium Dragon as well.

"Eh?!" Usopp gasped.

"It's huge!" Apis exclaimed.

"Hey, watch out there…" Usopp and Apis ran up to them and Nami looked at the ceiling, more specifically she looked at the area that seemed to be the original location of the dragon painting. "This place looks ready to cave in! If we don't hurry up we'll get into danger. Let's just get out of here right now." Nami's eyes widened as Usopp finished ranting.

"But this could be the Dragon's Nest!" Apis argued with him.

"Oh really, there's not a dragon in sight!" Usopp stated the obvious.

"Wait a second." Nami halted all the argument.

"What is it, Nami-san?" Sanji asked.

"This… Might not be the Lost Island." She said.

"See?" Usopp said in I-told-you-so tone.

"DON'T ACT LIKE A SMARTASS WHEN YOU DON'T KNOW THE REASON WHY!" Apsi screamed at the long nosed sniper.

"How do you know that, Nami?" Luffy asked.

"Look at the ceiling." Nami said.

"The drawing on the ceiling?" Luffy questioned.

"Look closely. It's a map that shows the direction of the Lost Island. That island that has a dome shaped building on it… That is this island. And this building is that dome."

"It certainly does look that way." Sanji noticed it as well.

Zoro glanced at the hole in the ceiling.

"There you are. The hell did you fall all the way down there?!" They suddenly heard and turned to where they fell from.

"Took you long enough. What did you even leave for?" Zoro smirked at the white haired demon who jumped down.

"I had a few things to take care of here and there. Princess is right, this isn't Dragon's Nest." Vergil said once he landed on the ground.

"How do you know that?" Usopp asked.

"Well I heard what she said and I found something on the island." Vergil said.

"Those sounds, right?" Dinahi asked.

The crew and Apis turned to him but no one was as surprised as Vergil.

"You can hear them?" Vergil asked.

"Yeah, I've been ignoring them ever since we came here and I can hear you as well… Your soul that is…" Dinahi admitted.

"I see." Vergil took it quite calmly. "We can talk about that later. What else can you gather from that picture, Princess?"

"Well take a look. The people surrounding the island must be those who lived here long ago. Maybe they're Apis' ancestors or something." Nami took a guess.

"Our ancestors?" Apis muttered.

"Do you remember what Grandpa Bokuden said?" Nami asked.

"Nope. I was asleep." Luffy admitted without a hint of remorse.

"Come on. He said that the people of Warship Island came from a different island, remember?" Nami attempted to freshen their memories.

Luffy just tilted his head in confusion. "Did he?"

"Oh yeah, come to think of it, he was saying something like that. Then was the royal court he was talking about located on this island?" Usopp asked.

"Probably. We saw statues and drawings of the Millennium Dragons here and there when we arrived. I think that the people on this island worshiped the Millennium Dragons as Gods." Nami guessed.

"Not only that, the Millennium Dragons were protectors in the eyes of the people that lived here." Vergil added.

"Protectors?" Nami asked.

"The dragons used to live here and there is a gate connecting this world and the Demon World somewhere near this place, if I had to guess it's at the Lost Island we are looking for." Vergil dropped the bombshell that made some of his nakama scared to death and some looked thrilled with the news.

"Gate…" Nami began fearfully.

"…between… our…" Usopp gasped.

"…and Vergil's world?!" Of course Luffy was extremely happy with that.

"Yeah, in this world there are five gates like that in total. If one of these gates was opened Mundus could easily send his army into this world. That's how big they are. East Blue, West Blue, North Blue, South Blue, Grand Line, somewhere in these oceans lie the five gates, well only the ones in East Blue and Grand Line at the moment. Grom destroyed the other three." Vergil explained.

"So people thought that Millennium Dragons were protecting them from the demons?" Sanji asked.

"Probably, or that the dragons were keeping the gate closed, truthfully certain requirements need to be met for the gate to open and not even Mundus can meet them properly. So in the end it wasn't because of the dragons, but rather because Mundus, nor any other demon with that specific idea in mind could do so." The white haired demon said.

"And why didn't anyone destroy the gate back then? Before Grom I mean?" Zoro asked.

"The gate can only be destroyed when it's open and that is why Mundus lets me live, not because he finds me amusing, but because I can open them or at the very least someone can meet the requirements needed for them to open with my blood." Vergil stated.

"So when Dragons left the people were too scared to stay here…" Nami realized.

"This place, while it isn't the location of the portal, has the necessary information about its location, fearing that demons may come people probably sought out the safer area." Vergil concluded it.

"I see, so the chances of Dragon's Nest being here are also small…" Usopp added.

"Then where is it?" Apis panicked.

"Maybe that island with a dragon drawn on it." Zoro guessed.

"Exactly. There's an island drawn ahead of the people who are worshipping, right? That's probably the real Lost Island. The Dragon's Nest is probably there too… But…" Nami stopped for a moment.

Apis noticed it as well. "Wait a second! That island's shaped like…"

"Yes. If you think about the way it's pictured on the map the Dragon's Nest would have to be located on Warship Island." Nami said.

"Wait, you said there was no Dragon's Nest on Warship Island!" Usopp reminded her.

"But that's what it says on the map!" Nami told him. "Do you think these ancestors drew things for no reason?"

Three birds flew to an opening of the dome.

"She's right you idiots! There's no way Nami-san could be wrong! This means it's somewhere on that island. We'll know for sure once we get there." Sanji was willing to stand by Nami no matter what she said but this time he was right to believe her.

"But… I have a feeling that it might have sunk into the sea. It's entirely possible that's what happened. That would explain why no one has been able to find it before. I take it that Grom couldn't find it either, right?" She was a bit cautious with the question, after all maybe the demon in question simply didn't get a chance to look for the gate.

"Yeah, he searched for it for two years but he couldn't find it." Vergil confirmed it.

Not knowing what else to do Apis ran up to Ryu-ji.

"Apis?" Usopp called her.

"Ryu-ji! Please remember! Where's the Dragon's Nest? We thought we had found it, but there's nothing here! Only these drawings! Ryu-ji! Look at the pictures! Can you remember anything? We have nothing left to go on unless you remember! Please! Remember where it is, Ryu-ji!" She pleaded for the dragon to remember it.

Even though his vision was blurry Ryu-ji looked at the ceiling, it wasn't helping much but then the flock of birds began flying over the pictures. Ryu-ji's eyes widen as the birds looked like his fellow dragons flying in the sky, the painting of the Warship Island became the silhouette of the actual island and the vision of the island with the dome flashed in front of his eyes. Majestic creatures flew together toward their nest and the memories returned…

"Ryu-ji!" Apis gasped.

"Okay, I guess the Dragon's Nest is on the Warship Island after all." Luffy said.

Apis turned to him. "How did you know that, Luffy?"

"Just somehow. He admitted.

"You're right. Ryu-ji says he remembers now. To the east of the summit, in a place that looks like a battleship. That's where the Dragon's Nest is." Apis relayed the dragon's words.

"Geez, we come all the way over here and look at what happens." Usopp had every right to complain.

"Sorry. I knew it might have sunk into the sea long ago… and I dragged you all here searching for it. I guess it was just a waste of time." Apis apologized.

"There might be a chance." Usopp said to cheer her up and she turned toward him. "Who knows, the Dragon's Nest might be in some unexpected place! But we won't know unless we go looking for it, right?"

"That's right. It's not like you to get depressed over something like this, Apis." Nami tired to cheer her up.

"If you're too afraid of making mistakes, you won't be able to do anything." Sanji added.

"The 'roundabout way of life' isn't bad." Zoro stated.

"Come on brat, this is too important to you to give up half way there." Vergil smirked.

Dinahi smiled and nodded to her.

"Guys…" Apis mumbled.

Luffy raised his hands up. "Let's go! Ryu-ji won't get his health back if we sit around here, will he?"

Apis smiled and nodded. "Thank you!"

Birds flew away and Zoro and Vergil turned to the hole in the ceiling. Zoro slightly unsheathed his Wado while Vergil clenched his fist.

"What's wrong?" Nami asked.

"Somebody's here." Zoro said making others look at him.

"What?" Luffy asked.

"Up there." Vergil motioned to the hole.

And there he was, Eric… The mercenary chuckled at them. "Many thanks for the explanation. For now I know where the Dragon's Nest is."

"Oh you again?!" Luffy exclaimed.

"But it would be a waste id it's under the sea. So I will have to take that Millennium Dragon with me." Eric stated.

Apis was immediately ready to defy him. "No! We don't even know if the Dragon's Nest is under the ocean yet!"

"He said something about having the abilities of Kama Kama no mi. Man, why do we have to deal with a weirdo like him?" Sanji complained.

"Kama Kama no mi? He has a Devil Fruit ability?!" Usopp asked.

"Zoro, I'll deal with it, I'm itching to see if something works." Vergil said.

"Heh, guess I can't fight him now that you called dibs on him." Zoro smirked. He then turned to the captain. "Luffy."

"Yeah?"

"Let's take Ryu-ji and get on the ship. Vergil's got this." Zoro informed him.

"Yeah, get going." Vergil said and those behind him could pretty much see him smirking at Eric.

Indeed the demon was smirking.

"Gotcha." Luffy grinned at his First Mate.

"H-Hey. To the ship* I don't see an exit." Usopp said.

"Then we'll…" Luffy turned around and began running. "MAKE ONE!"

"No way!" Nami gasped and the rubber man slammed right into the wall.

Unfortunately hitting the wall did nothing and Luffy just bounced to the ground. Fortunately due to being made out of rubber he was perfectly fine.

"Huh? I was sure I could break it." Luffy said.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey…" His crew, plus Dinahi and Apis and minus Vergil were utterly amazed at how brilliant his idea was…

Vergil on the other hand smirked again.

And the wall broke down, about ten meters away from Luffy shocking all of them…

"Hey, it opened!" Luffy laughed.

"Result, alright. Result, alright… We're going, Apis." He went to the cart while Sanji and Usopp tried to come to grips with what just happened.

"That guy is stronger than a caveman." Sanji muttered.

"You won't get away." Eric jumped down but when he saw Vergil standing in his way he chose a bit more of an attack. "**Kama Kama no Whirlwind**!" The wind slashes shot toward Vergil whose smirk widened a bit.

Darkness shot all around him and he raised his right arm toward the sky. No one could see it because of the darkness pillar but white mass began travelling from Vergil's chest to his palm, it began going up even higher and just as final bits of the mass tried to leave Vergil grabbed it.

The wind slashes were cut down by the broadsword in Vergil's hand.

"**Devil Arms: Dark Edge**." The soul made weapon that seemed to disobey its wielder was once again in Vergil's arms and the white haired demon couldn't help but grin.

"It's back!" Dinahi exclaimed.

"_Welcome back_." Vergil glanced at the blade and then pointed it toward Eric who landed on the ground. "Don't get in their way."

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_**And that's it. Well what can I say, I'm a bit late but this chapter marks the first chapter in the second year of this story, 01. 12. 2015. It certainly has been a while. As a celebration of the first anniversary of this story there is a small picture on my DeviantArt profile which goes by Digimonfanforever.**_

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_**Next Chapter – Commodore Nelson's Tactic**_


	81. Commodore Nelson's Tactic

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Naroku – And it's taken me month and a half to update again… Thanks for the review though.**_

_**Guest –Thanks.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review, I'm glad you liked the chapter.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you, I'm glad you think that.**_

_**KP360 – Thanks for the review, well you've been here pretty much from the beginning since I didn't even reach Syrup Village Arc at that time, I don't think I've entered the Orange Town at that point either, well it doesn't really matter. The story behind the seal is kinda complex, it's weakening, as you will see in the chapter 82, however, there's still so much to go through until that plot point is resolved, the Demon World Saga, which will begin after Strong World movie is the saga in which the seal will be fully broken.**_

_**Albertasteinthe 21st. genius – Thank you for the reviews, I appreciate them. I'm being curious as to which aspects of the story are getting dark though.**_

_**Ashuri Brighty –Thank you and sorry to keep you waiting.**_

_**loulousexperiment – Thanks for the review, yeah there aren't that many OC X Nami. In case you don't know OPFan37 has quite amazing OC x Nami story.**_

_**Guest – Trust me, you aren't being mean, I deserve it. I'm sorry for not updating, I just had hell of a lot of personal issues and overall things to do that kept me away from the fanfiction writing. I'm sorry.**_

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_**Chapter 81 – Commodore Nelson's Tactic**_

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"**Devil Arms: Dark Edge**." The soul made weapon that seemed to disobey its wielder was once again in Vergil's arms and the white haired demon couldn't help but grin.

"It's back!" Dinahi exclaimed.

"_Welcome back_." Vergil glanced at the blade and then pointed it toward Eric who landed on the ground. "Don't get in their way."

Knowing that it was pretty much safe now Luffy walked up to Ryu-ji and then looked at the painting of a dragon for the, most likely, last time. Others got on the cart and waited for the Captain.

"Heh, you wanna stay and watch, eh Luffy?" Vergil asked, for some reason there seemed to be something different about him, the tone of his voice and the eagerness just seemed off.

"Vergil?" Usopp was the one to call out to the white haired male but they had no time to talk as Vergil **Demon Flashed** in front of Eric and attempted to cut him in half. Eric jumped back but it was too late, the blade was just about to connect and end his life but then it stopped for some reason giving Eric enough time to avoid it before it slammed into the floor thus making a large gap in it.

Vergil seemed to frown at that but lunged forward to pierce through Eric once again.

"**Kama Kama no Whirlwind**!" Eric sent slices toward Vergil whose body was shielded by the darkness and he wordlessly went forward with intention to pierce and kill. Eric was once again a split second too late with the speed Vergil moved at. Yet again, the white haired demon slowed down considerably…

"_Kill!"_ Word echoed.

The demon accelerated again but Eric once again had enough time to move away due to the little window of slowing down Vergil had.

"_Kill!"_

A potent burst of lightning discharged around the white haired demon and it was clearly enough to kill someone of Eric's level, however the electricity seemed to weaken considerably by the time it reached the mercenary and electrified him. Vergil stopped for a moment to observe the man that tried to regain his composure.

"Is Vergil trying to kill that mercenary?" Dinahi asked fearfully, sure he knew Vergil was a pirate and a demon, but he was going for the kill from the very beginning.

He didn't receive a response but Zoro and Luffy shared a glance with one another.

"_Kill the enemy!" _

"Stop being so cocky…" Eric hissed at his opponent. "**Kama Kama no Wind Scythe Chaotic Strike.**" Eric's ultimate technique was easily dodged and Vergil appeared right in front of him. The Dark Edge was swung in a way that would clearly cut the man in half horizontally if it hadn't been for Vergil contradicting himself once again and stopping the blade just in time. However he slammed his electrified fist into the mercenary's guts thus knocking him out and paralyzing him temporarily.

"_Kill!"_

Seeing Vergil raising his sword and the posture of his body Nami jumped off of the cart and ran up to him. "Vergil cut it out!"

The white haired demon turned to her and it looked almost as if he wasn't sure as to why she told him that.

"There are children here, they don't have to see death if it can be avoided." Nami reasoned with the demon. "And you already won, he's unconscious." She added but Vergil never lowered his blade, he wasn't giving up yet.

"Luffy." Zoro called his captain.

"Vergil won't kill him." Luffy expressed the belief in his first mate's actions, something was telling him that there was something more to this than they could see. Vergil had fought violently, he was aiming to kill in cold blood from the beginning, but whenever he could strike Eric down he seemed to slow down or stop and now it seemed like he was having an internal struggle. Luffy somehow understood that it was due to the Dark Edge, he didn't know what it was but something in that blade just contradicted with everything Vergil was.

"Vergil, the way you are acting right now… Being willing to kill an unconscious opponent, that's not the demon I grew fond of." Nami said.

_"Kill, he's the enemy…"_ The voice boomed in Vergil's head.

"_You ain't the boss of me, Mundus, not you or this damned Devil Arm._" Vergil snapped mentally and Dark Edge disappeared.

"Thank you, Nami. Sorry I worried you." He smiled softly at the orange haired girl.

Nami smiled as well. "Let's go." She urged him and they both got on the cart.

The cart was pushed through the hole Luffy created and the for the most part panic stricken crew screamed as they slid down some extremely large vine.

"Convenient…" Vergil muttered but then grinned.

"Whoo! This is fast!" Luffy exclaimed as he held his straw hat.

The cart was pretty much catapulted into the air when they reached the bump on the vine.

"I-It's amazing how we always m-manage to stay safe!" Usopp was in the progress of self-denial.

"We aren't safe yet, you idiot!" Nami reminded him.

"Don't tell him that, he'll start panicking!" Vergil shouted out from his place next to Luffy.

"Well it's better than pushing it all the way down the stairs." Zoro looked at the brighter side of the situation.

"For once we agree." Sanji admitted.

"Man, this is easy!" Luffy exclaimed as they went further down the hill.

The two kids just tried to remain sane….

"I'm the fastest thing alive right now!" Usopp exclaimed after a minute or so of silence.

"How is that supposed to impress anyone?" Sanji asked him.

"Vergil! Luffy! Do something! We'll be in pieces before we reach the ship!" Nami pretty much pleaded.

"It's okay, it's okay!" Luffy assured her.

"HOW'S THAT?!" Nami screamed.

"Just leave it to luck." Zoro calmly told her.

"HOW IS THAT SUPPOSED TO WORK?!" She yelled at Zoro as well.

"I might as well go and calm her down…" Vergil said to Luffy and easily moved over to Nami before sitting down with his back leaning against Ryu-ji. She looked at him for a moment and then went to cling onto him.

"You demon bastard what are you doing to Nami-san?!" Sanji yelled when he saw Nami pretty much hugging the white haired demon.

"Calming her down." Vergil blatantly said. When the cart jumped up a bit and Nami screamed as she tightened her grip around his neck he sighed and wrapped his left arm around her. "It'll be fine, what have I said in the cave before we left? None of us are going to stand idly if you are in danger so just trust us. This island isn't something that we can't handle." He said in a surprisingly comforting way and Nami nodded.

"Luffy! Up ahead! Ahead!" Apis' scream made all the effort Vergil put into calming Nami down waver…

"Oh, that's not good…" Luffy's confirmation of the situation didn't help either as they went toward the building.

"DON'T JUST TALK ABOUT IT!" Apis screamed at him.

"DO SOMETHING!" Nami yelled.

Vergil sighed and tightened his grip around the panicking girl but then a fond smile appeared on his face, he was quite fond of the girl in his arms as well.

By some higher miracle they made it through the building by slipping through the openings in it.

"We are going to have lots of situations like this, right?" Zoro asked the first mate.

"Once we're done with our journey, I think this won't even count for a walk through the park." The demon said though he didn't seem worried about that at all.

"Luffy…" Apis once again called the captain.

"There's another dead end…" Dinahi muttered, the former Cambion was trying to calm down.

"We'll destroy it." Luffy suggested the only obvious solution he could think of.

"We can't! This is the same cliff we came through before! If we do we'll fall off the edge and be done for." Nami said.

"Can't we fly over it?" Luffy asked.

"WE CAN'T FLY OVER IT!" While Apis yelled at Luffy.

Cart turned to the side and began descending down the zigzag cliff accompanied with bunch of screams…

"You can quit screaming now." Zoro said once they arrived to the bottom and began closing in on Merry.

"I think we arrived safely…" Nami said when she turned her head to Merry.

"Really? I wouldn't say that considering the luck we've had today…" Usopp disagreed.

"We've had this kind of luck from the beginning of the journey." Vergil reminded him.

The cart stopped abruptly by hitting a big rock and with a yelp Sanji, Zoro and Usopp fell into the water, Dinahi and Apis slid down to Ryu-ji's back while Vergil and Nami slipped to the ground, courtesy of Vergil grabbing onto the rock before they could fall further down.

"We're here." The only unaffected one said that. "Get prepared! We're going!" Luffy exclaimed, he completely missed the glares he received from Sanji and Zoro and the defeated look on Nami's face, not to mention Usopp being upside down in the water.

"I can't take it anymore." Nami sighed.

"Shithead…" Sanji hissed.

"One of these days I'll really…" Zoro tried to find the appropriate words.

"I am so going to kill him!" Usopp gurgled into the water.

"Well let's get going." Vergil stood up and began pulling the cart to the water along with Luffy, however a small boat not too far away from the Merry caught his attention. "Say, can I destroy the oars of that boat?" Vergil asked.

"Why? It's not like we can't handle that mercenary." Zoro pointed out.

"This ended up being much more of a trouble… If the portal between the worlds is opened we'll have quite a job at our hands. Just destroying it is tasking, especially given the way I am now. On top of that Ryu-ji is sick, the last thing we need is unnecessary complications." Vergil stated.

The crew looked at him, this was something they didn't expect from him, he usually just took their enemies head on, without actually thinking of potential complications. But it made sense, Demon Hunter, Black Thunder, he couldn't afford to go head first into everything, he had to have some brain behind the brawl. Still knowing that he was actually taking precautions with this made the weaker duo of the crew worried.

"It'll be okay." Luffy grinned at him.

"That's not how life works, Luffy. We are all too weak to afford that kind of mentality." Vergil sighed and walked up to the boat, took the oars and shattered them with a burst of lightning. "This man didn't exactly do something to us, so I don't feel like making him die on this island however if years I spent as a Demon Hunter, more so after I became Despot, taught me anything it's that when the situation becomes serious, I can't afford to take too many chances."

Luffy looked at the demon and grinned again. "Then we'll get stronger." Captain was surprisingly mature this time, the calm tone of his voice showed that he understood somehow, he wasn't that much of a child.

"Of course, Pirate King." Vergil grinned as well.

-An hour later-

Merry began emerging from the mirage and back into the sight of the Marines.

"Ooo! We're out! We're out!" Luffy exclaimed.

"This is such a weird feeling…" Sanji admitted.

-Major's office-

"What? What about them?" The Major had just received the news of Straw Hats emerging back into their sights.

"Sir. They have the Millennium Dragon and are headed for Warship Island. They're currently entering the harbor!" Marine informed him.

"We're proceeding to pursue them right now! Don't waste time!" Major ordered.

"Yes sir!" Marine saluted.

-Going Merry-

At the moment Merry had quite a distance put up between her and the Marine ships.

"Woohoo! They're trying to come after us!" For once Usopp wasn't scared of the five marine ships behind them. "But they'll never catch up!"

"Compared to that large-framed Marine battleship the Going Merry can maneuver more quickly, but…" Nami mumbled. "Hey, what are we going to do once we reach Warship Island?" She asked Luffy.

"It's okay." Luffy grinned without a hint of worry as he sat on his special seat.

"WHAT IS?!" Nami snapped.

"As long as we find the Dragon's Nest first and get Ryu-ji healthy again, that's enough, right?" Luffy reminded her.

"You make it sound so easy. The island might have sunk under the ocean, right?" Sanji told him.

"Then we'll just go search underwater!" Of course the rubber man had a solution for everything.

"You're like a hammer in the water, remember?" Zoro reminded him.

"That works for us, if we make sure he can breathe he can get to the bottom easily." Vergil smirked.

"Yeah." Luffy agreed but then realized what his nakama was implying. "VERGIL!"

"I'm joking, I'm joking." Vergil laughed a bit.

"I see. Shishishishi!" Luffy laughed alongside him.

"Regardless, we have to get out of here as soon as possible! We can't waste our time dealing with the Marines." Nami said.

"Nami-san, it doesn't look like that's going to be possible." Sanji said and he was right…

They could clearly see the large battleship Commodore Nelson commanded.

"AWESOME! So COOL! It looks like floating gargoyle!" Of course Luffy was clearly showing his excitement.

"Hey!" Zoro tried to pull him out of the brief marveling.

-Commodore Nelson-

"So the little fishy has entered our trap! All ships, fan out! Wanting Evil Formation!" He commanded.

To the horror and annoyance of the Straw Hats at least two dozen of ships appeared behind the main ship.

"How can they even have that many?!" Sanji couldn't help but wonder.

"These damn Marines, how many ships do they have?" Zoro asked out of annoyance.

They could see the ships surrounding them as the chains burst out spelling the trouble for the crew.

"Hear this! Make sure you don't let a single little fishy get away! Connect all the ships together with chains and form an impenetrable wall!" Nelson's order echoed throughout the ships.

"What are we going to do? We'll be captured!" Apis panicked.

"Vergil, can you do something?" Dinahi asked the demon.

"We'll board their ships, kick them off and cut the chains." Usopp stated the plan. "It's the only way."

The hope was brought back to life when he said that. "Wow! Can you really do something like that Usopp?" Apis asked him and the sniper shot down the hope he gave her…

"Go! Luffy! Vergil! Zoro! Sanji!"

"I should've known…" Apis scolded herself for even thinking that he could do something like that.

Zoro slightly unsheathed the Wado. "Doesn't sound like a bad idea, though." He agreed.

"Eh? Are you serious? No matter how many lives you had…" Apis expressed her doubts.

Nami placed her hand on Apis' shoulder. "It'll be okay, Apis." She assured the girl. "It'll work out somehow." She then turned to the crew. "But get the job done quickly, okay?"

"Sure, I can blast a couple of ships right away while Luffy, Zoro and Sanji deal with a few masts, on our way out we can deal with cannons and mast of the main battleship. Rest of the details we'll work though as we go." Vergil came up with a brief plan.

"How are you going to destroy a couple of battleships?" Dinahi had to ask.

"You'll see. Sanji, you'll make us some food to regain energy afterwards, right?" Vergil question.

"Yeah, sure." Sanji agreed.

"Anyone's got anything against this?" Demon asked.

"Nope!" Luffy declared.

"Let's do it." Zoro agreed.

"Then the plan is set in motion." The demon smirked.

"Get it done." Nami encouraged them.

"Leave it to us, Nami-san!" Sanji assured her.

"Alright, let's go!" Luffy exclaimed.

"The fleet's objective: Take out the pirate ship! However, don't touch the cargo behind them. Don't leave one cut or mark on it!" Nelson ordered and the cannons began firing at Merry.

"Yoohoo! This feels great! Alright! Let's go!" Luffy ordered.

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_**And that's it. So yeah, Nami acted like a voice of moral to Vergil and it's been more than a month since I updated… Apologies can't express how sorry I am and I didn't make up for it with the length of this chapter either, but I can promise you that everything will start moving much quicker for the remaining part of the Marine and Millennium Dragon plot points. It'll probably end in the next chapter and the one after that.**_

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_**Next Chapter – 1000 Years Old Legend**_


	82. 1000 Years Old Legend

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**blazeinferno – Thank you, I'm glad you liked her role in that part. Yeah, sorry for the wait.**_

_**Wolf king 0811 – Got deleted.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**KP360 – Yeah, sorry for being late about the update. I will go further into that topic soon enough, especially during Vergil's backstory.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks for the review, I'm glad you think so.**_

_**Daige – Thanks for the review. Yeah, initially Vergil from Devil May Cry 3 was the main influence, over time I guess I shaped my Vergil to be a bit more than just a character influenced by Devil May Cry games. Though the games still do have some influence on my stories.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 82 – 1000 Years Old Legend**_

* * *

_**I'll be damned, the story now has over 400 reviews. Thank you for supporting me through this story.**_

* * *

"The fleet's objective: Take out the pirate ship! However, don't touch the cargo behind them. Don't leave one cut or mark on it!" Nelson ordered and the cannons began firing at Merry.

"Yoohoo! This feels great! Alright! Let's go!" Luffy ordered.

Marines were firing their cannons at the Straw Hats, but with the accuracy of their aiming the cannon balls served as nothing more than an annoyance and irritation to the ears. Still with the constant firing they couldn't get too close to the ships either.

"Splendid! A truly spectacular sight!" Nelson Royale fanned himself as he observed the scene. "Now then! Do not slacken the attack even for a second!" He ordered.

"Aye!"

"However…" He closed his fan. "My prize is to remain intact!"

"Aye, Commodore!"

The commodore smirked evilly. "The Millennium Dragon I have searched so long for is finally within my grasp. And the elixir of eternal youth within its Dragon Bones shall soon be mine!"

A marine stationed at the crow's nest of the Major's ship looked through the telescope for a signal and he sure got it. "Signal! The Commodore's ship is signaling the plan is a success! They will handle the attack from here!"

"It seems out mission is complete." Major concluded and he turned around, there was no need for him to interfere any longer.

-Going Merry-

Vergil was standing on the railing on Luffy's left side as the Captain sat on the figurehead. Zoro and Sanji held on behind them and Usopp was in front of the kitchen along with Dinahi.

Apis ran out and seemed to plan on running off to Ryu-ji.

The cannon ball hit near them and the small girl stumbled.

"Apis! It's dangerous out here, get down below deck!" Usopp told her.

"I can't leave Ryu-ji out here alone!" Apis argued and ran off again.

"Ah! Wait!" It was too late though, Apis already slipped under the railing and ran down the rope. "Hey, it's dangerous! Get back here! I ain't gonna help you if you fall!"

Apis ran down to Ryu-ji and stood by his side. "Ryu-ji! Just hang on for a little bit more, okay? We'll take you to the Dragon's nest soon, okay?"

"Ah, so valiant… Damn it, I'm gonna start crying. Alright! After we beat up these ships I'll get you to the Dragon's Nest!" Usopp promised but just as he said that Ryu-ji guarded Apis with his wing and two cannon balls almost hit the Going Merry. Of course the sniper, who got propelled to the other end of the ship began panicking. "Ahh! We got hit from behind! Hey, Sanji! We've been hit! Sanji! Oh, we're goners!"

"We are hitting back now and they are the goners." Vergil's voice snapped him out of the panic, but not because of the words but because of the slightly disembodied tone that may have stopped the panic but would have caused the sniper to cry even more if it was the voice of someone he didn't know.

"Huh? Really?" Usopp asked.

"Yep." Sanji confirmed it.

"Ah, we're saved." Usopp felt relieved.

"Who the hell made up such a stupid lie?" Usopp asked.

"You did." Zoro blatantly pointed out.

"Lookin' good! Lookin' good! Forward!" Luffy laughed as Nami steered the ship.

"I'm ready." Vergil said and opened his now completely yellow eyes. "Devil Arms: Dark Edge." He muttered and the large broadsword appeared, the darkness engulfed him and he gripped the Dark Edge even stronger than before. "**Hell**…" He muttered as the energy began concentrating on the blade alone. "**Reaper**!"

He slashed the blade vertically and the large wave of darkness ripped through three ships leaving the remains to sink down.

The four currently present pirates and Dinahi all had different reactions to that. Usopp was screaming, whether out of fear or not was still unclear, Dinahi was speechless.

Sanji's eyes widened. "No way…" The cook couldn't believe his eyes.

Zoro smirked. This kind of destructive power seemed quite fit of the First Mate of the future Pirate King.

And Luffy was glowing in excitement as his eyes turned into stars.

Vergil's eyes turned back into the normal state and he let out a loud sigh. "Now it's your turn." He said to the human monsters of the crew.

Zoro and Sanji nodded but Luffy still couldn't get the silly excited smile off of his face.

"Luffy, snap out of it…" Zoro sighed.

Behind the ship Apis was also speechless.

Inside Nami stopped for a moment, this was certainly the power one needed to gain the reputation that Vergil had in the Demon World, still seeing how he acted in his last battle she couldn't help but wonder if something was wrong.

Nelson Royale was downright shocked, he had seen this kind of power once and he hoped to never see it again yet here someone was, harboring the same amount of power. "No way!" Fear, he felt it and he wasn't sure if he was more scared of the threat in front of him or the one that would come after him shall he fail. For now it was the threat in front of him. He knew the fear of demons, he knew their capabilities, the ability to effortlessly take the life of someone like him away… "Close the gap! Deploy the big elimination cannon!" He ordered hastily, he couldn't risk it…

"Aye!" A marine ran off.

"Aaah! You won't get away! You won't get away! You will be mine! You won't kill me!" The last one was directed to both demons he saw during his lifetime.

"Prepare to fire the big elimination cannon!" One of the marines resounded and with a loud yell the marines began the preparations. On the other hand a few ships spread out to close the gap created by Vergil's attack, still this caused a disarray among the Marines.

Not even a few minutes later the large cannon came into the view of the Straw Hats. "Pirate vessel targeted! Ready to commence fire!"

"What is that? If we take a hit from that, we'll be blown to smithereens!" Nami exclaimed.

"We're cool. I'll just launch it back." Luffy casually replied.

Nami leaned against the railing. "Don't be an idiot! We have to change direction! Start moving the stern!" Luffy and Zoro didn't react at first. "Hurry!" Nami hissed and they both ran off.

Usopp was ready at the cannon. "An eye for an eye! Now I'll show you what we can do!" The preparations of both the Marines and the pirate crew were complete.

"Take this! / Fire!" Usopp and Nelson shouted at the same time but the small cannon ball got right into the cannon before it could fire.

This of course caused the cannon used by the marines to explode. Nelson fell off of his seat as he got slightly caught up in the explosion.

"What the hell happened?" Nelson demanded an explanation.

One of the marines ran up to him. "The enemy's cannon fired a shot into ours!" He reported while saluting.

"What did you say?! Hurry and help me get up!" He ordered.

"Aye!"

"Yeah, how'd you like that?" Usopp asked cockily. "That's what you get when Usopp-sama gets serious!"

"It was probably just a fluke." Sanji teased him.

"Yeah probably." Zoro added.

"You are the sniper of the future Pirate King, you can't afford to make these shots only when you get serious." Vergil smirked, truthfully he was quite impressed.

"What? I can do that any time! Just watch me!" Usopp snapped at the three of them.

"Wow… He hit it…" Apis couldn't believe her eyes.

"He's amazing, they all are…" Dinahi muttered.

"Usopp, that was cool!" Apis shouted out to the sniper and the two gave one another a thumb up.

Luffy on the other hand looked at Ryu-ji. "We're fine. Don't worry. Remember, you've gotta protect Apis!"

"Who are you talking to?" Usopp asked.

"To Ryu-ji."

"Eh?"

"Now's our chance." Nami said as she approached them. "We'll attack quickly while they're distracted. Vergil can you use that thing you just did once again? It'll save time and we'll be able to slip through."

"Yeah. I only need to cut the chains, right?" Vergil asked.

"That's right." Nami nodded.

"I don't need to use that amount of power for that so there won't be any problem in doing that much." The white haired male confirmed it.

"Tch, you're hogging all the fun." Zoro complained.

"Don't forget that we have a portal to destroy. Seeing as there are only two left I'd take a guess that there will be something guarding it." Vergil said making Nami and Usopp pale while Zoro smirked.

"Alright! Let's get out of here, Usopp on our way out make sure to shoot down the main ship's mast." Nami ordered and went to steer the Merry.

Vergil took a deep breath as the Dark Edge appeared yet again, slowly they got closer to the chains and without uttering a word he slashed forward. Technique similar to **Hell Reaper** but still somewhat weaker went through the steel chains thus opening the route for the crew.

"You fiends! How dare you lowlife pirates cut our barrier and destroy our ships! Catch them at any cost! If they aren't caught I'll have you exiled!" Nelson motivated his subordinates by threatening them.

Still there was nothing they could do as Merry slipped out of the trap they had set up.

"No! No! Someone do something!" Nelson demanded but the cannon ball to his ship's main mast proved the point, no one would come to help them, no one could stop the Straw Hats.

The cannon balls were pretty much useless once again as none actually hit the target, but they weren't out off the woods yet…

"Ryu-ji!" Apis's yell made the crew turn their attention to the girl and the dragon.

They were running out of time, Ryu-ji was on the verge of death…

Nelson growled, he had the Millennium Dragon, the Dragon Bones right in his grasp and now he was letting it all slip away. He wasn't going to let it happen, he was going to get them even if it meant killing the dragon. "Prepare the lightning cannon!" He snapped the order to his subordinates, even if it was the weapon given to him by that demon he would still use it.

"Aye!" The marines ran off to prepare it.

Luffy jumped off the railing and landed next to Ryu-ji.

"Hold on! You're going back to the Dragon's Nest, right? Pull it together!" Luffy urged the dragon.

Vergil looked at the trio but then noticed something way too familiar. "Luffy! Watch out!"

"Fire!" Nelson ordered and the stream of white lightning shot toward Luffy and the cart.

"Heh, it won't work." Zoro smirked, lightning wasn't going to work on Luffy but the resident lightning demon's eyes widened.

"Shit…!" Vergil gasped before he jumped down and threw Apis and Luffy back onto the ship.

"Ryu-ji! / Vergil!" Apis and Luffy shouted.

Lightning surged around Vergil and he countered the white lightning with the **Lightning Breath**.

Normally Vergil would be at advantage when countering other lightning based attacks but this time he wasn't. The lightning stream pushed him back a bit and slowly overpowered the **Breath**.

"Vergil get away from there!" Nami snapped at him as the burst got closer and closer. Finally about five meters away from the cart both sides relented and a massive explosion of sparks engulfed the area.

"RYU-JI!" Apis screamed as the cart got blown away and the demon and dragon fell off into the water.

"Are they…?" Usopp was the first to think that and with the way Ryu-ji lied on the surface of the water with quite a lot of feathers surrounding him and Vergil not resurfacing it seemed like they were.

"They can't be!" Nami snapped at him. "They can't…"

Vergil finally emerged from the water gasping for air and coughing.

"Ryu-ji is also alive!" Much to their delight the demon shouted out to the crew. "_That was… _**Sacred Lightning**_… There's no doubt about it…_"

"Ryu-ji! Vergil!" Luffy shouted out as he stretched out his hands and grabbed onto Ryu-ji.

"It's bad." Vergil said to the rubber captain.

"Come on, you can hold on." Luffy tried to encourage the dragon.

"Ryu-ji…" Apis cried.

"Ryu-ji is…" Nami whispered.

"Those heartless bastards…" Usopp clenched his fists in frustration.

"This is bad." Zoro said.

"Yeah, he can't swim…" Sanji agreed.

"He'll be fine with those two, right?" Dinahi asked.

"I don't know." Zoro said honestly.

-Main ship-

"Commodore! The Millennium Dragon is sinking!" One of the marines reported.

"Don't panic. We'll capture it before it sinks. Use the harpoon to reel it in!" The order was quickly followed as the marines brought the cannon with a harpoon in it and aimed it at Ryu-ji.

"Aim for the Millennium Dragon! Perfect. Fire when ready!"

"Aye!"

The harpoon was fired at Ryu-ji… Apis and Dinahi along with Usopp and Nami gasped but the harpoon couldn't reach Ryu-ji, not with Luffy there to catch it.

"What?!" Nelson exclaimed.

Luffy glared at the Marines. "What are you doing?"

Nelson laughed. "You little twerp, you don't even know what you're standing on. The only thing I want is that Millennium Dragon's bones." He opened his fan again. "When I acquire those Dragon Bones I will obtain eternal youth!"

Luffy clenched his fist. "BASTARD!" He catapulted the harpoon back to the main ship.

"Damn, so close…" Vergil felt regretful at the fact that the harpoon narrowly missed Nelson.

"Ryu-ji isn't some object! He's our friends! We've sailed together! He's an important friend to us!" Luffy snapped at the Commodore.

"If that's your answer, why don't you just sink into the sea with your 'friend'? Pesky nuisance… How dare you throw that harpoon at me! Kill that twerp as well!" Nelson once again ordered his marines to kill.

"B-But is we do that, the Millennium Dragon…" One of the Marines tried to reason with him.

"I don't care! Even if its bones are shattered to pieces I can still collect them!"

"Aye! Aim all cannons at the ocean surface!"

-Ocean Surface-

Luffy sat on Ryu-ji's wing while Vergil remained in the water next to the barely alive dragon that slowly kept sinking. Still the dragon managed to open his eyes.

"'This is far enough'?" Luffy repeated Ryu-ji's words. "Don't be so fickle! We haven't accomplished out goal yet! We're going to the Dragon's Nest, aren't we? Forget about that 'giving up' crap! You know I'm right. You don't have to worry about Apis! Right now you have to worry about yourself." The tremor of the ocean that affected the entire Warship Island was a prelude to what was to come.

-Going Merry-

"Untie me! I have to get to Ryu-ji! I have to save Ryu-ji!" Apis struggled to get free as she was tied to Usopp's back.

"Apis you can't swim!" Dinahi tried to reason with the girl.

"Just let Luffy and Vergil take care of Ryu-ji!" Usopp argued with her as well.

"No, no, no! I'm going! I'm going! I'm going!" Apis kept screaming.

"They'll keep him safe! You'll see!"

Another tremor…

"The whole ocean is shaking! What is this? What's happening?" Nami demanded some kind of logical explanation.

Luffy was struggling to keep Ryu-ji's head above the surface by pulling his feathers.

Another tremor and something began emerging from under them…

"Wha? What's going on on?" Luffy looked around.

"Something's coming up, I guess." Vergil said.

Ryu-ji's eyes opened a bit more.

"Ryu-ji?" Luffy noticed the slight change. It seemed like the dragon told him something. "Really? You mean it?!"

The marines were in a disarray because of the tremors.

"Now what?" Nelson questioned.

"Unknown! There are no known underwater volcanoes in this area!" One of the marines told him.

"Doesn't matter! Fire! Fire! FIRE!" Nelson shouted.

"Tch, damn Marines and their constant firing." Vergil hissed as he countered the cannon balls with **Darkness Blasts**.

Suddenly Ryu-ji opened his eyes and raised up to roar.

"I get it! You have important nakama of your own!" Luffy exclaimed happily.

"Ryu-ji!" Apis shouted.

"What's he crying for?" Usopp asked.

"He's calling them." Apis muttered making the others look at her.

"Calling who?" Nami asked.

"The Millennium Dragons scattered around the world. 'The time has come' is what he's calling." Apis told them.

"'The time has come'? What does that mean?" Nami asked.

"Probably that…" Dinahi said breathlessly.

"Huh?" Usopp looked at the direction at which the former Cambion was looking at. "H-Hey, what're those?!"

Flock of giant birds was approaching them, or so it appeared from the distance. The flock it was, were the animals in question gigantic, they sure were, were there many of them, there were way too many of them. But were they birds? No, they were all Millennium Dragons.

"I'll be damned…" Vergil murmured as he looked at the dragons in the skies.

"M-Millennium Dragons! The sky is full of them!" Usopp gasped.

"I bet they're Ryu-ji's nakama!" Nami guessed.

"Yeah." Apis confirmed it.

"Incredible." Zoro looked at the dragons as well.

"You can say that again." Dinahi agreed.

"Where did they all come from?" Sanji wondered.

Luffy just laughed happily.

"T-Those are…" Nelson was shocked for a few moments but then began laughing. "Dragon Bones! A whole mountain of Dragon Bones for me!" Just as he said that the karma caught up to him and one of the dragons made him fall to the floor by flying right above him. "Open fire! Shoot them down!"

"We can't! The cannons can't shoot high enough!" Marine explained his inability to follow the orders.

Ryu-ji looked at the dragons for a few more seconds, he let out another roar and fell down.

"Ryu-ji!" Luffy called him and the dragon opened his eyes to look at the pirate for one last time. The final words of the dragon have been spoken. "Yeah, I gotcha. I'll tell Apis for you." Luffy promised and the dragon's eyes showed relief as he closed them and began sinking.

The dragons screeched in the skies as Ryu-ji's life faded away completely.

"_World keeps on going, no matter who dies_…" Vergil closed his eyes and remained silent as a form of respect for the dragon. Luffy would deal with the annoyance that was being Nelson's laughter.

As the demon had predicted Luffy stood up and turned to the main ship of the marine fleet. He stretched his arm. "**Gomu Gomu no… Rocket**!" He grabbed onto the neck of one of the Millennium Dragons. "Just gonna borrow your neck!" He proceeded to stretch his leg up even higher. "**Axe**!" The rubber leg slammed over the large ship and split it in half.

Vergil, who was swimming back to Merry, couldn't help but smirk at the response Luffy's action got.

"WHAT HAPPENED?!" The marines screamed as one.

"He killed the Commodore!" Someone yelled as Luffy climbed up the wreckage.

The death glare Luffy gave them was enough to make the present marines run for their lives.

"These Marines sure give up quick when their boss gets beaten. And the shitheads aren't even gonna check on him." Sanji pointed out.

"If I had to guess it's because of the bastard's attitude, no one would dare care about him. Well Luffy looking at them like that and downright destroying their biggest ship probably has something to do with it as well." Vergil climbed up back to Merry.

"You do have a point." Zoro agreed.

Sanji looked up. "They're circling? Why?" He wondered what was the purpose of the dragons flying in such motion.

"We'll probably find out soon enough." Nami told him.

"Yes Nami-san!" The cook was love struck, again.

"The marines are panicking." Dinahi pointed at the ships trying to retreat but due to forgetting the chains that tied the ships together the ships crashed into one another.

"Serves them right, I suppose." Vergil made a small grin at the boy.

"Where's Luffy?" Nami asked him.

"**Gomu Gomu no Rocket**!" The rubber man made his presence clear as he grabbed onto the neck of the Millennium Dragon yet again. "This is kinda fun."

Finally he landed on the Merry with so much force that the ship bounced and the figure head's mouth seemed to open. Luffy himself shivered due to the impact but still raised his hand to greet his fallen crew. "Yo!"

"No 'Yo's!" Nami snapped at him, she was the first one to recover. "Be a little more gentler when you land! You're gonna break the ship!"

Apis ran up to the railing and with tears in her eyes she looked at the spot at which Ryu-ji sank. "Ryu-ji!" She cried out.

The crew went silent, they failed to keep their promise, or so they believed.

Another tremor…

"An earthquake?" Sanji asked.

"Again?" Nami was surprised by them as well.

"Ryu-ji…" Apis was on her knees. "My promise to Ryu-ji… I couldn't keep it… I couldn't take him to the Dragon's Nest…" As she said that she failed to notice Luffy behind her.

"Ryu-ji's wish came true." Apis gasped at the rubber man's words and turned her head around to look at him. "The Millennium Dragons are calling, can't you hear them?"

As if right on cue a wave of wind surged through making the strongest earthquake thus far.

-Warship Island-

Bokuden woke up due to the shaking. "Huh? I'm awake!"

"Why are all these earthquakes happening?!" One of the villagers asked.

"This one is the biggest yet!" Another one said. "Hey look!" He noticed something they never saw before.

"The ocean is receding!" Sure they sometimes saw slight receding of the ocean but never this much.

The island was emerging all around the Warship Island…

-Going Merry-

As the Straw Hats looked below their ship Nami remembered the map from the temple.

"So that's what it meant!" She realized.

"What do you mean, Nami-san?" Sanji turned to her.

"Just like the fresco said, the Dragon's Nest is here!" At her claim Apis turned to look at her as well. "The name 'Millennium Dragon' doesn't refer to their life-span. It means they come to this island once every 1000 years!"

Ships were raised above the water surface by the raising ground.

"The Millennium Dragons are migratory! The flock didn't just appear here by chance! 'Lost Island' is the perfect name for it. It only surfaces once every 1000 years! There's no way any living human would remember it surfacing!" As Nami continued Apis looked at the flock. "And now, this very moment… The Dragon's Nest is going to appear!"

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_**And that's it, as you can see I've made quite a few changes and the plot point of Millennium Dragons is almost done for. I know the action seems to be lacking at the moment but I'll make up for it in the portal part of the arc and the certain part before they get to the Grand Line.**_

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_**Next Chapter – East Blue's Portal**_


	83. East Blue's Portal

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**almost stupid – Thanks for the review, I'm happy to hear that. Vergil mentioned 'certain form' back in chapter 20. So yeah, demons do have another form they can access. It's not Devil Trigger as this isn't DMC crossover and my Vergil isn't Vergil from the Devil May Cry games.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**Naroku – Thank you for the review.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you for the review, I'm glad you liked it.**_

_**KP360 – Thank you for the review. Well this part of arc anyway, there's something else we need to go through before Grand Line. I know how you feel, Naruto fillers are a topic I'd rather not discuss or be reminded of.**_

_**Guest – Thanks, I'm glad you like it. While I thank you for the suggestion I have some plans already so I can't really change them right now.**_

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_**Chapter 83 – East Blue's Portal**_

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"The Millennium Dragons are migratory! The flock didn't just appear here by chance! 'Lost Island' is the perfect name for it. It only surfaces once every 1000 years! There's no way any living human would remember it surfacing!" As Nami continued Apis looked at the flock. "And now, this very moment… The Dragon's Nest is going to appear!"

The dragons for the most part landed on the newly emerged island and the Straw Hats couldn't help but watch the sight in front of them in awe. Dragon shaped rocks covered with corals, small ponds of water with a fish here and there swimming around, it was truly a beautiful sight to witness.

"Amazing…" Nami went as far as to voice out her opinion.

Apis' eyes widened as she looked at the Millennium Dragons. "Could this be…?"

"Yup. This is the Dragon's nest Ryu-ji wanted to return to." Luffy confirmed it for her, there was no space for doubt in his words.

"So this is…" Finally she saw the corpse of her friend. Her eyes widened and she ran off to the mini lake ignoring the calls of the Straw Hats.

"What'd she take off like that for?" Usopp asked.

"It's Ryu-ji. Ryu-ji's over there." Luffy explained it.

"I'm going after her." Dinahi said and ran off as well.

"Ryu-ji!" Apis yelled and ran into the water. "Ryu-ji!" She didn't forget the fact that she couldn't swim, well either that or she simply got used to the Devil Fruit and instinctively stopped before getting too deep into the water. "Ryu-ji! Ryu-ji!"

Straw Hats could only watch from afar.

"It seems like coincidence… but the place Ryu-ji fell turned out to be the Dragon's Nest." Nami said. "I wonder if that means he can rest in peace."

"He's fine. Before he sank, he said his wish had come true." Luffy assured her.

Nami glanced at the captain but didn't say anything.

Usopp broke the silence when he looked around them. "So this is the Dragon's Nest. There sure are a lot of weird-looking rooks."

"I bet, these are the Dragon Bones." Sanji said as he walked up to one of the dragon shaped rocks.

"Huh?"

"Look at this rock. Looks like a dragon, don't you think?"

"Well yeah, but… Why are the rocks shaped like dragons?"

The one to answer his question was Nami. "Because during those 1000 years they were under the ocean. Their bodies became calcified."

"I see…" He didn't get it, though it looked like he was trying to.

"Did you understand a word of that?" Zoro called him out on it.

"Nope, not a bit!" The liar was for once completely honest as he raised his hands in defeat and admitted the truth.

"When elephants die… they go to a place called 'Elephant's Graveyard' don't they? Maybe that's what this place is. The Dragon's Graveyard." Nami pointed out.

"I guess so, but maybe it's not just that." Vergil said and when Nami looked at him he motioned to an egg not too far away from them.

"No! That's not true! Ryu-ji told me if he returned to the Dragon's Nest he'd get better! This can't be graveyard!" Apis refused to believe it.

"Apis…" Nami didn't want to further hurt the girl.

"Ryu-ji was a lost Millennium Dragon." Luffy pointed out.

"Luffy?"

"For 1000 years he was all alone. But then he became friends with you, Apis." Apis' eyes widened as she remembered the first time she met Ryu-ji. "Out of the 1000 years he lived for it was the time he spent with you that he treasured most of all."

"Luffy? You can understand what the dragons say?" Nami asked.

"Kind of." Luffy simply replied.

"Cut that out already." Usopp muttered.

"But I'm sure that's what he said!" Luffy spoke confidently.

"Liar…" Apis said on the brink of tears and they looked at her again, Dinahi who had reached the water decided to step aside, over the time they knew each other he knew that there was so much to learn about the girl before he could just walk in and stand by her… "Ryu-ji you liar… This is the Dragon's Nest. If we've found the Dragon's Nest… Then open your eyes! Talk to me! Get better again!" She demanded.

"Apis." Vergil spoke up and Nami and Usopp looked a bit worried, the demon was notorious for slapping people with his opinion without caring one bit about how they felt… Vergil began walking toward Apis. "Life is one thing that has to end. Those dear to us die eventually and there's not much one can do. Bur Ryu-ji is still alive."

Apis' eyes widened as she looked at the demon that was now in the water, crouching in front of her.

Vergil pointed his finger at her heart. "You'll remember him, right?" He asked.

"Of course I will!" Apis shouted at him.

"Then he'll keep on living in your memories. No matter what you or I or anyone else does once dead people can never come back again and they shouldn't either. It's the nature of the life, that it has to end, that's what's making it so fragile yet so valuable. Because we know of death we know of pain of losing someone and as such we don't want to experience it again, that's why we become stronger." The demon stood up, quite soaked but the nod Apis gave him made it quite worthy.

Still the girl kept crying, he could try to comfort her but the pain wasn't going away…

"Ryu-ji wasn't lying. He said Millennium Dragons have to return to the Dragon's Nest every 1000 years to be reborn." Luffy told her.

"Ryu-ji will…" She couldn't believe it at first.

"Look over there!" Luffy pointed at the same egg Vergil pointed at a bit earlier.

The egg cracked and Apis' eyes widened when she saw what hatched out of it. "A baby Millennium Dragon!" She gasped as the newborn cried out.

Four dragons came to it and it looked like they were nursing the baby.

Yet the baby looked at Apis, it screeched a few times and tears began forming in the girl's eyes. Finally she let he tears fall as she nodded to the baby dragon.

Apis turned around and began climbing up the hill back to the Straw Hats, but she stopped for a moment. She looked at Ryu-ji one last time and then continued on.

"So you see, Apis, this place isn't just the Dragon's Graveyard. It's also a place that connects them to new life." Nami told her softly.

"Thank you, everyone." Apis thanked them.

"Eh?"

"When Ryu-ji said 'Return me to the Dragon's Nest.' I think I understood what kind of place this might be. And why Ryu-ji wanted to return so badly." Apis confessed.

"Apis…"

"It's an incredible place. I understand why our ancestors built that temple now. Thank you Luffy." She grinned then. "Now, let's go and find that portal!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah, let's go Vergil!" Luffy urged the demon excitedly.

"Can you hear the portal?" Dinahi suddenly asked the white haired male.

"Yeah, it's still barely as loud as a whisper but I can hear it." Vergil admitted.

"Lead the way then." Zoro urged him.

"First of all Dinahi, Apis, the two of you are staying here. Second of all anyone who feels like they aren't ready for this stay with the kids. Finally for those who go along with me, the battle could be hard, don't lower your guard." Vergil instructed and began walking toward the direction of the voice that kept calling him, the voice of the portal…

Dinahi wanted to argue, he really did, but he knew he'd just be in their way so he relented and decided to stay away from this danger.

It was somewhat surprising but Usopp and Nami didn't back away.

"You'll need the great sniper Usopp to do this." Usopp grinned at him.

"If we find any treasure I'm taking it." Nami added with a mischievous smile on her face.

Leonidas couldn't help but laugh at their response. "I know, let's go."

Suddenly they heard coughing. "You pathetic fools, there's no way I would die that easily." Nelson whispered to himself.

"Let me blast the bastard off of the island." Vergil requested.

"Sure. Relax your nerves." Zoro teased him and Vergil simply smirked.

Nelson's eyes widened in horror as Vergil approached him.

"Wait! We can share!" Commodore tried to bribe him.

"Just shut up and get out of my sight." Vergil stated and blasted the ground under him thus forcing the commodore off of it. Nelson didn't even know what hit him when Vergil pulled his fist back and slammed it into the marine's guts. Despite his weight the Commodore was sent flying away from the dragons.

"Well that was refreshing." Vergil muttered and joined the crew once more.

Unlike the first time he was getting closer to the gate he didn't get the headache when he was close enough, the headache was there from the start, but it was the voice he knew all too well.

They went toward the edge of the island in silence knowing that Vergil probably had to concentrate, suddenly when they entered a vast area he stopped.

"Why did we stop?" Sanji was the one to break the silence.

"It's…" Vergil stopped for a moment and looked around. "Underneath?" He sounded confused at first but then sighed. For a moment a sharp pain spread through his body and his eyes turned red. In that very moment before his eyes reverted back to the golden color the voice roared to life and he knew where it was coming from. "Over there." He motioned and walked up to the middle of the area before he slammed his fist down on the ground.

He didn't really think things through as he fell down the tunnel.

"Vergil come back up!" Luffy shouted and grabbed the demon by the jacket.

"Let me go Luffy! It's here!" Vergil shouted so they could hear him.

"I see, let's go." Luffy let go of his first mate and jumped down as well but not before grabbing onto the rest of his crew.

Vergil landed on the ground and then heard the screams from Nami and Usopp, various curses from Zoro and Sanji and excited laughter from Luffy. Five seconds later the five pirates crashed behind Vergil.

"Are we still alive?" Usopp groaned.

"I hope not. I can't take any more of this." Nami sighed, she was ready to give up.

"One day I'll kill you, for sure." Zoro threatened.

"At least warn us next time shithead." Sanji complained.

"Shishishi! Let's do it again." Luffy laughed.

"Do it alone!" Four of his nakama yelled at him.

"But it's funnier if we do it together." Luffy pouted. "Vergil will join us next time, right?"

"Sure." Vergil grinned at him. "It looks fun."

"Yeah to you!" The four pissed pirates yelled at him as well.

"Well we can discuss that later." The demon flipped back to being serious as he did the same thing Grom did to light up the place. "**Spark Firework**." Numerous balls of lightning lighted the place.

The crew had similar expression he had when he saw the gate in West Blue. The look of shock and awe at the large gate covered with markings and the red eye acting like the lock, back then he barely knew what the eye represented, but now he knew…

This was it, he was in front of the fourth portal, one of the remaining two portals between the Demon and Human World big enough to allow an army to go through…

He took a deep breath and made a small wound on his palm, he pressed the bloody hand on the gate. There was no need to perform the ritual, not with his blood being used directly by him, the golden eyes turned red as his blood merged together once again. It would only be temporary though, he would only tap into the C-Antibody for a few minutes. Still the red energy erupted around him, his usually electric blue lightning and pitch black darkness had a red outline to them now as the portal opened.

He only had to go for a bit longer, the portal was still perfectly stable, just a little push further and it would begin destabilizing, then, when it reaches the critical point he'll crush it down, he'll destroy it and get one step closer to protecting what his mother loved.

Still it would be his luck to get interrupted.

A large blade was swung at him and he would have been sliced in half if it wasn't for Luffy grabbing onto him and pulling him back.

"Are you deaf! We've been warning you about that thing!" Nami yelled at him as she punched the top of his head.

"I couldn't hear you." Vergil said and it was true, one of the biggest dangers of opening those portals was the fact that the one opening them was entering sort of a trance, he couldn't hear, see or feel anything when he tried to open them. It was a bit less dangerous when one tried to open a smaller portal but it was still a dangerous gamble.

"Say, Vergil… Why is that thing an armor filled with some creepy substance?" Usopp asked and Vergil noticed the trembling of his nakama.

"That's the product of Cambion Testing… The subjects have the genes of their parents forcefully merged together to create an awakened Cambion, the testing is always a failure because no test subject ever survived." Vergil said. "That thing you see in front of you is the first use of the souls of the Cambions, by merging the fragile souls of the dead test subjects under Mundus' orders a creature without consciousness immune to the mid dimension was created. That is the… Cambion-Soul Soldier, or commonly known as CS-Soldier."

The crew was speechless, some because they simply didn't get it, scratch that, Luffy and Zoro knew that it was something bad, Usopp and Sanji got lost at the prospect of Cambion Testing, they didn't know what that was, even though Usopp was there when Dinahi was taken and subjected to the testing… Nami on the other hand understood it for the most part.

Nami placed her hand on Vergil's shoulder and smiled. "We can take one of them down, you take down the portal."

Vergil smiled. "One moment you are violent, the second one you become gentle, what's next? Being head over heels?" He teased and Nami got the déjà vu feeling.

-Flashback-

"One moment you are afraid of me, the second one you are trying to kill me, the third one you are worried about me. What's next? Falling in love with me?" Vergil asked.

"As if! Keep dreaming demon! I'd never be with a stupid demon even if my life was in danger!" Nami yelled at him.

-Flashback ends-

"Keep dreaming." She decided to repeat her own words as well.

"I will." He smirked as he walked toward the portal leaving the blushing navigator to recover from losing this round of teasing. At that moment he may have just teased her but soon enough he might just do what he said we would.

Vergil decided to clear out his thoughts as he approached the CS-Soldier. The soldier sensed him and rushed forward to cut him down, the strike was going to be dealt right to his chest, it would certainly be lethal if it connected. The soldier had no intention, no thought and no consciousness, it had one goal, protect the gate, it was the only option given to it by its creator, the man that Vergil once met.

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_**And that's it. I have something I need to tell you all, next chapter, which will be up soon marks the beginning of a long break for this story when it comes to the anime/manga material.**_

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_**Next Chapter – Pklat Kaiser's Child**_


	84. Pklat Kaiser's Child

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Naroku – Thanks for the review, you'll see what I mean by the end of the chapter.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you I'm happy to hear that.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks, yeah, I'm glad you do.**_

_**KP360 – Thank you for the review. It's not exactly an original arc, you'll see at the end of the chapter.**_

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_**Chapter 84 – Pklat Kaiser's Child**_

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Vergil decided to clear out his thoughts as he approached the CS-Soldier. The soldier sensed him and rushed forward to cut him down, the strike was going to be dealt right to his chest, it would certainly be lethal if it connected. The soldier had no intention, no thought and no consciousness, it had one goal, protect the gate, it was the only option given to it by its creator, the man that Vergil once met.

The fact was the strike didn't connect, it was blocked by Zoro.

"Vergil is busy at the moment." Green haired swordsman said to the artificial creation.

Sanji joined in and kicked the head of the soldier thus sending him back. "Stay out of his way, shitty armor."

Of course Luffy wasn't backing away from this fight. "**Gomu Gomu no Bazooka**!" He slammed his hands right into the armored chest and sent the Soldier flying into the rocks.

"They did it! How do you like that now Mundus?!" Usopp cheered.

"I don't think it's that easy…" Nami had already pulled out her staff and though she wasn't willing to fight she was ready to defend herself just in case.

Vergil on the other hand entered the trance again, the quicker he got this done the quicker the CS-Soldier would fall apart.

The Monster Trio took a fighting stance fully expecting the Soldier to attack them. It didn't. Instead it went straight for Vergil.

"Wait!" Luffy yelled and ran after it. "**Gomu Gomu no Pistol**!" The Soldier detected the fist flying toward its head and blocked it with its left palm. The Soldier didn't show any reaction as it got pushed back. Still there was no way the crew was letting it attack Vergil.

Soldier wasn't giving up on attacking Vergil, it threw the blade it had at the demon.

Sanji gritted his teeth and kicked the blade away from the white haired demon.

"**Demon Slice**!" Zoro sliced it into pieces by slicing through the joints that connected the chest plate with the rest of the armor.

The Soldier fell down for a moment and it seemed like they won.

"Is that it?" Sanji was surprised.

"That was too easy." Usopp turned to Nami, hoping that the orange haired navigator would have something to say to explain just how it ended so quickly.

"Look out!" Nami suddenly shouted as the blasts of energy burst out of the soldier and reconnected its armor back together. It stood up and its red eyes shone brightly as it fired multiple energy based shots at Vergil.

Zoro managed to deflect the blasts with his swords and Sanji and Luffy joined him in between the white haired demon and the CS-Soldier.

The trio looked at one another and decided to end the battle.

"**Tiger Hunt**!" "**Collier Shoot**!" "**Gomu Gomu no Gattling Gun**!" With Zoro breaking through the primary defense, Sanji shooting the Soldier up in the air and Luffy rappidly punching it the Soldier had no chance of countering or even defending.

The combination of the attacks was supposed to end it all, but it didn't. Through the cracks in the armor the souls of dead Cambions began spilling through creating an eviorment deadly for both humans and demons, the souls were still grouping near the ceiling but soon they'd drop down and infect the crew as well.

The souls were outright out of control and the large mass of energy threatened to engulfe everything.

Vergil's red eyes shone brightly as the portal reached the critical point. "_This is it_." The white haired male thought as he raised his bloodied palm and charged raw power through it. The stream of power went into the portal and made a crack on it.

CS-Soldier felt the shattering of the portal and stopped, the gate was what was keeping it in one piece and with it shattering its armor fell apart as well.

The crew remained silent as they looked at Vergil's eyes flashing between red and yellow for a few moment before finally reverting to the usual yellow shade.

"Let's go. Vergil." Luffy spoke up and grinned at the male.

"Yeah, there's nothing left to do here." The demon agreed.

There was no need to speak of the battle, no need to speak of the events that led to it, the crew had came to a mutual understanding when it came to this.

-About half an hour later-

The crew returned back to the Dragon's Nest where they saw other villagers and Bokuden and Diana along with Apis and Dinahi.

"It's good to see you all again." Diana smiled at the crew.

Sanji knelt down in front of her and took her hand. "The pleasure is ours. Oh love! For me to meet such a beautiful woman-" He was cut off by Dinahi slammed his fist into Sanji's cheek.

"Get away from my mom you pervert!" Dinahi hissed.

"What was that you damn brat?!" Sanji roared at him as the two glared at one another.

"It's good to see you again as well, Diana." Vergil greeted her.

"Thank you for looking out for Dinahi and Apis. I owe you, again." Diana thanked them.

"Don't say words like owe in front of Nami." Vergil smirked.

"Or what?" Nami glared at him.

"Or you'll go into greedy mode." Vergil grinned at the orange haired girl.

"Damn right I will!" Nami agreed.

"Should we leave these two alone?" Diana suggested making Nami look away while blushing lightly and Vergil sent her a half glare.

"Anyway this is quite a sight." Dinahi tried to ease the light tension.

"Yeah. I guess it's going to sink before long." Nami said.

"When that happens the Millennium Dragons will have to leave again, huh?" Usopp realized.

"That baby Millennium Dragon will go somewhere, too, I guess…" Apis muttered sadly but Bokuden was there to comfort her.

"So, would everyone care to come over and have some of my famous pork filled buns?" Bokuden suggested.

"Oh we'd love to! But we'll have to pass. We are in a bit of a hurry, you see." Nami quickly got them out of the situation before Luffy went and said yes.

"We are? I wanted to try…" Luffy was cut off by Nami punching him.

"Thanks for the offer, but we have to go." Sanji said.

"Oh, I see. That's unfortunate. It will take three days to prepare. So in the meantime I'll tell you the story of the Lost Island's royal family-!" Bokuden tried to tell them the same story again.

"Oh we've already heard that story…" Nami was trying to remain polite.

Dinahi remained silent.

"What's wrong?" Nami asked the formed Cambion that glanced at Vergil.

"Come with me." Boy requested and Vergil sighed as he followed the boy.

They reached an area where no one could hear them.

"I… I only want an answer to one question…" Dinahi began but Vergil raised his hand.

"I know what you want to ask and the answer is yes. I am just like you, a…" The final word was silenced by the wind that blew by them. Dinahi's eyes widened, he figured as much but hearing the confirmation… The two remained standing there in silence.

-A bit later-

"All right! Set sail for the Grand Line!" Luffy ordered once the crew boarded onto the Going Merry. "Apis, Dinahi, you wanna come?"

"I've had so much fun being with you guys, I'd like to but I'm going to stay here on the island." Luffy smiled, showing that he understood. "I want to learn more about out customs from Grandpa Bokuden. And just as our ancestors protected the Millennium Dragons I will protect the Dragon's Nest. I'll wait for the day when the baby dragons will return to this island."

"Wait a minute… the next time they'll come back…" Usopp tried to calculate it. "Won't that be in another thousand years?"

"Don't say stuff to ruin her dream." Sanji scolded him.

Apis disagreed. "I know that I won't see the baby dragons when they grow up, but my children, or their children will. And we'll protect this island forever!"

"You're talking crazy!" Usopp sighed.

"You guys do crazy things every day, don't you?" Apis pointed out.

"Do we?" And Luffy seemed unaware of the way they lived at the moment.

"And you, Dinahi?" Zoro asked.

"No, I like you guys and everything but I should stay here. Maybe I'll set out when I'm older." Boy grinned and then looked at Vergil. "Promise you'll visit us one day." He grinned at the older male.

"We'll leave that at perhaps." Vergil smirked but that earned him a punch of the navigator.

"We promise." She promised instead.

The Going Merry set off as the crew bid their farewell to Apis and Dinahi.

"See ya, Apis, Dinahi!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Apis! Dinahi! Don't forget me! The brave warrior of the sea, Usopp-sama!"

"Bye-bye!" Nami yelled.

"Bye-bye! Everyone! Take care!" Apis exclaimed.

"You too! Take care Apis!" "See ya!" Bye-bye!" The crew was getting out of the sights of the villagers.

"You think Apis and Dinahi will be alright?" Usopp asked.

"They'll manage. Apis may be small but she's full of spirit and courage. Dinahi went through a lot and pulled through just fine. They'll be fine." Nami said.

"You're right, Nami-san." Sanji agreed.

"It's OK!" Luffy grinned.

"Yeah." Zoro agreed.

"Apis and Dinahi are our friends, right?" Luffy already knew the answer.

"Damn straight." Zoro agreed.

Vergil simply looked up to the sky and for a split second felt something… he and the crew would spend quite some time oblivious to the horror that was about to happen.

-With Eric-

Eric managed to fix his boat and was about to leave when a strike of lightning boomed on the beach. He turned around and saw Nelson Royale being held by a demon. The same demon that informed Krim about Vergil, the same demon that killed Leonidas Xenia… Gavran Kaltag…

Kaltag held out Vergil's wanted poster. "Was he one of the pirates you encountered?" The tone was calm yet somewhat threatening.

"What of it?" Eric seemed arrogant enough to defy the demon.

"Answer me." Kaltag wasn't willing to deal with empty talking back.

"Yes!" Eric quickly answered, but as soon as the word left his mouth both he and Nelson were turned into burnt corpses by the flash of golden lightning.

"VERGIL!" Kaltag roared swearing to get some payback, he had one goal, Warship Island.

He snapped the portal opened and went to the Demon World only to open another one and appear right on the Warship Island.

-With Apis-

"Didn't you want to go with them, Apis?" Bokuden asked her.

"If I go with them, I'll just get in their way." Apis reasoned. "Besides there are things I want to do! I'm about to do something incredible. If I hadn't met Luffy and his crew, I would have never thought I could protect this island. I would have thought protecting this island was impossible. So Luffy and his crew brought Ryu-ji with them and searched for it. They never-" She was interrupted.

"So you can protect it, eh?" A voice asked from behind.

"Apis, run!" Dinahi yelled and Apis turned around just in time to see Kaltag knocking her out.

The demon had one plan in mind, wait until the night and light up the sky by blasting the island into smithereens.

-That night-

Vergil couldn't sleep, he knew he had a guard duty after Luffy in about fifteen minutes but even so he couldn't fall asleep even for a moment beforehand. His mind was constantly going back to the conversation with Dinahi. He finally said it, after ten years he said it and now the question arose. Did he really need to keep it a secret even from Luffy? It wasn't anything that special, just the fact that he wasn't exactly what they thought he was. Well he was to a certain extent but not completely. The fact of what he was never bothered him, he was proud of his mother's lineage, but after the four years of slaughtering and mercilessly killing he felt like he didn't deserve to call himself anything but demon in a true sense of that word.

Thinking back the time he spent with the crew made him feel more like he used to before Grom and Xenia were killed. In fact he accessed the C-Antibody even though he didn't exactly feel like it was possible for him, so at least some part of that remained in his consciousness. He would decide when the opportunity to tell Luffy came. And it sure came quickly...

The Captain of the crew was sleeping peacefully.

"Luffy wake up." The voice of his first mate brought him back from the dream land. "You are supposed to stand watch not sleep in the crow's nest." The demon grinned as the younger male yawned.

"It was a good sleep." Luffy murmured.

"Well it's my turn so go back to bed." Vergil kept grinning and then decided. "I'm Cambion." He suddenly said as Luffy stood up. The demon had decided to reveal the truth and Luffy's eyes widened.

"VERGIL IS A CAMBION?!" Yep, Luffy yelled it out so loudly that Vergil had to cover his ears, though it was too late, that much noise probably burst his eardrums, but he was fine with Luffy shouting that.

"Yeah, I am. My mother was a human. Now calm down." Vergil grinned at the straw hat wearing captain.

"That's awesome!" Luffy grinned from ear to ear.

"Yeah, it is." The half demon agreed. "Go on now, catch some sleep."

The Captain and the First Mate weren't the only awake ones on the ship, certain swordsman was practicing and had dropped his weights when he heard the shout.

"Shishishi! See ya!" The Captain left and Vergil sat down on the railing of the crow's nest. He observed the area but the memories engulfed his mind.

-Flashback-

Pklat Kaiser was the right hand of the Demon King, Mundus' right hand but privately he was also a husband and a father.

"I'm back." The Pklat Kaiser, Leonidas Acharon said as he entered the living room of his house.

His son was quick to obey as the four years old child ran down the stairs and stopped in front of his father with a large grin on his face. "Hey dad!" The child greeted him happily. "When are Xenia and mom coming back?"

Acharon smiled at the boy and knelt down. He picked the child up, allowed him to sit on his neck and carried him into the kitchen. "Soon enough Vergil. They went to do some shopping around." The child pouted at that. "Are you hungry?" His father asked.

"No. Not really." Vergil muttered as he rested his chin on the top of his father's head.

"Good. You know I can't make anything edible and your mother would make a fuss if I made you eat anything I cooked up." At Acharon's honesty Vergil laughed.

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_**And that's it, welcome to the final part of East Blue saga, Vergil's backstory.**_

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_**Next Chapter – Irene**_


	85. Irene

_**Answers on reviews:**_

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_**Theboblinator – I can't tell you at the moment, I don't feel like spoiling anyone. I'll leave it at maybe. Well I don't really want to upset you or anything but I do apologize in advance if I do that.**_

_**Naroku – Thanks for the review. Oh he will, trust me.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you for the review.**_

_**KP360 – Yeah, it'll be quite a long time but Vergil's full backstory is about to be brought to life.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you for the review. I'm glad you like the content of the previous chapter. As for the Warship Island, I'll have to keep you wondering.**_

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_**Chapter 85 - Irene**_

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"Are you hungry?" His father asked.

"No. Not really." Vergil muttered as he rested his chin on the top of his father's head.

"Good. You know I can't make anything edible and your mother would make a fuss if I made you eat anything I cooked up." At Acharon's honesty Vergil laughed.

"Anyways, speaking of eating. Lord Mundus will come by to visit us tomorrow for the lunch." Acharon stated, being the Pklat Kaiser he was quite familiar with Mundus but he knew that he should at the very least inform his family about the Demon King joining them for a meal.

Vergil grinned. "Really?" He sounded happy about the idea.

"When did I lie to you?" Acharon replied.

"When you said we'd have rice instead of broccoli for dinner and we ended up having broccoli." Vergil muttered.

Acharon chuckled uncomfortably. "You still remember that? Come on Vergil, that was a week ago."

"It was Xenia's birthday." Vergil pouted, they were supposed to have rice with some meat as a main dish.

"Well I had no idea how to prepare rice… Broccoli was the only thing I could find in that mess your mother calls kitchen." The older demon tried to defend himself.

"It's not messy. Mom can always find whatever she needs." Yeah, the child wasn't letting go of the argument.

"Verge we are back." Acharon's savior has arrived.

Vergil forgot about the argument in an instant and jumped off of his father's shoulders before running into his mother's arms.

Leonidas Irene, a woman with long blond hair and bright green eyes, a human dressed in simple yet elegant clothes consisting of a long sleeved light purple blouse and usual blue jeans. The woman was quite beautiful and had twenty nine years, just two years younger than her husband.

Girl by her side was none other than Xenia, now just an eight years old girl with white hair reaching just below her shoulders. She was wearing a baby blue dress with red dots here and there.

"Hey, Verge. I'm back as well." Xenia teased him as she patted the boy's head.

Vergil grinned and let go of Irene.

"Welcome back. Did you get everything you planned on buying?" Acharon walked up to them.

Irene, who was kneeling down up until now stood up and planted a brief kiss on Acharon's lips. "You know a woman can never buy everything she wants. But it was an okay shopping." She noticed that the two males of her family came out of the kitchen. "I take it we came just in time to prevent the catastrophe known as your cooking."

"Make up your mind, are you scolding or loving me?" Acharon had about enough of the cooking topic.

"I'm lovingly scolding you." And of course he couldn't win an argument against his wife.

"Irene…" He could only find it in himself to sigh as she smiled at him, yep, even if he had n argument he would be rendered speechless.

"Dad, you are forgetting something." Vergil reminded the oldest Leonidas making Irene and Xenia look at him.

"Yeah, thanks for reminding me Vergil. Lord Mundus will be with us at the lunch tomorrow." He easily told them that and the two females accepted it just as easily.

Little did Vergil know that tomorrow would bring more than just the Demon King.

-Tomorrow morning-

Vergil yawned as he sat up. Being a child, even if he was half demon, he didn't really feel excited about getting up. The drill of the training and years as a Demon Hunter would later make the art of swiftly jumping out of the bed quite known to him, but as a four years old he was yet to even tap into the skill.

Nonetheless he managed to get out of his bed and after going through the morning ritual concerning the specific room known as bathroom he went down the stairs.

As usual he found the females of the family making the breakfast while his father sat on sofa and read some report or something. Normally he'd be curious as to what his father was doing but he wasn't in the state to actually think about anything. He was sleepy…

"Morning Verge." Xenia greeted him as she turned away from brewing a tea.

A sleepy 'Morning' reply later Vergil sat down next to Acharon.

"Still sleepy, eh?" His father offered him a small smirk, child looked at the man and then leaned against his side. Acharon allowed himself a chuckle and wrapped his arm around his son letting the boy nap for the next fifteen minutes or so.

After the brief nap Vergil opened his eyes again, this time he looked more awake than sleepy and his eyes proved it. He looked at the paper in his father's hand.

"What is that?"

"Battle report." Acharon replied and then placed it down. "Wanna go outside? It's been awhile since we spent some time together." He suggested and Vergil's eyes lit up.

Boy jumped to his feet and grabbed Acharon's hand. It was only because Acharon allowed it that the boy managed to pull him up from his seat.

"Anyways, I've been thinking. As a start, would you like to see something cool?" Acharon suggested.

"Sure!" Vergil grinned as he his father walked out of their house and into the garden behind it.

Irene, being a human could easily compare the two worlds, while the houses had quite a lot of similarities and it was a fact that if she wanted to she could fool herself and say that she was in the Human World. Going outside made the difference, leave out the demons that didn't look like humans and you'd still have the outstanding difference. The grass and vegetation had a darker shade than those in the Human World, the clear water was a rarity and a luxury, one that her and her family had because of the status the Leonidas name gave them. 90 percent of the water in the Demon World had red tint to it, the curse of the millenniums of war that was yet to end. In fact currently only about 0.1 percent of the water could be drank without previously being filtered and boiled. That water was just like the one in the Human World, clear… Water wasn't the only part of the Demon World suffering because of the war, the ground itself seemed to be soaked with blood in some areas.

Finally, even with all this the most striking difference was red sky during the day that turned pitch black during the night. Demon World had both sun and moon and to a certain extent they appeared just a bit lighter than the ones in the Human World.

Vergil and Xenia who never set foot into the Human World could only hear of its nature and beauty from their mother and while they did harbor a wish to go there at some point they were content with the Demon World. Irene herself had to admit that it did offer amazing sights every now and then.

"Alright, stand there and I'll show you." Acharon said and Vergil obeyed, the excitement was still evident in his eyes.

"Watch carefully." Acharon grinned, he never knew how to entertain or watch over kids, but he figured Vergil would be pretty much entertained by this. Vergil was his son after all.

What Vergil next saw would remain foggy for the rest of his life. But the screaming he heard, the blood that flashed in front of his eyes, the pulsing in his head as his senses became engulfed by what his father did remained. That was the first time his blood reacted, the first time he heard the voice of the Devil Arm. The last thing Vergil saw was a sword disappearing and Acharon running up to him shouting his name as he passed out.

Screams, even unconscious the screams haunted him, he was tossing and turning in his bed as he slowly slipped back into the consciousness.

'…e on Ver…' The voice he somehow recognized as Xenia's briefly pulled him closer to the conscious realm. 'Wake up…' He became aware of the sounds around him.

"Xenia get out of the room. You're not helping." He recognized this voice as well. It was Mundus, no doubt about it and the annoyance in the Demon King's voice was apparent.

"But…" Xenia tried to argue.

"Leave. Now." The threat was evident.

For a single moment Vergil opened his eyes and saw Mundus motioning Acharon with his eyes to take Xenia away while the girl fought back the tears. His eyes fell onto his mother who was glaring at the Demon King.

Then the darkness came once again.

"Child…" A voice. He couldn't recognize it, but it seemed to call him.

He tried to speak up, to respond but he couldn't, he felt his soul slipping away from the trance.

"Verge." The softest and kindest voice he heard in his life spoke, pulling the child out of the nightmare.

"Mom…" Boy's eyes opened and he found himself in his mother's arms.

"It's over now, I'm here." Irene softly assured him. Gently she kissed his forehead and felt his small arms around her neck. Irene turned her eyes to the doors that opened and saw Acharon standing there, she sent the demon a glare that would make any lesser man beg for mercy.

"Had a nightmare, eh?" Acharon walked up to the duo and sat on Vergil's bed. He reached out to comfort his son and softly patted the boy's head. "Come on Vergil. You are a big boy, aren't you? You can take a nightmare or two." Acharon tried to encourage him.

"Your sword is scary…" Vergil muttered into his mother's shoulder and if the looks could kill Irene would have Acharon dying again and again, seriously since when does entertaining a child equal showing him the Devil Arm.

She mouthed a 'We will talk about this' and the demon chuckled uncomfortably.

"Well now you can brag to Xenia that you saw it before she did?" Acharon tried, he really did.

"Acharon." It was all Irene needed to say, the woman was so fiercely protective of her children and the normally soft and gentle female turned into grizzly mother bear if either Vergil or Xenia were in any kind of distress. The fact that she could stand up to even Mundus was even more impressive seeing as she was a human.

"I get it. I'll get out on my own." Acharon relented and carefully, without any rash movement he stepped out of the room.

"Why is dad scared of you?" Vergil asked out of blue.

"Because a woman can be fierce when she truly loves." Irene told him.

"I don't get it." Child admitted.

"You'll know one day. Just be strong and find a girl you want to protect." She instructed him.

"Like Xenia and you?" Vergil asked.

"A different kind of protect." When she saw a puzzled look on her son's face she chuckled. "You'll understand when the time comes." Irene ruffled Vergil's hair and set him back down on the bed.

"Mom…" Vergil murmured.

"I'll stay." She assured him. "Baa, baa, black sheep, have you any wool? Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full! One for the master, one for the dame, and one for the little boy who lives down the lane." Irene hummed and though the child in front of her felt too old to listen to the nursery rhymes as he was being put to bed he didn't complain. Irene's voice was always soothing to him, always calming him down, it always made him feel like he could do anything as long as he had her watching his back.

"I'll always stay by your side, as long as I'm alive." Irene promised her son and turned off the light. She had a husband to scold so she got up and left the room, but first she would have to take care of Xenia as well.

Well things didn't always go as planned, Acharon was waiting for her in the hallway.

"He's awake." Even though she said that Acharon kept the eye contact, he knew he messed up so he was going to take the blame.

"I didn't think he'd react like that." He admitted.

"I know."

"You're not going to scold me?"

"Trust me, I want to, but it looks like you are beating yourself up over it on your own." Irene sighed.

"I should have known you'd react like this. We've been together for almost a decade now." Acharon couldn't help but smile.

"I'm going to go and check on Xenia." Irene informed him and walked away.

She knew Xenia was going crazy with worry and it was only because Mundus pretty much ordered her to leave Vergil's room that she left. Now Irene had to make sure the girl could sleep by telling her that her little brother was fine.

Irene knocked on the doors and then entered the room. In the dim light she saw Xenia hugging her knees on the bed.

"Mom, is Verge…?"

Irene smiled. "He woke up, he's asleep again though." Irene said and sat down on Xenia's bed. "He'll be fine. You'll see, tomorrow morning we'll have the same thing all over again, you and I'll make breakfast, Vergil will wake up and then go to Acharon to take a quick nap on the sofa."

Xenia nodded at that. "Can I help him?" She asked.

"Just be the sister he adores and loves so much. That's all you need to do." At that time Xenia made a promise, she'd chose her brother over anything, and she did, nine years later.

Around the same time Irene went to Xenia's room Acharon sighed and walked into the living room where the Demon King was.

"I'm sorry about the way things occurred today, Lord Mundus." Acharon apologized.

"I understand. I'll speak with Vergil in the morning, I was looking forward to seeing my future right hand." Mundus calmly said.

"Will it be appropriate? He is a Cambion after all." Acharon pointed out.

"I am well aware of the way Cambions are treated in our society, but I believe he'll be quickly accepted." The Demon King paused. "And if he can provide the information needed through the Cambion Testing he'll prove his value even before stepping onto the battlefield."

"If something happens to him Irene will be devastated." Acharon's reasons were truthful but weak.

"I have allowed your daughter to be excluded from the test." Mundus reminded him.

"Can't you do the same for Vergil?"

"You said he fainted the moment you showed him your Devil Arm. Over the century and almost four thousand test subjects we barely reached the point of Cambion Antibody briefly activating. Vergil managed to take the change in his blood without any helping hands so to speak and he only fainted."

"No subject ever survived the testing."

"Maybe your son will. All the Cambions tested had the blood of common demons, he has your blood. Leonidas bloodline that survived from the very beginning of my rule."

Silence took place as the Pklat Kaiser pondered on the words of his Lord.

"I understand. I'll leave my son to you." Acharon loved the boy, he really did, but the duty was more important, if his son could provide the success in the Cambion Testing then why let the risk get in the way.

"May I ask exactly why?" Acharon froze, not out of fear but out of grief, out of knowing how Irene would take it if Vergil died. Mundus simply held the eye contact with the human female, one that he found amusing most of the time, at other times he wanted to cut her head off for not knowing her place, but she gave birth to two Cambions and she might do so in the future as well.

"Acharon made a mistake as you already know, Irene. I'll just talk with Vergil to make sure he knows that what he saw wasn't anything bad." Mundus lied to her.

Irene allowed herself a glance at her husband and then turned back to glare at Mundus. "I don't trust you."

"I can see that." Mundus said.

"What do you want with my son Mundus?" She dropped the courtesy, she dropped all the titles and obligations. She was a parent and she had a child to keep safe.

"Is that how you speak with your King?" Mundus questioned. The slight glare didn't faze Irene, not even slightly.

"I am first of all a mother, then whatever other role I might have. Now answer my question. What. Do. You. Want. With. My. Son." She put emphasis on each word of the question and then to show that she wasn't backing down. "Mundus." She stated his name without a single ounce of respect as her right hand clenched into a fist and turned black.

"IRENE!" Acharon's voice boomed through the house as the deadly intent of the demon that slaughtered his enemies turned at his wife. Irene however didn't back down, the black that coated her fist didn't retreat

"You are just going to let him do as he pleases with your own child?" Irene's question stung and angered the male.

They stood in silence and Irene's eyes widened as the coating around her fist disappeared.

"Wait!" Acharon's eyes widened as well, but this time it was at the voice of his daughter and even more at his son running in between him and Irene and standing there with his arms open and the look in his eyes that Acharon never saw before.

Mundus looked at the boy in front of him. This child… He was just like his damn mother… Not capable of letting others control him, or knowing when he was outclassed…

For the first time in his life Acharon was met with pure anger in the eyes of his son, it wasn't childish angry pout, or scowl, it was actual anger, one that made Acharon turn away and leave the room.

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_**And that's it. The flashback has officially started, we have quite a lot of things to cover. And yes, I used the nursery rhyme 'Baa baa black sheep', I quite like it so yeah, I just had to.**_

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_**Next Chapter – Broken Family**_


	86. Broken Family

_**Answers on reviews:**_

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_**Guest – Thank you.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – I'm glad you think so, yes she used it.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review. I understand that, I almost wrote it a couple of times. Blaiddmon hasn't been mentioned in awhile and it will take some time until he shows up, even in the flashback, but I can assure you that Blaiddmon, being a vital part of Vergil's character is still there. So yeah, the final parts of the flashback will have Blaiddmon and what happened to him.**_

_**Naroku – Yes, it is. Good job on remembering it.**_

_**KP360 – Thanks for the review. I'm glad you like it, yeah, this part of the flashback is quite dark and then we head into a bit of a lighter stuff for some time. Until all hell breaks loose with the incident covering Grom and Xenia's deaths.**_

_**Angryboy13 – Well think of it as psychological torture, the key to your freedom is right there, in front of you and you can't do a thing to get it. It's not like they thought of some random kid going and freeing the notorious criminal.**_

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_**Chapter 86 – Broken Family**_

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"Wait!" Acharon's eyes widened as well, but this time it was at the voice of his daughter and even more at his son running in between him and Irene and standing there with his arms open and the look in his eyes that Acharon never saw before.

Mundus looked at the boy in front of him. This child… He was just like his damn mother… Not capable of letting others control him, or knowing when he was outclassed…

For the first time in his life Acharon was met with pure anger in the eyes of his son, it wasn't childish angry pout, or scowl, it was actual anger, one that made Acharon turn away and leave the room.

Mundus found no reason to remain in the room thus he left as well leaving the trio on their own.

Irene sighed as her children hugged her. "Why are you two here?"

"We heard dad shouting at you…" Vergil muttered.

"Were you two fighting?" Xenia asked.

"Kinda, but don't worry about it. Come on, let's go outside a bit." She knew they wouldn't just fall asleep after this so she decided to take them out for a few minutes.

They were met with pitch black sky with only a few stars here and there.

"Mom." Vergil spoke up and Irene looked at him.

"Hm?"

"What is Human World like?" He asked and Xenia looked at their mother as well, they were waiting for an answer.

"Well I'm not sure where to begin. It's beautiful… You can see so many stars at night, the sky is brighter, even at night. During day it's almost always blue with white clouds here and there. Animals vary in size, some are small, even smaller than fingernails, while some are as big as mountains. You have to see the forests, the trees, the grass, flowers and then there's ocean, once you set sail for the first time you just can't get enough, it's kinda addictive now that I think back and I miss travelling from one place to another." She told them and after a few minutes both Vergil and Xenia were mesmerized.

"You were sailing the oceans?" Xenia asked.

"Yeah, I was travelling around with a few of my friends, so I wasn't part of the Marines nor any pirate crews but I had fun. It's how I met your father, there was this one island that I arrived at after getting injured. Doctor helped me recover and your father came to that island to get the medical research from that island. In the end I met him and one thing led to another but that's a different story." Irene smiled at them.

Vergil grinned and Xenia kept looking at her as she continued describing the Human World eventually the two fell asleep in her arms. She was happy, she missed her old world at times but her family, more precisely her children were her world now.

A month later the world ended for her.

-One month later-

Morning was always the same, you get up, get dressed, eat breakfast and then the day begins, at least that's what Vergil thought at his naïve age of almost five.

This morning however began differently. He got up and got ready to go down and get some food. Irene left with Xenia to buy a few ingredients for the cake, he would turn five tomorrow…

And then, as soon as he opened the doors of his room he saw his father waiting for him.

"Come on Vergil, someone is waiting for you." Acharon said and leaned down to kiss the boy on top of the head. Vergil looked at him and Acharon smiled. "Do your best. I know you can do it." Demon encouraged and confused him but boy followed his father down the stairs either way.

There he saw another demon, one that he had never seen before.

"Go with him, don't worry, you can trust him." Well if his father said so then it would be fine.

-With Irene and Xenia-

Irene and Xenia stepped into the house and found the lack of white haired boy greeting them unsettling.

Xenia looked around and noticed a note on the table. White haired girl ran up to the table and took the note, it was from her father.

Once she read it Xenia looked at the human female. "What is Cambion Testing?" Xenia asked and Irene's eyes widened.

"Mom… Will Verge be alright?" Xenia asked.

Irene looked at her daughter and hugged her. "Go to your room Xenia, I'll be back with Verge soon." Irene said.

"You promise?" Xenia asked.

"I promise." She smiled and kissed the girl's cheek. "I love you."

"I love you too." Xenia hugged her tightly for a few more seconds then let her go.

Irene watched as her daughter went to her room and finally allowed the fury to overcome her. In fact furious didn't even begin describing her as she slammed the doors open and walked right up to her husband ten minutes later.

"Get Vergil out of there! NOW!" She demanded.

"There's nothing I can do and there's nothing I will do. If Vergil can provide the information we need by giving his life then so be it." That sounded less cruel in his mind when he kept preparing for Irene's arrival.

He took the slap to the face without a single word, he didn't stop her and he didn't even bother to do anything because of it. He watched her as she went off to find her son but then she stopped.

"I'm dying here, I'm aware of that, but you owe me. So you better compensate, in exchange for my life stay away from Vergil and Xenia." It wasn't a request, it was an order and the demon's heart froze and shattered, he lost them, all of them.

-With Vergil-

Vergil was led into a quite a big room, it was a lab, that much he could tell, different syringes with substances of various colors inside of them, some kinds of equipment that he couldn't even describe let alone name and finally an operation table kinda thing in the middle of the room. He looked at the only man inside of it, the demon dressed in white mantel probably in his fifties.

"So you are CTS – DFHM - 3352. Welcome, I am Professor Zidrov." Demon said. "Please step forward."

"My name is Vergil." Confused by the way he was called he stated his name.

"Try keeping that name by passing this test. If you don't you'll remain known as CTS – DFHM – 3352." Zidrov said and Vergil gulped a bit. "Come on now, we don't have entire day, you want to finish this quickly, right?"

With that being said Vergil reluctantly stepped forward and Zidrov picked him up before placing him down on the operation table.

"Now then, Vergil." Zidrov chose to humor him. "I want you to answer me with yes or no. You are to give more specific answers only when I tell you to. Understood?"

"Yes."

"Good. You are a Cambion, I'm certain that you are aware of that, correct?"

"Yes."

"Have you ever went through the Baptism of Fire?"

"No."

"Do you know what it is?"

"Yes."

"Explain."

"Using the power for the first time."

"Vague definition but good enough. It's accessing the primary element for the first time and forging your own signature presence. Do you have specific type of climate that you like?"

"Yes."

"Which one?"

"Storms during night."

"Have you ever heard anything strange?"

"Yes."

"When?"

"A month ago, when dad showed me a Devil Arm."

"What did you hear?"

"Screams. I don't know how to explain in but I heard screams."

"What happened afterwards?"

"I fainted."

"Is there any other similar incident?"

"I don't know."

"Good. Now let's begin the test, I'll bind you so don't fight back. It's for your own safety." The last part was lie, but Vergil didn't have to know that.

Young Cambion gulped as he felt his arms and legs being restrained and then a needle right into his wrist.

The screams were back out of nowhere and Vergil let out a scream of his own.

Zidrov observed, the child wasn't passing out and his eyes flashed bright red a couple of times. He injected him again with different syringe right into the heart thus starting the process.

Vergil felt like his body was on fire, the cause of pain was coursing through his entire body, it was his own blood, the human and demon blood began splitting up into two different blood flows separated by the injected substance.

Zidrov took two syringes and injected him again, once in the heart and once on the wrist, the substance began the process of creating the C-Antibody… And then the darkness, child passed out.

Sudden pain jolted him back into consciousness and he didn't know how much time passed.

"You've come farther than most test subjects so far but now comes the real test." Zidrov said and stepped away, four glass walls protected by strange energy surrounded the operation table and Zidrov pressed a button on his table.

Vergil's eyes widened as screams in his head became loud and clear, he could even make out the words and then blast of red engulfed him. What collided with his body was nothing else but the souls of the mid dimension, neither demon nor human, the souls of those that were trapped in between the two worlds

His mouth opened but the scream never left his lungs… His heart beat began slowing down…

-With Irene-

Irene mentally cursed the lack of strength she clearly had, what good was the **Armament Haki** if she could barely use it up to her elbows. Never in her life had she regretted not putting more effort into training…

But she knew that Acharon would do nothing to help, he was bound to the duty.

-With Vergil-

Vergil's eyes opened slowly, he felt numb, his senses were still there but his body and mind remained numb.

Darkness, it was all around him, swallowing him as the screams rang through his head. He wasn't aware of being dead, or being brought back.

For a single moment lifeless golden eyes turned blood red and he gasped for air.

"Good, you survived. From now on you are CTS – S – 1." Doctor Zidrov said and made his way out of the room to inform Mundus.

Vergil didn't know why but he felt the need to leave, he just had to leave. Before the doctor came back, he needed to get out.

-With Mundus-

The Demon King was pleased as he walked into the laboratory, but then his eyes widened, the child was gone, but that also meant that he was still alive.

"We apologize, Lord Mundus, CTS – DFHM – 3352 escaped." A fearful demon that Zidrov gave the job to escort Mundus to the labaratory spoke up shakily.

"I'll go and find him." Mundus simply stated.

-With Vergil-

Vergil found himself in the main hall, he didn't know who, or what he was searching for but anyone would do at this point.

His eyes widened, the electrical sensation surged through his body and he felt it gathering at his right hand. He moved his arm to look at it and paid the price… A bolt of lightning shot out of his palm for the very first time in his life, more on the instinct rather than anything else he closed his eyes as the lightning engraved a permanent reminder of this day right on his face.

Vergil cried out as he clutched at his face, the blood slipped down between his fingers. He was panicking, he didn't know what he was doing and in such state he failed to realize what was going on around him. The pair of hands that wrapped around him protectively were a sign of more danger to his worn out mind and on a reflex lightning erupted around him damaging the unfortunate person's abdomen.

Whoever it was refused to let go even as lightning damaged the internal organs and made a mess out of the body, the untamed, uncontrolled lightning powered by the testing that ended in success.

Vergil tried to break free from the grip of the one that was about to die but then his left eye opened and his heart stopped, the one he had been hurting was… Irene, his own mother…

"Mom…" Boy could only breathe out the word but even though he tried his best he couldn't stop the rampaging storm around his body.

"I'm here. Don't worry." She was hugging him despite everything, she was holding onto him, making sure that he was feeling safe even as she breathed her final breaths.

Vergil was looking at her abdomen, at the gash created by his own lightning, at the blood that was gushing out and staining his clothes, at the right fist still encircled with lightning, the fist that belonged to him, the very fist that was now damaging the remaining internal organs in his mother's body. Irene made him look at her face as she touched his right cheek, the wince that was supposed to follow that action was lost in Vergil's throat just like the screams of pain that tried desperately to escape Irene's throat found no way out. He was a child, he didn't know what death was but he was about to meet it, it was about to use him to take his mother away…

Irene didn't need to force it, she smiled with the blood stained lips and ruffled his hair. "Everything will be fine, I'm with you. I always will be." She was holding on, her voice remained calm and her eyes held fading warmth and life in them. She lied, she knew that but she needed.

"Mom… I… It's all my fault!" Tears… A child of a demon cried, a child of that which never cries cried, for he was also a child of a human.

Irene remained silent. "I love you Vergil." His eyes widened, the right eye he kept closed snapped open as well at her uttering his name, he was always 'Verge' to her, never in his life had he heard her utter his actual name and even in the years to come never in his life would he find the sound of his name to be so painfully pleasant to his ears. "And not because I am your mother." He didn't get it at the time, there was no way he would understand her words at that time, at that age. "Family? This has nothing to do with it. I love you, that's all there is to it." She took a deep breath, her heart and lungs were still intact and the lightning couldn't destroy the organs, the damage was lethal, but it was not enough to kill, the blood loss would take her life.

Irene hugged him, he cried out in her arms and she rested her chin against the top of his head. "You and Xenia are everything to me, if dying is what it takes to keep you safe then so be it."

"M-" He tried to call her but she cut him off.

"It's Irene. Forget that I'm your mother, forget that we are related, forget that you love me."

"But I'd love you even if you weren't mom." He didn't know it yet his words painted a smile over her face yet again. She was content with dying, there was nothing that could save her now but hearing that made her happy.

"I'm glad. Will you say my name?" She requested.

"Irene…" He never said it before, not to her and it felt stranger than anything he ever said.

"Thanks…" She felt more blood coming out of her mouth and the battle was almost over.

"Please don't die." Vergil pleaded through tears.

"People die."

"Do it later. Just not now." Pleading continued.

"You are Leonidas Vergil… my son… don't forget that… I love you, Verge." The words became more of a whisper as she continued, his nickname was said with her last breath and her body went limp. Life that was slowly fading away disappeared completely, it was over, Leonidas Irene was dead.

"Mom…?" Vergil whispered, desperate for any kind of response.

"Mom…!" Still nothing and she would never respond again.

"Mom!" He cried out through tears.

She was dead, gone, she was killed by his hands. Boy fell into trance as tears streamed down his face, he didn't cry out, he had lost will to do so, he couldn't accept it just yet, but he was crying.

"That was touching." Vergil didn't react to that, he only reacted when his mother's body was pulled away from him.

"L-Lord Mundus…?"

Demon King found no pity for the lifeless body of the Cambion's mother. "Well, she's dead so she can't cry out, pity." Vergil understood the meaning behind Mundus' words only when the black haired demon blasted his mother's left arm into smithereens.

"STOP IT!" Vergil yelled.

"What are you telling me to stop for? You killed her, didn't you?"

Boy fell back, his eyes wide in horror, Mundus was right, as her killer he had no right to speak as Mundus blasted off the right arm as well, nor when the body lost its remaining limbs in the similar fashion, not when head was all that was left and neither when it was blown off, the remains of his mother were gone and he didn't do anything.

The only thing he could do was stare into the lifeless eyes of the head before Mundus blew it up.

Suddenly a flash of light shattered the area and Vergil found himself breathing harder than ever, he found his mother's body in front of him, taken away from him and on the floor but there, looking just like it did when he killed her.

"How did you like that?" Mundus asked.

Boy remained silent but then snapped.

"Mundus!" The shout was clear, the child was angry, the child defied, the child chose to fight back, the child refused to bow down, there was no 'Lord', nor 'King', no one was going to make him bow down, and as such there would be no title before Mundus' name. Lightning circled around the boy's fist and he tired to punch Mundus in the guts, he was allowed to do so but sparks did nothing, he was weak, no, weak was strong compared to him, he was powerless, just a form of life without a single fiber of energy in front of Mundus.

"Worthless." Without another word Mundus created a large blade of light.

A large blade was swung and made a large cut on Vergil's body, all the way from the right side of his neck to his left hip, it almost cut him in half and he would have fallen onto the floor lifeless if it wasn't for…

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_**And that's it. There you have it, a bit about the Cambion Testing, the story of the lightning scar and Irene's death. I'd say the chapter was quite eventful.**_

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_**Next Chapter – Wicked Storm Parzifal Grom**_


	87. Wicked Storm Parzifal Grom

_**Answers on reviews:**_

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_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**20th Cboys fan – Thank you, I'm glad you think that.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you very much.**_

_**KP360 – Don't worry about it, I'm quite late with the updates as well. Yeah, I suppose this fits the Straw hat backstory theme. Out of curiosity who was is mystery guest in your opinion?**_

_**Naroku – Thank you for the review.**_

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_**Chapter 87 – Wicked Storm Parzifal Grom**_

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Darkness engulfed the falling body of the Cambion and he fell into the endless nothing that surrounded him.

"Child…" That voice, he heard it before, it kept calling out to him ever since his father showed him the Devil Arm… But it was too late now. The wound he received was fatal. Was he already dead? He didn't feel pain so he should be dead, but if he was dead how did he hear a voice? Well, it didn't matter.

"Child." He didn't bother to even register the voice properly, he didn't care about the darkness seeping into his wound.

"State your name!" The voice boomed impatiently. "I've been waiting for eternity for someone to come here so don't you dare ignore me you damned brat!"

That made the boy slowly open his eyes and realize that his wound was covered with a layer of darkness.

"Leonidas Vergil." He spoke up, his voice was portraying the state of his mind, he was lost, unable to comprehend the reality of what he did.

"So you still have some recognition of your identity, not bad. Cambions who go through the forced awakening usually lose at the very least their memories, they die without knowing who they are, why or how they are dying. And then they mindlessly wander around here." Darkness spoke.

Vergil remained silent.

"Still I didn't think someone from the bloodline of that damned Leonid would mate with a human. Well since you are a Cambion I guess I can treat your human side as a potential ally. Hey brat, are you ignoring me again?"

"Why do you care, you are going to talk either way." Vergil muttered.

"I know you just killed your mother but with that attitude you will cease to exist."

"Why would you care?"

"Because your darkness is just like mine, that's why I kept calling out for you. Vergil." Voice said his name on purpose, just to remind him of who he is.

"Darkness?" Vergil asked, though he asked more out of courtesy.

"I am the Sovereign Darkness Demon, mostly known by the name of Reikoku. All the darkness that demons are capable of using, every element associated with the dark, night, coldness and death is originating from me."

"How is it similar to mine?"

"Because your bloodline sealed me in the mid dimension, as such demons who bear the power of darkness that have the blood of Leonidas share the core of their darkness power with me."

"I have no idea what you are talking about." Vergil muttered.

"You're not even trying to understand. Not that it matters, in a few minutes you'll fall into comatose state, my darkness is healing you, though if you wake up you'll keep the scar for as long as you live. Whether you wake up or not is completely up to you. You can die and wander around with your sole purpose being in exterminating demons and humans that may enter the mid dimension or you can live and find a better purpose, geez that sounded so damn cliché."

"You can bet it did." Vergil said.

"So? Will you wake up?"

"Why do you even bother?"

"Because you can set me free, Leonidas Vergil."

The darkness overcame him and he lost consciousness.

-Half a year later-

Wandering, aimlessly living as a mindless creature, his brain couldn't really understand the consequences of choosing such life, but he still gave it a slight thought. Why would he wake up, he killed his mother, he ended her life so there was no point in fighting to stay alive. What was he going to believe in anyways? Demons turned against him, he didn't know other humans, everything fell out of balance, but still…

He chose to come back.

And boy did he come back to a pleasant location…

Similar to how it happened half a year ago he didn't notice darkness engulfing him, once again he opened his eyes to an unfamiliar sight.

Vergil looked around and saw that there wasn't anything on the sky, not a single cloud, not even Sun or Moon. Area around them was miserable, without a single hint of life and filled with rocks. He looked to his right, there was a large chasm in the earth and it seemed bottomless

He felt weak buzzing in his head and it didn't seem to stop and though he felt disoriented he managed to get up. Aimlessly he began walking forward, waking up was the only way not to aimlessly wander around but here he was doing exactly that, small part of him wondered if he had even woken up. Other part of him didn't care, why should he care anyway?

About an hour later the buzzing became louder and when he heard the familiar screaming kind of noise he passed out, the last thing he remembered was the burst of red coming from the chasm on his right.

"Grom! There you are you reckless bastard!" That was the first thing Vergil heard when he slipped back into the consciousness again.

"Shut it Nobitsura. Bring Warsfer here, I want him to check on this kid I found here." Vergil opened his eyes and saw him, the black haired demon, probably in his early twenties or late teens. The male was wearing a torn black jacket with red shoulder boards and quite a few details that would in better state make it seem like royal clothing, for what it was worth it the jacket was zipped but due to its state Vergil could see the red shirt underneath it. Besides that the demon was wearing black trousers and combat shoes. His pitch black hair was a bit messy and his piercing golden eyes suddenly turned to look at him. "You are awake? What are you doing here kid?" Demon asked.

"Grom get away from that one. He might be the spy." The other demon stated.

"Are you a spy?" Grom asked Vergil quite directly.

"You can't just ask him you numbskull!"

"I'm not."

"Of course the brat is going to say that." The other demon said but Grom just grinned.

"Quit being so worried and grow a backbone, I can deal with anyone Mundus throws at us." Grom said, Vergil looked a bit more interested, were these people Mundus' enemies?

"He is a child. You think you can kill a child?" Other demon questioned Grom's resolve to do such thing.

"I have people to lead and bring back home alive." Was the only answer Grom gave before looking at Vergil. It would take years for Vergil to understand the meaning behind those words.

"Hey can you also use lightning?" Grom asked.

The images of his mother being killed by his lightning flashed in front of Vergil's eyes.

"I don't want to talk about it." Vergil looked down and Grom studied him for a bit longer.

"I see. Don't worry about it." Grom patted his head and Vergil's eyes widened at the sudden action. For some reason the black haired demon knew that something was bothering him.

Moment of surprise passed and Vergil pushed Grom's hand away and glared at him. "Piss off."

Grom seemed amused at the child's outburst and patted Vergil's head once again, much to the annoyance of the Cambion.

"Grom! Nobitsura!" They heard another voice and Vergil looked at the two demons behind Grom.

The one already there was pale demon with a crew cut brown hair, he was looking tired and beaten and he was wearing the black jacket but without all the royal details, instead of shoulder pads it just had red stripes for example. The one running up the them was light gray haired demon in similar clothing attire. All three of them looked like they had just fought.

"Talk some sense into this idiot, he's talking to a potential spy." The one Grom called Nobitsura urged the newcomer as he pointed at Grom.

"Grom will you get serious already? We just fended off the attack not to mention that we already have a big number of casualties, we don't need the only remaining Despot here to get distracted. Many are dying, even more are already dead or injured and in need of immediate treatment." The gray haired demon stated.

Grom stood up and looked at them, both demons gulped. "I get it. Take this child to my tent. I'm crossing the bridge to see if anyone is attacking." Grom ordered.

"But…" Nobitsura tried to argue.

"You received orders, follow them." Grom stated.

"I get it…" The gray haired demon said. "Come on Nobitsura."

Nobitsura sighed and walked up to Vergil. Harshly he picked the boy up by the shirt and pulled him up, needless to say the grip the demon had on Vergil made him feel uncomfortable.

"Nobitsura." It was all Grom needed to say for the other demon to loosen his grip on Vergil and make it a bit more comfortable.

The scream echoed in Vergil's mind and he gripped his head.

"What's wrong kid?" Grom asked but Vergil gritted his teeth.

Nobitsura let go of Vergil and Grom knelt down in front of him yet again.

Vergil tried to concentrate on the sounds and though it took him a few moments he recognized the sounds, those were the Cambion Souls, if anyone touched them that person would be injured or dead.

"I can hear them. The souls are coming from that gap." Grom's eyes widened.

"You can hear what?" Grom asked.

"I can hear the souls of the Cambions, of the mid-dimension."

Grom looked at Nobitsura and Warsfer and noticed that their eyes widened, he turned around and saw the confirmation of Vergil's words. The souls were emerging in a large eruption and Vergil covered his ears. Grom's eyes widened as he looked at the emerging mass of red and then at Vergil.

"You are… A Cambion?" Grom asked and Vergil nodded.

"Take me with you to the other side." Vergil requested.

"It's dangerous. Once I'm on the other side and another battle begins I'll have comrades to protect, I can't watch over you."

"I know, but you won't know if more souls will emerge and you could get caught."

"I've been lucky enough."

"I need to get closer."

"Why?"

"I don't know. I just have to."

Grom sighed and pondered on it.

"Grom that's madness." Warsfer argued.

The raven haired demon offered him his hand. "Let's go… Uh what's your name?"

"Vergil."

"I'm Parzifal Grom." He then pointed at the two demons. "Panicking idiots are Warsfer and Nobitsura."

"How accurate, I'm amazed." Nobitsura blatantly stated.

"I can see that." Grom said in equal tone.

"Just so you know I'm not protecting the brat." Warsfer said.

"I wouldn't trust you to protect imaginary bug let alone a child." Grom said irking the gray haired demon off.

"Why you…" Warsfer gritted his teeth but Grom was already walking away and Vergil found himself being carried away like a sack of potatoes on the raven haired demon's right shoulder.

"Hey, let go! I can walk on my own!" Vergil shouted at him.

"Quit acting all high and mighty kid." Grom said.

Before Vergil could retort they were interrupted.

"Despot Parzifal!" A demon ran up to them and seemed scared out of his mind.

"What's wrong?" Grom asked though he had an idea of what it was that scared his comrade.

"It's them! They are coming!" The demon panicked.

"They sent another troop?" Grom asked.

"It's the Exagl Division!" Grom's eyes widened at that, he was the only remaining Despot around, his men were exhausted and injured, there was no way they could fight off the Exagl officers.

Vergil felt fear as well, he knew the ranking in Mundus' army. Exagl Division was one of the troops under jurisdiction of the five Serdars, and the only ones who could command them were Mundus and Acharon.

White haired boy looked at Grom and saw the demon sighing. Was he giving up? No, Vergil should have known better then to doubt the man that had those eyes.

"Let's go." Grom said and didn't motion Vergil to follow, from one glance at the boy he knew that Vergil was aware of what Exagl Division was so he allowed Vergil to make a decision, to follow or stay behind. He was somewhat surprised when Vergil ran after him.

"Despot-" Demon began but Grom raised his hand.

"Go. Inform everyone else of the situation, we are retreating. I'll go and get the troops on the other side and we are getting out of here."

Fear made the demon lose all pride as he quickly nodded and began running.

"Use **Demon Flash **damn it!" Grom shouted at him and the panicking demon cringed before doing as he was told. Grom grabbed Vergil and began **Demon Flashing** as well.

"Grom the Exagl Division…" Vergil began.

"I know kid, I know. I have a plan but it depends on you." Grom said.

"Me…? What could I possibly do against Exagls?" Vergil asked.

"You can still hear the Cambion Souls, right?"

"Yes, there should be another eruption in about fifteen minutes." He was getting better at deducing the time between two eruptions, the louder the screams the sooner it would come.

"Good, you keep listening and stay with me. I'll order my troops on the other side of the bridge to retreat and I'll hold off the Exagls." Grom explained his plan and Vergil looked a bit worried. "I'll keep you safe. I promise."

"What about you?" The question was sudden and caught both the demon and the cambion by surprise.

"Why would you be worried about me?"

"No idea… You seem nice…" It was a simple explanation, after everything that happened Grom seemed like someone he would dare to trust. Why? He didn't know, maybe it was because Grom implied that he can use lightning, so was it some kind of closure, something that he shared with the older demon.

"Don't worry about me. I'm the Despot of the Special Combat District, 'Wicked Storm' Parzifal Grom." Vergil looked down, what if Grom got angry if he revealed his last name, he remained silent and chose not to say it, not yet.

They crossed the bridge in less than a minute and Grom quickly reached his remaining soldiers.

"Despot…!" Some of them let out a shaky breath of relief as they said his title, Grom's presence by their side made them feel safer and it was easy to see that on their faces.

"We are retreating, go and join our comrades on the other side." Grom cut to the chase, they had very limited amount of time before the Exagl Division would arrive.

"We can't leave you!" Someone dared to speak up.

"I appreciate the concern but this isn't the time for fruitless bravery. As you are you'll just die in vain so go on and retreat. I don't want a single one of you to keep fighting a battle we can avoid." Grom's words, though spoken in normal tone were heard by everyone in the troop. The Despot, though quite young, was respected by both his subordinates and enemies.

"Come on now, go." Reluctantly the soldiers looked at Grom and then at the bridge, finallythe first one stepped forward and began walking to the bridge.

Others soon followed until only one person remained at Grom's side, Vergil.

"Are you ready for this kid?" Grom asked.

"No." Vergil bluntly said and Grom had to laugh at that.

"Good, you are being honest with yourself, keep that trait until the very end. To be honest I don't feel ready either, I have a damn reckless idea in my head and no guarantee that it will work. But I trust you with my life."

"What exactly is your plan?"

"I'll tackle them down here before I try anything else. Either way I can't deal with entire Exagl Division on my own so I'll lure them onto the bridge, destroy the protective force field around it and the next Cambion soul eruption will destroy it. That's why I need you, so I can lure them in just in time for all of them to get onto the bridge but none of them to actually set foot on our side."

"Can you fight them alone?"

"Well I can. I'm almost as strong as Pklat Kaiser so in normal circumstances I could take them down on my own, but we've been fending off the enemies for days now so I'm pretty much exhausted." Either way he seemed to sense something as he turned to look at the vast area in front of them.

"They are here…" Grom sad and true enough they saw the troop… the Exagl Division was approaching.

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_**And that's it. I know I'm giving you short chapters one after another but it's better than nothing. I'm hoping to come back with longer chapter.**_

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_**Next Chapter – Demon Hunters**_


	88. Demon Hunters

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**blazeinferno – Thank you for the review, I'm glad you liked it.**_

_**Blue VanLocke – Yes, in fact there are quite a lot of them. I'll list the differences.**_

_**Life span of demon is longer than that of a cambion which is about the same as that of a human.  
Poison resistance: Demons are for the most part resistant to poison and only a handful of poisons can actually kill them, cambions are far more vulnerable to it.  
Cambions essentially have access to abilities of both humans and demons, however neither ability can be used to its highest potential. Cambion can't have Conqueror's Haki or use full body Armament, and using Demon Release is putting them through pain. Demons and humans on the other hand can't access the powers of a cambion.  
Cambions have less resistance to their own power so they need to tap into half-awakened state to use techniques such as Mjollnir Thunder or Hell Reaper in Vergil's case.**_

_**The list goes on and generally a cambion can pass as a sickly demon and is generally weaker than a demon. That is until human and demon DNA synchronizes completely. This is clearly visible in a couple of factors, red eyes, soul of the mid dimension aura that outlines their techniques and access to the true power of a cambion. I don't think I should go and spoil more about this, however if you do want to know more feel free to tell me so and I'll send you a message.**_

_**Guest – Thank you.**_

_**20th Cboys fan – Thank you for the review.**_

_**AeronSky – Thank you for pointing that out, I guess I messed up with the tags. I do apologize for confusion.**_

_**Guest – Thanks for the review. Yeah, I can see why you thought it could be one of the Despots, especially given the fact that Reikoku barely appeared and it was about 60 chapters ago.**_

_**Naroku – Sorry about that, this one will hopefully make up for that.**_

_**Guest – Guilty as charged I guess. I'm sorry for taking this long to update.**_

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_**Chapter 88 – Demon Hunters**_

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"They are here…" Grom said and true enough they saw the troop… the Exagl Division was approaching.

"How about we welcome them?" Grom grinned at Vergil and the white haired cambion's eyes widened. Marks appeared on Grom's neck, face and hands and he could imagine that they were also on the rest of the demon's body. The sparks emerged around Grom and unlike usual spark that was either blue or yellow this one was dark blue, it was almost black to be precise.

"**Wicked Lightning Mode**." Grom said and then took in a deep breath, Vergil recognized it, he was about to use **Breath**. "**Wicked Lightning… Breath**!" It was unlike anything Vergil ever saw, the large hurricane of nearly black lightning came alive to engulf and destroy whatever came to its path. It swallowed front troops of the Exagl Division and Grom turned his head just a little bit to change its trajectory. Just that one attack seemed to be capable of wiping anything out and in Vergil's eyes it was the most powerful force he had seen in his life.

The burst of dark lightning was dispersed by someone on the opponent's side and Grom smirked, he lured the leader of the division out, of course it wasn't one of the Serdars but taking down the entire division would be just as fine to Grom.

The one approaching them was a male, followed by around seven hundred subordinates, the remaining soldiers of the Exagl Division which previously counted up to one thousand.

"That lightning of yours is still troublesome, Grom." Man said, he was a very small bald demon, in his early forties with numerous scars over his forearms. He had only one eye, the other one was clawed out and he simply covered the hole with an eye patch.

"Liho, eh? I guess it serves its purpose then, I intended for it to be a pain in my opponent's ass." Grom smirked.

Liho's eye fell on Vergil. "If it isn't the young Leonidas. We were all certain that you died." He said making Grom's eyes widen slightly as he turned to look at Vergil.

"Vergil?"

"I'm Leonidas Vergil, Pklat Kaiser's son…" Vergil admitted it.

"Well, whatever, I couldn't care less about that." Grom grinned at him.

"But…"

"Don't 'but' to me Vergil. So what if you are the son of my enemy? Does that mean you are my enemy as well? What you do should stay with you and you alone. Your children should bear no privilege or incrimination for it. We can talk later if you want to and I'll listen, for now clear your head, we've got a battle to win."

Vergil nodded, understanding that Grom wasn't going to blame him for being born as a Leonidas.

"Touching, really, but you are already exhausted Grom. Both of you are going to die here." Liho said and suddenly appeared in front of Grom.

Blood soaked wood emerged from Liho's right forearm, no it tore through the skin. Grom pushed Vergil back and the same dark lightning emerged to disintegrate the wood.

Liho pulled back and slammed his arms onto the ground. The bleeding forearms showcased just how he had all those scars on them.

"Stay back. I'm taking them down!" Liho ordered and his subordinates remained still behind him. "**Parasite Root**."Liho mumbled and the wood impaled the ground.

"**Voltage Gradient**." Vergil didn't see what happened but Grom had sent a surge of electricity trough the ground and connected it with roots, now normally wood wouldn't be much of a electricity conductor but this wasn't normal lightning and wood was soaked with blood meaning that Liho was in for a shock.

And shocked he was, dark lightning emerged from the ground and electrified the demon.

"You are growing old Liho, that was too slow and careless." Grom casually lectured him.

"You aren't even trying, eh Despot Parzifal? You aren't using your Devil Arm, or your **Demon Release**…" Liho breathed out through his gritted teeth.

"You aren't releasing your true form either." Grom countered.

"Point taken. **Demon Release**!" A surge of energy engulfed the demon and a transformed one emerged. It was a big humanoid beast standing about twenty feet tall. The reddish tree like skin was covering Liho like a scale armor, he had spikes going down his spine all the way down to his lizard like tail. Liho raised his right arm and attempted to crush Grom but the Despot picked up Vergil and seemed to evaporate in a small surge of sparks.

The two appeared on the bridge and Liho turned to them, even in his current form one could see pleased look on his face.

"Attack!" He ordered and the demons attacked as one.

Grom smirked and scales appeared on his palm, he pulled them off and charged lightning into it.

"**Pulse**. I'll use this to break the barrier." Grom explained as small round looking piece of demonic scales seemed to glow. "You just tell me how much longer I need to hold them off."

"Why don't you just take them down?" Vergil asked.

"Liho is right. I'm exhausted and even if I took them all down I'd still have to deal with other waves of enemies that are bound to come sooner or later. This bridge has brought too much death to both sides, I guess it's time for it to disappear."

"Only about a minute before the next eruption."

"That's strange, it's usually much longer between the two." Grom brushed it off and turned back to the troops and Liho.

Grom dashed forward, swung his fist at the division. The torrent of dark lightning seemed to be catapulted at them and collided with Liho who was at the front. Demon was pushed back a bit and Grom jumped up. Liho's eyes widened as Grom **Air Hiked** downwards and planted his feet into the wooden demon's head.

The impact forced Liho out of balance and with a strangled roar large body fell down, the sound of bodies being crashed under him rang though Grom's ears but he was prepared, what he was going to do would cause entire division's death.

Grom landed on the bridge and waited, as powerful as the soldiers were they were no match for Liho and seeing their leader being forced down to the ground at his strongest drilled the fear into their bones.

"Come on Liho, don't tell me this is the best you can do." Grom was pretty much taunting the beast that let out a roar and stood back up.

"You asked for it." Liho chuckled and clenched his fists as scales on his forearms began forming into the vines.

Grom stood his ground, he had to deal with this and he had to do it quickly.

Vines burst into flames and shot toward the Despot.

"**Devil Arms: Perun**…" It was over in a second, all one could make out was a sword, a single slash, the roar of thunder and Liho's upper body being detached from his lower half as blood gushed out. Perun, whatever its shape was disappeared before anyone could actually see it.

"As exhausted as I am you are outclassed." Grom said and with entire division now on the bridge the Despot **Demon Flashed** back to Vergil.

"Ten seconds until the eruption." Vergil reminded him and Grom smirked.

"That's just enough." Despot grinned, he was no longer using his **Wicked Lightning Mode** which was clear by the absence of the marks and lifted his arm with his palm pointing to the ground. Pretty much out of blue a ball of lightning appeared under his palm. "**Varpulis**." Lightning ball cracked with a loud roar of thunder and created a massive discharge. The **Pulse** device that Grom had previously created took in the energy and exploded thus shattering the defensive barrier around the bridge.

If his sense for time was right he had spent eight seconds on that. Quickly he grabbed the back of Vergil's shirt. "**Zeher**." He murmured and the duo transported to the safe side of the bridge just before a large mass of cambion souls erupted from the chasm. The bridge gave in and fell apart, the Exagl Division was gone along with it.

"It's over, for now." Grom said and ruffled Vergil's hair. "You did a great job." He praised him.

"I didn't do anything." Vergil pointed out and pushed away Grom's hand.

"Exactly. You stayed put and didn't do anything reckless. Well you did sense when the souls would emerge so that counts as something." Grom grinned at the baffled cambion. "The point is you did exactly what you were supposed to."

"Uh… Sure… Thanks, I guess." Child felt relaxed, puzzled but relaxed and when Grom held out his hand to him with a grin on his face he accepted it.

"Let's start again with the introductions. I'm Parzifal Grom." Grom shook Vergil's hand slightly.

"Leonidas Vergil."

They spent a few moments in silence.

"What exactly is a Demon Hunter?" Vergil heard stories about them before but he never really knew the answer to this question.

"You know how there are devils, the demons who are capable of reproducing with humans and more or less look like humans, and regular demons who look more like beasts and animals than like humans. Well job of the Demon Hunters is to protect our home and to find and hunt the demons and rarely devils that step outside of the boundaries of laws. We are like soldiers in a way." Grom explained.

Another slight period of silence passed between them as Vergil processed the new information.

"Do you have anywhere to go?" Grom was the one to break the silence this time.

"No, not really."

Grom took off his jacket and threw it over Vergil's back. "You have now. How about it? Wanna come and live with me?" Grom suggested.

Yeah, this demon was strange. "Why?" Was all Vergil could ask.

"Why? No idea, let's just roll with it and see how it turns out. So what do you want to do?" The decision was already made, that much was clear to both of them.

"Yeah, let's roll with it." Vergil reused Grom's words and much to his surprise he was picked up and tossed over Grom's shoulder.

"Hang on, I like going fast."

"Let me go! I'm not a sack of potatoes! Grom!" Followed by Grom laughing was all one could hear as demon carried the cambion away.

-Tomorrow-

Epystras, as the area ruled by Despots and Kagan was often called was in quite a lot of distress. The last battle accumulated many losses to the ranks. In the last year they had lost a total of nine out of fifteen Despots.

Despots of the 2nd District, 3rd District, 4th District, 5th District, 7th District, 9th District, 10th District, 12th District and finally 13th District have died, seven of them were killed by Pklat Kaiser Leonidas Acharon himself.

The only ones remaining were Val Zatar, Matrow, Lada, Hideo Fujiko and Bovan. Despots of 1st, 6th, 8th, 11th and 14th District respectfully along with Grom who was Despot of the Special Combat District and Kagan Zarja.

Seeing as Zarja was already busy with maintaining peace in Epystras Grom was supposed to give report to Zatar and Fujiko.

"You actually brought a child of our enemy. Acharon's child who just happens to be a cambion with you?" Zatar asked and Grom would have appreciated it more if the man had yelled at him, but no. Zatar just had to say it in that tone that all but made it obvious that you made such mistake in his eyes that you weren't even worth yelling at… Not that Grom cared much about it, it was just annoying to hear.

"He is just that, a child. Just because entire Leonidas family has been serving under Mundus it doesn't mean that Vergil will stab us in the back the moment we make him stronger." Grom said.

"Grom does have a point. That child has survived the Cambion Testing, meaning that he is capable of becoming our trump card against Mundus." Fujiko said and Grom wasn't appreciating that thought. He knew what Fujiko intended to say with that.

"He will not be used as a tool. If that's how you want it to be then I'll take him and leave." Grom threatened and he knew they could do nothing about it, him leaving would put the final dent to their defenses. Grom staying on their side was essential to their ranks, because not only was Grom powerful, he was also loved and respected, if he left the chances of some following him were high.

"You do understand that if you take the child away you'll make the enemy out of us as well, that child will have the entire Demon World as its enemy. Do you intend for us to call you a traitor?" Fujiko challenged.

"Go ahead and do so. As for Vergil, I'll keep him safe." Grom defied his fellow Despots.

"Grom. Watch your tongue. Are you saying you will sacrifice everything for a mere child you know nothing about. Furthermore he is Leonidas, child of the Pklat Kaiser, you will not stop us from using such potential." Zatar stated.

"Yes I will and you are free to try and stop me. I found him, I got him here and I will not allow you to turn Vergil into a mindless weapon."

"Why care about what happens to a child you don't even know?" Fujiko questioned.

"It's true that I don't care about him. But, I will not make a weapon out of a child. Children are not born with a weapon in their hands, we give it to them. At the very least I want to make sure he's not given the weapon now that he feels the most vulnerable." Grom explained.

"You are going against the tradition. For centuries we've been teaching the children how to fight. At the age of ten we send them to the proper training and a year later we have new Demon Hunters in our ranks. This is how we've been living and how we've sustained the current military power. You are one of those as well, Grom. In fact you've been a prodigy that graduated at the age of eight." Zatar reminded him.

"That system is the reason why our numbers are steadily decreasing. Most of those children died before turning twenty five, hell some of them don't even live to their twelfth birthday. Talk about a good idea, let's throw the children into their deaths. We are just a sorry society that's on the brink of falling apart. The less the children know the stability of the society is stronger, and take a look. Our children know everything… I don't care about tradition, mark my words, I'll change this system and I will let Vergil choose the way he wants to live." With that being said Grom turned around and left, he felt no need to wait for the response.

A few hours later Grom returned to his home where Vergil was still sleeping. He walked up to the child and looked at him. "You'll be safe here kid." He turned away and left the sleeping child.

-A few days later-

Grom was always up early in the morning, even before he went and joined Demon Hunters, it was something that just seemed to come natural to him so he used the morning to work out a bit, run a few laps and such. Vergil got used to his new home though he didn't do much so it was a bit of a surprise for the Despot when he saw the small boy standing there in front of him in his own personal training grounds.

"Good morning." Child was still a bit uncomfortable around him.

"Morning." Grom greeted back. "Are you hungry?" Not to say that Grom was any better, he was twenty years old who spent more than half of his lifetime as a soldier, he was not used to children.

"No. I want to practice." Vergil stated puzzling the demon.

"Practice? Practice what?"

"How to fight. I want to train."

"You want to learn how to fight?"

"Geez Grom are you deaf?"

"Of course not but aren't you still a child?"

"So? I can learn basics, right?"

Grom sighed. "Well fine. Start with running, come back to me after you run two laps around the training grounds, that should be around two miles."

Vergil nodded and was about to run off.

"Just a moment, Grom-kun, Vergil-kun." A female voice spoke from behind them. Vergil looked at the one approaching them curiously while Grom turned around and offered a slight bow.

"Lady Zarja." Grom greeted her. Zarja was the current Kagan, that much was obvious if not by her attire which consisted of a military uniform with royal touch to it, it was similar to Grom's but a bit more flashy, even without the uniform the way Zarja held herself gave her status as powerful leader obvious. She was a forty seven years old woman who despite her desires had no children of her own. Despite her age one could still see that she was beauty in her younger days. Now she kept her light brown hair at the length just below her shoulders. Her golden eyes held power and confidence inside of them even with all the responsibilities she had at the moment.

"Zatar and Fujiko have notified me of Leonidas cambion living with you. I assumed this was the child in question." Zarja said.

"Yes, this is Vergil." Grom stated.

Zarja held out her hand to Vergil similar to how Grom did. "Hello, Vergil-kun. I'm Zarja, the current Kagan."

"Nice to meet you. I'm Leonidas Vergil."

"How do you like it so far? I take it you got used to Grom-kun's home." She smiled at him.

"I did… I like it." Grom knew how Vergil felt, so out of place and utterly uncomfortable.

"Lady Zarja, if you'll excuse Vergil now, he said he wanted to run for a bit." Grom came to his rescue and from the corner of his eyes saw Vergil mouthing a 'thank you'. Grom resisted the urge to smack his own face as he was certain that Zarja saw it as well.

"Well then, go ahead. I see the two of you are getting along." The female Kagan spoke and disappeared leaving the child to wonder just how she did that…

-Ten months later-

Months passed and now six years old Vergil actively accompanied Grom's morning training ritual, of course he was nowhere near the Despot, he was still slow, lacked physical strength and stamina and that was only the bottom of the mountain that was the difference between him and Grom, but he was getting a hang of it.

One thing that he didn't even attempt to do was the use of lightning and Grom wanted to put a stop to it.

"You do know that lightning is a part of you, right?" demon asked once their training was over.

"I'm afraid of it. I killed mom with it…" The last part was more of a whisper.

"You won't hurt anyone you care about with it." Grom seemed to completely believe in that.

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because I'll be there for you. I'll be there to teach you and if you want me to I'll be there to protect both you and what you care about. If you are scared of lightning then I'll take that hit for you. If you are scared of darkness then I'll guide you through it. I'll be there with you until the very last step, until you no longer need me, but I'm one step ahead of you now so you need to make that first step alone." Grom said and somehow those words were what Vergil needed the most.

He still thought it through, if what Grom said was true, if the demon stayed true to his words, than he wanted to try it. "Teach me how to use it the lightning."

Grom nodded and stood up, he took a small distance from the child, showing him that he'd have to deal with the first part on his own.

"Concentrate. Envision the lightning, imagine its sound, feel the voltage coursing through your body." Grom instructed calmly as Vergil still seemed troubled.

"Accept it. Lightning is a part of you it's your birthright. Embrace it, come to terms with it and don't blame it for your actions. Don't you ever dare belittle your very power. Don't ever think 'I wish I had another kind of power, than I'd be able to do that'. Lightning is your power! That lightning is yours alone now get a grip and do it!" Somewhere along the line Vergil began repeating the words in his mind. This was his own lightning. His own lightning…

He envisioned it, imagined it, felt it, he seemed to mentally grasp at it and pull it into himself so that it would never leave him.

Vergil's eyes snapped open when he heard the familiar sound of electricity and saw it, a couple of sparks circling around his right fist. And then the already frequent ritual whenever he accomplished something happened. The sparks disappeared the moment Grom began ruffling his hair.

"You did it." Grom spoke softly as he grinned at Vergil. The demon was proud of the child in front of him, that much was clear and Vergil… He felt happy after a long time, he felt safe, happy and he liked the demon. He'd dare to say he trusted Grom… No, he trusted him from the very beginning.

The grin on Grom's face was contagious as Vergil himself grinned. However there was only so much an six years old child could take as he passed out due to the exhaustion.

-Flashback ends, current timeline-

Vergil sighed, nothing good would come out of remembering past now, especially given that Usopp was supposed to come and take his place as a lookout. He found out what Grom had done to keep him sheltered from the world of fighting and constant danger and just how much he risked to keep it that way once it was too late.

He heard someone climbing toward him and took a deep breath to shake away the remaining discomfort he felt.

"Hey, Vergil…" Usopp yawned and dropped down next to Vergil before falling asleep again.

"And one would think that a bit of fresh air would wake you up." Vergil muttered.

"I'm gonna become the brave warrior of the sea…" Usopp mumbled in his sleep.

Vergil sighed. "What am I going to do with the five of you?" He asked no one in particular. Making sure the sniper wouldn't wake up Vergil grabbed the back of his shirt and jumped down. Using quite weak Air hike he dropped the speed of their fall into the soft landing. The white haired demon glanced at still sleeping Usopp and went to their room.

Everyone was still sleeping though Sanji would soon wake up to prepare the breakfast. Vergil placed Usopp on the sniper's bunk and covered him with the blanket. Looking around he noticed that the captain had uncovered himself and the blanket now lay forgotten on the floor. Cambion felt his eye twitch but nonetheless he walked up to the blanket lifted it, dusted it off as silently as he could and covered Luffy with it.

"Meat…" Luffy turned in his sleep and held on to the blanket.

Vergil grinned a bit somewhere along the line one dream that he once tried to accomplish echoed through his mind. '_You'll see Grom! I'll find a way to revert the Devil Arms back to their original state!_' His much younger self declared.

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_**And that's it. To be frank I planned on writing down the entire flashback before Grand Line but after talking with some people and taking into account the way some books were written I decided to split Vergil's flashback through the story. Alabasta saga will cover up until Xenia's death, Sky Island saga will cover the Black Thunder period and finally I'll have Water 7 saga cover the post Black Thunder period. **_

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_**Next Chapter – Straw Hat Pirates**_


	89. Straw Hat Pirates

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**20th Cboys fan – Thank you, I'm happy to hear that.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you for the review. I figured it would be better choice, I'm glad you like that.**_

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_**Chapter 89 – Straw Hat Pirates**_

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Blood, bodies, ruins. Children were crying and the adults were not any more silent then them. Lives were ruined, the fear and hate had planted their seeds in the hearts of the humans. The once proud protectors of the island have been slaughtered, he killed them, the Millennium Dragons, he killed the humans too, not as much but he killed!

Homes were gone, houses were in ruins and dozens of human corpses lied on the ground, surrounded by those who remained. There were children that were now orphans with no family left to see them grow up. He dared say that they were lucky. Lucky? How could this ever be referred to as luck? Where was luck in son losing his mother? Where was luck in granddaughter losing her grandfather? Where was luck in the cries of the orphans and despair of the parents that lost their loved ones?

Why did he come? They would never know. Why did he leave? Was it some sick satisfaction he had in ruining their lives and then letting them live in misery? Was he interrupted? If so by which vile and cruel creature? Warship Island was still standing, surrounded by the smell of dragon blood and death, engulfed by grief. There would be no faked comfort today. There would be no going back up today. No. Today there would only be cries. There would only be that which makes them different from him, from them… From demons…

-Going Merry, next morning-

The Straw Hats finished their breakfast and were still sitting in the kitchen while Sanji washed the dishes.

"Hey, Vergil." Sanji suddenly spoke up making the demon turn to him. "I've been thinking about something. We are soon going to enter the Grand Line and there are bound to be some demons over there." To that Usopp shrieked.

"Mind telling us some of the weaknesses your kind has?" Sanji requested and Vergil nodded. Nami looked at the demon as well, she had already asked him this question before but he didn't give her the complete answer.

"Well some weaknesses revolve around certain attributes like water being weak to lightning and lighting being weak to wind. However there are five weaknesses that apply to pretty much all demons. Certain poisons that can kill or weaken them, the number of these poisons is quite small however. Mid dimension, neither demons nor humans can survive in there. Exposure to cambion souls is often deadly when it's long enough. Lack of the base element near the demon and lack of using it. Finally, there's Living Devil Arm creation." Vergil listed them.

"The last two. Can you elaborate on that?" Zoro asked.

"Well if demon doesn't use his base element in a certain period of time the energy accumulates and becomes unstable once it reaches a certain point. Lack of the base element also makes it impossible to keep replenishing the energy on your own after a certain period of time. In my case you'd have to keep me away from the dark and any kind of electricity for about a month and I'd start to gradually grow weaker until I eventually dropped dead. It's kinda like oxygen to us." Demon explained.

"Now that you put it like that you did say that you feel stronger during stormy nights." Usopp remembered.

"That's right, demons are at their strongest when they are surrounded by their natural environment, in my case I can replenish my energy much quicker during storms at night and both my lightning and darkness based attacks get stronger." He said.

"And Living Devil Arm thing? What's that about?" Nami asked.

"Devil Arms are manifestations of demon soul that devils can summon at a moment's notice. However the process of creating one is highly dangerous as the devil creating it can lose physical body and continue sort of living as a Devil Arm. Normally Devil Arms like Dark Edge have some consciousness but Living Devil Arms are entities of their own forced into submission by those who take them. At the moment there is no way to revert the process though I've been trying to find a way. I guess that's my dream." He smirked and Nami placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled at him.

"That's good to hear." Nami said and the rest of the crew approved of that as well. Their nakama had a dream to make into reality. The moment was interrupted by Luffy slamming his face on the table…

"Luffy?" Nami called out to him worriedly.

And then…

A snore…

"…We should have known…" Vergil sighed, the Captain had fallen asleep long ago…

-That night-

The rest of the day was spent in the crew sailing back to where they were before. Vergil felt content, it has been a long time since he actually thought about his dream and now he was even happier, there was a storm raging around them in the middle of the night, seriously what lightning and darkness demon wouldn't be at least mentally cheering over this kind of weather.

In the distance Nami had seen the lighthouse. "Look at that light!" She instructed them.

"The island's lighthouse?" Usopp who was clutching onto the mast asked.

"That's our 'guiding light.' The light that points to the entrance of the Grand Line!" Nami told them.

"The Grand Line is over there?" Luffy asked as he held onto his straw hat. He was surprisingly calm and the entire crew was in a mood of quiet somewhat reserved and content to only smiles type of excitement.

"What now?" Not that she needed to ask but she did it.

"But are you really gonna go in a storm like this?" Usopp asked.

Zoro nodded, Sanji grinned and gave a thumb up, Luffy snickered, Nami giggled a bit and Vergil simply smirked.

"Alright! Let's have a little launching ceremony to mark the importance of our voyage!" Sanji suggested.

"Hey!" Usopp still didn't like the idea of going in when the weather was like this.

"Yeah, great!" Luffy agreed with Sanji.

"Let's do it!" Nami also agreed to the idea.

Sanji began as he set his foot on the barrel. "To find All Blue!"

Luffy followed his example. "To become the Pirate King!"

Vergil continued the ceremony. "To revert the Living Devil Arm creation!"

Zoro smirked. "To be the greatest swordsman!"

Nami joined in. "To draw a map of the world!"

"I-I'm…" Usopp hesitated a bit but then felt a rush of courage hit him and he set his foot on the barrel as well. "To become a brave warrior of the sea!"

With happiness and excitement written all over their faces Luffy broke the short silence. "LET'S GO! TO THE GRAND LINE!"

They all raised their feet. "AYE!" Came the response of five pirates shouting as one.

Thunder cracked and they slammed their feet onto the barrel. Tomorrow, tomorrow they would be one step closer to their dreams, they would enter the Grand Line.

-Next morning-

The storm has calmed down and the weather was nice once again as the crew got closer and closer to the Grand Line.

Sanji and Zoro were in the crow's nest after a pretty much sleepless night, who could sleep in this kind of situation anyways, they were only a few hours away from the Grand Line!

"Nami-san! Report of love!" Sanji swooned over Nami in a way only he could. "I see some massive rain clouds dead ahead! And there's a storm under them…" He said the last part kinda normally.

Nami took in the information as she and Vergil stood in front of the kitchen. Navigator was looking at the map while the first mate was sitting on the railing near her.

"We should be seeing the Red Line soon." Nami muttered to herself.

Luffy stretched his arms and grabbed onto the crow's nest in order to join Sanji and Zoro.

He looked forward with a grin that never seemed to fade away. "We're finally getting to the Grand Line!" And he was too excited and that seemed to annoy his two companions…

He began slapping Sanji's back while the cook got more and more annoyed. "Hey! Sanji! We're gettin' there! We're gettin' there man! We're gettin' there!" And the excitement had caused Sanji to spin his leg over his body and slam his right shoe over Luffy's cheek.

"Quit that!"

"Sorry…"

And though Sanji was saved that wasn't the case with Zoro.

"ZORO!" Luffy began pestering the swordsman as well. "We're gettin' there! We're gettin' there man! We're gettin' there!" Once again he was slapping the male's back…

"STOP THAT!" Zoro snapped at him.

"_Anyway… Is this map for real?_" Nami wondered as Luffy jumped down and found his next target, Vergil.

"VERGIL!" And Luffy began slapping Vergil's back. "We're gettin' there! We're gettin' there man! We're gettin' there! Vergil we're gettin' there!"

Vergil chuckled a bit at the captain's excitement. "I know. We are really getting there!" Demon actually went and allowed Luffy to slap him on the back a couple more times and finally the captain stopped and went to sit on the railing next to Vergil. "Shishishishi! It's going to be so awesome! Grand Line!"

"Imagine how strong the pirates over there are!"

"Or all the islands we are going to have adventures on!"

"All the people that we are going to meet!"

"All the food that we are going to eat!"

Nami took her eyes off the map for a few moments to look at the captain and the first mate. Luffy and Vergil were… different and yet similar… Vergil who held the obvious excitement in and Luffy who made sure everyone knew how happy and excited he was, it seemed like when together they balanced each other out a bit, Luffy was a bit less hyper while Vergil was a bit more open. The way they fought, the way they did things, so many things were different between the two of them but somehow the way they got along was remarkable. She, Zoro, Sanji and even Usopp got annoyed or angry at Luffy at times but Vergil never seemed to mind, he cherished Luffy's child-like over excited and adventurous nature. The demon also trusted Luffy the most and Luffy in return was most likely to go to Vergil for explanation.

Nami had to smile when Vergil and Luffy laughed alongside one another yet again.

"Hate to interrupt you but let's go inside I need to show you something." Nami said loud enough for everyone to hear her.

Inside of the kitchen Usopp was steering Merry when the helm got stuck a bit more to his right than it should.

As the rest of the crew gathered at the table Usopp tried to get the helm back to its previous position.

Nami placed the map on the table. "Look at this." She said and placed her hand just below the supposed entrances to the Grand Line.

"I've heard the rumors, but it's written here on the map, too." She had their attention that was for sure. "If they're true, then the entrance to the Grand Line is a mountain."

"A mountain?" Luffy asked.

"You mean we have to crash though the mountain?" Zoro figured out the most probably thing to do.

"The hell…?" Sanji was also confused.

"Well it wouldn't be that hard to get into it if it was just a random entrance." Vergil figured.

"I thought it was crazy too, but there are canals drawn along the mountainside. That might mean we have to climb it." Nami told them.

"Woohoo! Sounds like fun!" Luffy was of course excited because of it.

"What are you talking about? Even if there was a canal… it's impossible for a ship to climb a mountain." Zoro argued.

"But that's what the map says." Nami pointed out.

"Of course! There's no way Nami-san could me mistaken!" Sanji berated Zoro for even daring to doubt Nami's words.

"You stole that map from Buggy, right? You really want to trust it?" Zoro asked.

"It may be Buggy's and though he was downright pathetic he did seem to take his treasure seriously. I think the map's right and Nami's the best navigator we'll ever come across, if she can't get us to the Grand Line, no one can." Vergil said and Nami blushed a bit at the compliment, really she had heard him complimenting her before but this was probably one of the first times if not the very first time he put his faith in her and complimented her navigation skills.

"That's right! We've got the best navigator!" Luffy agreed.

"See! Even Luffy and Vergil see how amazing Nami-san is!" Sanji exclaimed.

Nami smiled at that, they really believed in her.

"Zoroooo!" Usopp cried out. "Help me with the damn helm!" He requested help.

"Sanji-kun, go help Usopp, will you? I can't think straight with all that noise." Nami sort of ordered.

"Sanji, come help me!" Usopp shouted.

"Yes, Nami-san!" Sanji quickly went to help. The heart in his eye never perished as he went to push the helm. "Here we go-" And it didn't budge. "What?"

"T-The current's flowing too fast!"

Nami's eyes widened when Usopp said that. "Eh? Usopp, say that again?"

"I said the current's flowing too fast!"

"The current…" Nami muttered to herself and connected the dots. "I get it!"

"Get what?" Luffy asked.

"We really do have to climb the mountain." She began.

"You're still talking about that?" Zoro asked.

Nami pointed at the place where four canals met with the fifth canal that led to the Grand Line. "Look here. Listen, there's no doubt the 'guiding light' was pointing here. Here on the Red Line, Reverse Mountain."

Sanji went to look as well.

"Hey! What am I supposed to do here?!" Usopp panicked.

"Come here, we'll deal with that later." Vergil said and though reluctantly Usopp joined in as well.

"See the canal here?" She pointed at the East Blue canal. "If a strong current from each of the four oceans flows toward this mountain… The four currents would climb the mountain, meet at the top and flow straight down into the Grand Line. Since Reverse Mountain is a Winter Island the currents that collide with the red Line travel down toward the ocean floor. If we can't make it into the canal… The Going Merry will slam straight into the Red Line… and the ship will be destroyed. Nothing left but ocean debris. Understand?"

"I see! So it's a 'Mystery Mountain', right?" Luffy obviously didn't understand a thing and began laughing.

"I don't think you understand at all." Nami sighed.

"Listen Luffy." And there it was again, the meat analogies… "Think of having four different kinds of raw meat and four cooks wanting to prepare it in one big meal." What kind of sense did that make…? The crew sweatdropped… "So they mince the meat and send it to the fifth cook at the top of the mountain. The fifth cook mixes the meat together and cooks it as he goes down the mountain." Vergil explained, kinda. "You get it now."

"So we are going with one kind of the meat, it'll get mixed together with other kinds and we'll enter the Grand Line with other kinds of the meat as well!" Luffy pieced it together.

"That's about it." Vergil grinned.

"Shishishishi!" Luffy laughed and the remaining four pirates fell face first to the floor.

Nami somehow managed to recover. "In any case, this ship's already riding on one of those currents. So if we don't mess up our steering, we should make it up Reverse Mountain in one piece."

"Nami-san you're amazing!" Sanji fawned over her, yet again…

"I ain't ever heard of it. Ships climbing mountains." Zoro was still skeptical.

"I've heard something." Sanji decided to put his two cents in as well.

"About that Mountain?" Luffy asked and the crew saw the progress, he hadn't called it 'Mystery' at the very least…

"Nope. Just that about half of the wannabes die trying to enter the Grand Line. So I know it ain't easy to get in." He said.

"That's fine!" Luffy grinned.

"Yeah, where's the excitement in thing going smoothly anyway?" Vergil agreed.

"_These two_…" Usopp and Nami thought.

-A few hours later-

The rain was once again falling as the Going Merry got closer to the goal.

"Sanji-kun! The sails please!" Nami instructed.

"Right away, Nami-san!" And then the complete change in the tone. "Luffy, get your ass over here!"

Luffy groaned but went to help. As he looked up he saw that they were nearing a large mountain, in fact it was so large they couldn't even see the top.

"Hey! I can see that Mountain!" Luffy exclaimed.

The crew ran out to see as well.

"Man, it's huge!" Usopp yelled.

"The entrance to the Grand Line." Nami, who was now wearing a pink rain coat muttered in awe.

A grin broke onto Luffy's face. "So that's the Red Line, eh?"

"Y-You c-can't even see the peak past the clouds!" Usopp whimpered.

The currents were strong, way too strong for a ship the size of Going Merry to fight them. The waves hit against the rocks and with a large tremor Merry got sucked into a current. Luffy who was on the sails was now hanging by his stretched arms and was going up and down like a yo-yo while his crew yelped at the sudden shift.

"We're getting sucked in!" Luffy yelled. "Grab the helm!"

"We've got it! / Leave it to me!" Usopp and Sanji went inside.

They were closing in and it seemed like they would crash. "N-Nami!" Even Luffy seemed uncertain for a moment. "Where's the entrance?! If we head straight, we'll run into the cliff!"

Nami's eyes widened when she saw something similar to a crack right in front of them. "_That crack in the cliff…_"

"Nami! What should we do?!" Usopp demanded some instructions.

Navigator stood up and leaned a bit over the railing. "Hold our path steady!"

"You sure?" Usopp wasn't so sure.

"Just do it!"

Luffy jumped down to Nami. "Nami, is that the canal's entrance?"

"Perhaps." Nami said and the two had smile and grin on their faces respectively.

"Unreal… The water really IS climbing up the mountain." Zoro said in disbelief as he watched through the binoculars.

"Make sure we go straight between those water gates, okay?" Nami instructed. "If we don't, the ship'll be smashed to pieces!"

But they were already drifting to the left…

"We're drifting! More to the right!" Luffy yelled out.

"Don't! With current's this strong we could lose the helm!" Vergil shouted out and jumped to the left side of the ship.

"What are you going to do then?" Vergil heard Sanji's voice.

"Push us to the right track!" Vergil yelled and took a deep breath and his eyes shined bright yellow. "**Darkness… Breath**!" The breath was large, much larger than the last one he used and slowly but surely it began getting Merry back on the track.

Still it was a race against time, one that they barely won as Merry slipped between the first gates.

"Alright!" Luffy exclaimed as he propped to Merry's figurehead.

"You did it!" Nami cheered and Vergil gave her a thumb up as Sanji and Usopp got outside.

Sanji and Usopp danced together as they and Luffy loudly exclaimed. "WE MADE IT!"

All that was left was to head straight to the peak as Nami decided to tell them once she took off her rain coat and held it up high. "And now, we'll just head straight to the peak!"

Once again there were all laughing happily, they made it!

"Oooh! We made it to the clouds!" Luffy exclaimed once they reached them.

"Any moment now and we'll be on our way down the mountain, right?" Vergil asked Nami.

"Yeah!" She grinned at him and soon enough they saw the peak in front of them.

"AWESOME!" Luffy yelled. "We got above the clouds!"

"Look! The mountain peak! It's the peak!" Nami exclaimed.

The icy water splashed around Merry and froze at the temperature around them as Merry reached the peak.

"YAHOO!" Luffy cheered and laughed and then the Merry began falling causing them to become airborne for a few moments.

They made it half way there, now they were sailing downwards!

"_Mihawk is here_…" Zoro thought as he pretty much glared at the ocean they were about to enter. His resolve was clear as he gripped at the Wado Ichimonji.

"_Getting closer to All Blue_…" Sanji grinned as he also got one step closer to his dream.

"_A complete map_." Nami was leaning against the railing with a smile on her face.

Usopp rubbed his nose a bit as he also confidently grinned. "_To prove I'm the sea's bravest pirate!_"

"_The final portal, Blaiddmon. I'm not going to stop until I finish what I started_." Vergil decided as he also seemed t stare at the distance, he glanced around at his nakama. "_And I'm not going to let any of them die, I'm not losing anyone else._" He further strengthened his resolve.

"Woo!" Luffy was left breathless at the sight. "I can see it! The greatest ocean in the world… Grand Line! And somewhere up ahead… One Piece is waiting! LET'S GO!" He yelled.

* * *

_**Warship Island Arc – Finished**_

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_**East Blue Saga – Finished**_

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_**And that's it. I took a page out of Oda's book and decided to just give you the aftermath of it. Eventually you'll get to see what happened there as well. Now, can I just take a moment to appreciate the fact that I completed the first saga. I actually wrote down the East Blue saga. I have to say that I'm genuinely happy about this.**_

_**Anyway to celebrate the end of the saga you can ask me any questions and I'll answer it as long as it doesn't spoil something important. You can ask me pretty much anything. About this story. Opinions on something from One Piece manga or anime. So yeah, anything fiction related.**_

* * *

_**Trivia:**_

_**-Dinahi was originally captured with Apis.**_

_**-Vergil was supposed to come in contact with a Cambion Soul.**_

_**-Dinahi was supposed to receive Vergil's Demon Forged on multiple occasions, in the end he never did.**_

_**-Difference between Devil Arm and Demon Forged was supposed to be explained.**_

* * *

_**Next Saga – Alabasta Saga**_

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_**Next Arc – Reverse Mountain Arc**_

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_**Next Chapter – Giant Whale Laboon**_


	90. Giant Whale Laboon

**_Answers on reviews:_**

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**_Guest – Thank you._**

**_KP360 – Thank you for the review, perhaps they are alright, perhaps they are not. That's yet to be seen. Yes, you can expect 'zombie' demons and yes they can sort of become 'undead'. And yes there are demons within the marines._**

**_20th CBoys fan – Thank you for the review. Yes, Vergil will go to Marineford._**

**_Blazeinferno – Thank you for the review. Vergil will go with Luffy to save Ace, exactly how that will play out, well you'll have to wait for quite a long time to see._**

**_JAKEkenstein – No and no. If there is one thing I regret about making Vergil the way he is it's this. Vergil is an OC, original character, not Devil May Cry Vergil, if he was this would be a crossover and a seriously OOC story. I went as far as to take a couple of names from the game and a couple of terms and there might be some other elements further down the line but I will not use the Devil Arms such as Yamato, Rebellion, Sparda and so on. Perhaps some less major ones but the ones that are signature to the characters will not be used. As for the baseball and soccer kind, no, I don't feel like doing them._**

**_FourthWallBreaker – Thank you for the review. I appreciate the time you put into catching up, I know how long my story is at the moment and I know how hard it can be to find enough time to sit down and read a story this long. I understand where you come from, the idea of demons can be even repulsive in some way, especially given the fact that the main character is one, even if he is revealed to be a half-demon. Anyway I am happy you are at least a little bit comfortable with it due to the way I write. As for the troubles and old enemies, you are right on both account, he'll get into a lot of troubles, as the profession of being a Straw Hats requires and though the old enemies will be more in the center of the story in the Demon World they will pop up every now and then._**

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**_And we are… HERE!_**

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**_Saga 2 - Alabasta Saga_**

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**_Arc 10 – Reverse Mountain Arc_**

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**_Chapter 90 – Giant Whale Laboon_**

* * *

Going Merry was downright cutting through the waves as she sped down to the Grand Line. Finally, they hit the clouds and it obscured their vision but not their excitement.

Sanji was holding onto the ropes. "This is the greatest!" He exclaimed.

Usopp, who was still holding onto the mast was grinning and Nami was letting out a loud cry of joy while Zoro and Vergil smirked a bit.

Suddenly the sound they were not familiar with filled the ears of the swordsman and the demon.

"Did you hear something just now?" Zoro asked.

"Huh? What?" Navigator couldn't hear him.

"I just heard a strange noise!" Zoro raised the tone of his voice.

"Kind of like bellowing!" Vergil added.

"Must've been the wind!" Nami assured them. "There's a lot of strange rock formations here that could've caused it!"

Just as she said that, they noticed a dark large figure in front of them.

Usopp also noticed it and brought down the goggle onto his left eye. "What's that?" He wondered.

"Nami-san! I see a mountain up ahead!" Sanji informed her loud enough for everyone to hear.

"A mountain? There can't be!" Nami argued.

"But I see it right there!" Sanji pointed at the mountain they were approaching.

"Who cares?! Let's GO!" Luffy exclaimed happily.

"After the Twin Capes there should be nothing but ocean!" Nami informed them.

"What else could that be?! A whale?!" Vergil yelled so his voice could reach her.

"There's no mountain on the map!" Nami shouted due to the same reason.

Finally, they were free from the cloudy vision and saw it… the mountain… was not the mountain…

And they all screamed…

"It's not a mountain!" Sanji yelled.

"It's a black wall!" And of course, Luffy failed to recognize it.

"You're wrong! It's-! Nami found it hard to finish the sentence.

"Then what is it?!" Sanji demanded.

"I damn jinxed it!" Vergil berated himself.

"IT'S A WHALE!" Usopp screamed.

Whale in question let out the now familiar bellow as Going Merry sailed with clear intention of crashing into it.

"W-w-w-w-what do w-w-w-we do?!" Usopp began stuttering in fear.

"Fight it?" Luffy suggested.

"IDIOT! We can't fight something like that!" Nami yelled at him.

"T-t-the current's taking us right at it!"

"And it's too damn fast for us to change course! We'll break the helm if we try to change the direction all of a sudden!" Vergil exclaimed.

"So what are we going to doooooo?!" Usopp panicked.

"Wait a second! We've gotten this close, but it still just looks like a wall. So where are its eyes?!" Sanji realized.

"You're right! It may not have noticed us yet!" Nami felt relief.

"That kinda serves no purpose when we'll crash into it either way!" Vergil snapped at them. He took in a sharp breath as he saw the flames, ruins of a city and he was quickly falling toward them.

"There's an opening to the left! Hard to port!" Zoro realized.

"It's no use! We are going too fast!" Usopp shouted.

"We have to do something!" Zoro yelled.

"Ah! That's right! I just thought of a good idea!" Luffy figured out a solution to all the problems they had and grabbed onto Vergil as he ran downstairs.

"Luffy?! What are you doing?!" Nami yelled after the Captain.

"Let's give it a try either way!" Zoro decided to take things into his own hands and tried to turn the ship hard to port.

"I'll help out!" Sanji jumped down and he and Usopp joined in.

Downstairs Luffy let go of Vergil and grabbed onto a cannonball.

"What are you…? Why did you bring me here Luffy?" Vergil had to ask.

"Shishishi! No idea!" Captain grinned at him, but Vergil realized it, the moment Luffy pulled him the flashes stopped, the moment he felt he wasn't completely alone while they were about to crash was the moment the panic faded. Luffy, by some higher miracle had managed to realize that instinctively.

"Thanks Captain." Vergil grinned and lit the cannon's fuse with a spark.

In the kitchen, the three males were trying to pull at the helm but it was no good.

"It's no use! It won't move!" Usopp bit out through the gritted teeth.

"Don't give up!" Sanji encouraged all of them.

Nami, being the only one who was just standing there without a single glimmer of hope in her eyes, had given up. "Too late."

And then… the cannon went off.

The blast made Nami stumble forward and then lose her balance as she stumbled forward and then began falling backwards with tears in her eyes.

"THE CANNON?!" The four Straw Hats had an utterly horrified expressions on their faces, in face Nami and Usopp were crying while Zoro and Sanji looked about as horrified as one could get without crying.

"Yosh! Did we stop?" Luffy asked as he and Vergil goofily stood there, behind the cannon. Worst of all they actually looked happy and proud of their plan.

"That should work just fine." Vergil grinned.

"Yep!" Luffy agreed.

And stop they did, but not quickly enough… Luffy's special seat, Merry's figurehead had crashed into the whale and broke down… The figurehead went flying backwards and for a moment, it looked like it would fall onto the now lying navigator.

"Oh… crap…" Nami realized in just how much danger she was in just a few milliseconds ago. "That nearly killed me." And then. "VERGIL!" Of course, she called the first person that came to her mind in this moment of distress.

"I better go and see what happened." Vergil said and stepped out of the room. One moment later he was on the floor, face first, tapping his fingers against the wooden boards in an utterly annoyed way.

The tragedy fell upon Luffy when he saw his special seat in front of the doors. "AAAHHH! MY SPECIAL SEAT!" He screamed.

"Lady Luck… She fucking hates me…" Vergil muttered under the figurehead.

"AAAAHHH! VERGIL!" Luffy gave another scream as he quickly ran and lifted the figurehead that was holding his first mate down.

Vergil rolled onto his back and sighed. "Well, on the brighter side I needed someone to smack me over the head for panicking like that… Thanks Merry." He muttered as Luffy forced him to sit up and began shaking him.

"Vergil! Say something!" The rubber man simply couldn't handle having his special seat broken and it crashing onto his first mate.

"Something. I'm fine Luffy." Vergil assured him though he appreciated the concern.

"That whale… I'll kick its ass!" Luffy declared angrily.

"Hit its eye, it won't feel much if you hit it otherwise." Vergil suggested and saw Luffy puffing steam out of his nose angrily.

"Got it!" Captain fully understood the instructions.

In the kitchen Usopp, Zoro and Sanji were a bit blue as they tried to comprehend with what just happened. Wasn't Vergil with Luffy? So how in the damn hell did they end up firing a cannon?! Seriously, they knew they had a moron captain but was the lack of brain contagious and ended up infecting the first mate that has been with Luffy for the longest period. Alternatively, did they have a brainless first mate as well? Whatever the case was, they had two extreme idiots leading the crew as captain and the first mate…

The smoke from the explosion cleared and Nami saw the eye that was dozens of times bigger than Going Merry.

"Vergil…!" She flinched away and hoped that the demon would just get to her.

And he did…

He sat down next to her and she immediately began holding onto him. She was trembling in fear, clutching onto his shoulder, gasping for air as she leaned her forehead against his chest.

"Calm down. It'll be all right." In turn, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and went to move a few strands of hair that were comically sticking out back to where they belong.

Slowly the navigator stopped trembling, the feeling of warmth she felt back at Conomi Island when he held her was back and she took a deep breath.

"Do something." She slowly managed to say.

"Can I let go of you now?" He asked tenderly. He didn't really want to, but if he was supposed to do something then he certainly couldn't do it while holding Nami like this.

Albeit hesitantly she nodded. "Just get us out of here." That was all he needed to do, just to get them out and then he could go and calm her down all she wanted and needed.

Zoro swallowed the lump that formed in his throat. "R-RUN FOR IT! WHILE WE STILL CAN!" He yelled.

"Let's row out of here." Vergil instructed as he stood up.

"What's wrong with it?" Usopp asked.

"Didn't it notice it was hit by cannon?" Sanji questioned.

"Who cares about stuff like that?" Vergil, now considerably more reasonable, questioned the priorities of his crewmates.

"Yeah, but is it that stupid?" Sanji didn't let go.

"Who cares, just GO!" Zoro berated them.

The whale let out another cry so loud that the currents and waves changed direction, it was so loud that even the Going Merry failed to fight the waves it created.

"AHH! My ears!" Sanji screamed.

"Row! Just keep rowing!" Usopp tried to keep going.

"We gotta get away from it!" Zoro yelled.

"Do you think it'll stop if I electrocute it?" Vergil offered his solution to the current problem, now, he didn't have much against the whale but it was starting to irritate him.

Luckily, the crew was there to quietly keep him in line. "DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT THAT!"

"I get it… I get it…" Vergil assured them.

Nami looked behind her with a slightly calmer but still distressed look on her face. "Luffy?"

"Damn you… My favorite seat… And my first mate…"

"What is he talking about?" Zoro asked as he looked at Vergil.

"I got crushed under Merry's figurehead." Vergil explained.

"So that's why Luffy screamed your name before." Sanji realized and it seemed the males of the crew found a moment to relax or blissfully ignore the danger they were in.

"And you are still second on the list." Usopp pointed out.

"That's the order of how it happened." Vergil shrugged it off.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO ALL THAT FOR?!" And when Luffy yelled that part everyone but Vergil finally got back into the panicky mood.

And boy did they have a reason for that. Luffy just went, stretched his arm and punched the whale, square in the eye.

Nami's jaw fell down as her teeth turned as sharp as that of a shark, her hair looked like it was electrocuted and her eyes had letters saying 'Luffy' in them, she was pretty much broken…

The human males of the crew were downright crying along with the navigator as they gave a synchronized cry. "YOU IDIOOOOOOOOT!"

"Good punch." Vergil commented.

"You are not helping!" Zoro snapped at him.

The arm retracted and the whale looked down.

"It sees us!" The panicking quartet screamed.

Luffy and Vergil, who has just joined his captain, glared at it.

"How do you like that?! I'll kick your ass, jerk!" Luffy declared.

"I'll help." Vergil cracked his knuckles.

"SHUT UP, YOU DUMBASSES!" Everyone else shouted as Zoro and Usopp kicked Luffy from one side and Sanji and Nami kicked them from the other one causing the two sides of the heads to crack together.

Whale let out a whimper of sorts as the four flinched away and the Captain and the First Mate nursed the freshly formed lumps on their heads.

Suddenly all hell broke loose as the whale let out a cry and actually opened its mouth this time.

"W…What?" Nami once again had tears in her eyes.

The ship was pulled in along with hell of a lot of water and it started going right toward the whale's mouth…

As they screamed Luffy and Vergil stumbled to the railing before falling off.

"LUFFY! VERGIL!" The crew shouted out their names.

"Vergil! Gotta move!" Luffy held onto his straw hat to hold it and Vergil realized what the rubber man was about to do so he grabbed onto Luffy's forearm.

Luffy stretched his other arm and pulled them to the whale's massive teeth and Vergil Air Hiked to get them up. They worked in synch as Luffy stretched his arm once again and pulled them to one of the scars on the whale's skin.

"I'm not dying here!" Luffy declared.

"This better not be… the worst Grand Line has to offer." Vergil said through his teeth as he and Luffy climbed up.

All six of the Straw Hats screamed, the two cries were the battle cries of defiance and the remaining four were the mixtures of fear and shock as the Going Merry disappeared down the whale's throat.

And then it happened… The whale closed its mouth and the turmoil stopped immediately.

Everything fell silent with the exception of the soft sound of waves and the pants of the exhausted captain and the first mate.

And then it dawned upon them as they looked at each other, the horrified look on their faces was obvious…

"What do we do?" Luffy was the first to utter the words. "Everyone was eaten."

Vergil swallowed a lump that formed in his throat and tried to think. "We have to get in." That much was obvious.

Luffy got up and began punching the whale. "Hey! Hey! Stupid! Spit everyone up! Spit them up! Give them back! Give them back! You damn-" Luffy raised his fist to give the whale another punch but Vergil grabbed onto his forearm.

Seeing the way Luffy tried to resolve things, Vergil was forced out of the horror of their situation and pretty much pushed into the Despot role, he needed a plan and he needed it quickly. He took a look at the situation they were in, the whale swallowed Merry and the crew, so they were on their way to get digested, however there was a certain period of time they had before that happened. Luffy and he needed to get inside the whale and somehow find a way to get out. With the situation being processed in his mind he looked around and began looking for anything that could help them and his eyes fell on it, on one thing that was out of place here.

"There's an entrance, if we hurry up we can get to them before they get digested. This thing is huge but we can still make it in time." Vergil decided to roll with it and use the obvious doors on the whale's skin. However, the fact made him even more cautious, if there was a made entrance on the whale it meant that someone could pay them a visit or was already down inside of the whale. How that would play out for them was yet to be seen.

"Why is there a door on the whale?" Luffy asked the most obvious question.

"We can figure that out later. If it sinks we won't have much time." Vergil said and that was enough for Luffy.

"Let's go!" With the direct order from the captain the first mate grinned and opened the doors.

"Wait right there asshole! We are getting our nakama back no matter what! They are important to us!" It didn't matter if anyone heard the captain now, one day, soon enough, the world would know that even if everyone tried to take them away Luffy would always go and get his nakama back, any and all of them.

* * *

-With the crew-

* * *

Going Merry has been swallowed, that much was clear if the events that just happened weren't some kind of hallucination or a dream they all dream. So why the hell did they see a sky filled with clouds and birds in front of them?!

"What do you think?" Nami asked slowly.

"'What do I think,' you say." Zoro couldn't really believe it either.

"It doesn't matter what you think." Sanji pointed out.

Zoro had his arms folded and Sanji was sitting on the railing while Nami looked dumbfounded and Usopp failed to pronounce proper words.

"We clearly just got swallowed by a whale." Sanji tried to be reasonable, but why was there a freaking island with a house and clothes that were being dried in front of it and with a bloody armchair and a small round table right there in front of them in this green sea of stomach acid?!

"Is this a dream?" Usopp asked the question that if answered positively would explain everything…

"Yeah… Probably a dream." Zoro decided to roll with the dream explanation.

"Ah. So the house on that island…?" Nami agreed to the idea.

"An illusion." And it was a rare occasion in which the cook agreed with the swordsman.

They would have kept lying to themselves if a giant squid didn't emerge right in front of the ship.

"Ah… And this?" Nami asked in a surprisingly calm way.

And then they were brought back to reality as Sanji and Zoro took a step back and raised their guard up.

Nami and Usopp went for a more direct and obvious approach as they jumped back with their backs turned to the squid and the tears in their eyes. "A GIANT SQUID!" They were actually a bit blue in the face.

Zoro went to unsheathe his swords and Sanji prepared to kick, yet there was no need for that. The squid was killed by the three harpoons that were shot from the house on the strange island…

* * *

-Unknown location, Demon World-

* * *

Wind… The woman relished in it, she embraced it. In turn, it strengthened her. Cloak was covering her body, from head to the toe it covered everything but the long bag she held across her back. Slowly she opened her eyes as if the very motion of that normally natural action was tiring.

She glanced up at the sky and sighed, she went overboard again, and here she thought that she was the more rational one…

The woman was grateful for the wind because it helped her recover, it eased the pain she was getting used to.

She allowed her body to fall back to the grass and took a deep breath, she'll make another trip in a few days, for now she would follow the instructions she lived by… Then she would pay them a visit.

* * *

**_And that's it. The very first chapter of Alabasta Saga, not really that long but I just got back from vacation so I figured I better give you something than nothing after this much waiting._**

* * *

**_Next Chapter – Crocus Of The Twin Capes_**


	91. Crocus Of The Twin Capes

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**FourthWallBreaker – Thank you for the review. Yeah, they do feel kinda like that. Anyway the updates will be more frequent for the next two months or so, so you won't have to wait much to see what I have in store.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review. I'm glad you think that.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**Sagicknight – Thanks for the review, I appreciate it.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you. You are right the woman is a demon but telling you who she is and who she is going to go and meet would spoil the fun now wouldn't it?**_

_**KP360 – Thanks for the review. Yeah, that was pretty much the highlight of the chapter. I never intended for the moment of fluff to go unnoticed and in case you want more of that there is a bit more in this chapter as well.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 91 – Crocus Of The Twin Capes**_

* * *

Zoro went to unsheathe his swords and Sanji prepared to kick, yet there was no need for that. The squid was killed by the three harpoons that were shot from the house on the strange island…

The squid dropped into the acid motionless but the two fighters didn't drop their guard, though they now had a bit of uneasy smirks on their faces, after all if someone could kill that squid just like that then that someone had to be at least somewhat strong.

"Looks like someone's home." Zoro said.

"Better hope it's a person…" Sanji added.

And Nami and Usopp were crying.

"No more. I wanna go home." Nami expressed her currently fear manipulated wish.

"If Luffy was here, he'd know what to do…" Usopp really had high expectations.

"Yeah, he'd have Vergil with him as well…" Nami agreed. "Are they alright?"

"Certainly more fine than we are…" Well that was true.

* * *

-With Luffy and Vergil-

* * *

Both pirates were currently dumbfounded and confused. What in the damn hell was something man-made doing inside of the whale?!

"What's this? Why does this whale have a door and now a passageway?" Luffy was doing a great job with asking very good questions.

"That's what I'd like to know…" Vergil was speechless, seriously in all his years as a Demon Hunter he had never seen something like this.

* * *

-With the crew-

* * *

While Luffy and Vergil were trying to come with terms of the passageway they just discovered a man walked out of the house.

"A ship?" He muttered to himself.

"Shoot it!" Usopp ordered. "Blast the island with the cannon!"

"No, hang on a sec." Sanji and Zoro were completely calm now. "Someone's coming out."

The man that came out was an elderly rather stocky and muscular male who had bald top of the head. However, he also had yellow flower petal kinda thing and white hair bellow it on the back of his head. Furthermore, he had a white beard that was split in two parts and lower lip that was larger than his upper lip. When it came to his clothing he wore a simple pink shirt with yellow and green stripes and purple circles in the yellow stripe, blue-gray shorts and sandals. He had glasses, a seaweed necklace, a green-gem bracelet on his left wrist and three gold bracelets, finally a scar could be seen on his left arm.

The man pulled the ropes of the harpoons and thus the squid closer to the shore thus showcasing that the muscles he had weren't just for showing off.

"A flower?!" And that's the first thing about him that Sanji noticed, the head of the older man really did look like a flower.

"Flower?" Zoro asked.

"My mistake. It's a person." Sanji corrected himself.

"What's up with that guy?" Usopp had to wonder.

"That old man just killed the giant squid." Nami still couldn't believe it, it took him just one hit to kill the squid that had eye about as big as Going Merry.

"Was he fishing… or was he saving us?" Sanji wondered.

The man began walking and he kept his eyes on the crew, in fact he and Sanji got into a death glare contest, one that the man forfeited as soon as he got comfortable in his armchair and opened the newspapers.

"SAY SOMETHING, ASSHOLE!" Sanji yelled.

Man looked at them but remained silent.

"We'll fight you if that's what you want jerk!" Usopp bravely declared, from all the way back at the kitchen doors… "We've got a cannon right here!" Hell even Nami sweat dropped at the way Usopp acted.

The man's eyes widened as he glared at them for a long time.

Ad he glared, and glared…

"Don't. Or someone will die." He finally spoke up.

Zoro and Sanji got their guard up once again and Usopp, who was once again with them, and Nami went blue out of fear as they stood in a kinda ballet like position with one leg bent and raised and one arm raised while the other was bent at the elbow and just below the chin, finally their hands and faces were joined together…

"Eh. And who would that be?" Sanji asked.

"Me." The man bluntly shattered their fears and flamed up the rage in Sanji.

"YOU?!" Sanji roared and greeted his shark like teeth. "You freakin'…" His teeth were back to normal but he had veins popping on his forehead.

Zoro placed a hand on Sanji's shoulder. "Hey. Don't get pissed off."

"Playing with me…" Sanji growled.

Zoro stepped forward. "Old man, tell me… Where are we? And who are you?"

And the glaring began again.

And it continued.

And continued a bit more.

"If you want something from someone, it's proper manners to introduce yourself first." And the older male had a point.

Zoro looked taken aback for a moment but then recomposed himself. "Yeah. That's right. My mistake. My name is Roro-" He began.

"I am Crocus. I am the keeper of the Twin Capes Lighthouses. I am 71 years old, Gemini, blood type XF (AB)." And this man, Crocus, knew how to annoy people.

"CAN I KILL HIM NOW?!" Zoro was ready to pull out his Wado.

"Hey cool off." And now Sanji was the one that was calming down the raging one.

"You want to know where you are? You come to my one-man resort and then yell such rude things at me. Do you think you're inside a rat's stomach?" Crocus asked them.

Usopp looked at the sky or what appeared to be sky anyways. "So we really were swallowed by the whale! But this doesn't look like the inside of a whale…"

"Hold on!" Nami began panicking again. "What's gonna happen to us?! I don't want to be digested!"

And the glaring was back.

It continued.

And continued.

And didn't seem like it would stop any time soon.

"STOP DOING THAT!" The four pirates yelled at Crocus.

"Can't you appreciate a good running gag?" Crocus asked.

"A GAG?!" And he annoyed them once again.

"As for the exit, it's over there." He pointed toward the large doors.

"WE CAN LEAVE?!" With how much they were screaming it was turning into a running gag more frequent that Crocus' glaring one.

"Hold on a second. What's an exit doing in a whale's stomach? And why is that door in the sky?" Nami questioned just how much of everything she was seeing at the moment was real.

"Wait… Look carefully." Usopp looked up to the sky, that very sky In which the bird never moved… "The sky, the clouds… Even Mr. Seagull… It's all a painting! It's all painted on the whale's stomach!" And they finally made some sense out of the strange situation they were in.

"I like having fun." Crocus explained the reason behind the painting.

"JUST WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" Now Usopp was the one doing the screaming and once again the last to rage was the first to calm down the currently raging one.

"It's okay, just leave him alone." Zoro pulled the sniper back.

"Now what?" Sanji asked.

"Nami, there's the exit. Let's just get outta here." Zoro turned to the navigator.

"Alright." Nami agreed.

Suddenly they felt a shook, almost as if the whale abruptly moved. The stomach acid was now similar to the raging ocean as the waves far bigger than Merry began splashing around.

"Now what?" Sanji yelped.

Crocus looked like he was in deep thoughts, more importantly this didn't seem unusual to him. "He's started again."

As Nami looked toward Crocus she realized that what they were seeing wasn't exactly an island.

"Look!" She pointed toward the older male's one-man resort. "That's not an island! It's a ship! And it's made of iron!"

"That's right! That must mean this 'ocean' is made of stomach acid!" Usopp realized.

"So if we stay here too long, we'll get digested…" Sanji pointed out the obvious lack of time on their hands.

"Hey! 'Started' what?! Explain!" Usopp yelled to get Crocus' attention.

Crocus looked up. "This whale… Laboon has started ramming himself against the Red Line."

Indeed, the whale, now named Laboon, rammed his head right into the mountain.

"WHAT?!" Zoro and Sanji exclaimed.

"Now that you mention it… This whale had some huge scars on its head… And it was bellowing to the sky…" It all made sense now for the navigator.

"What do you mean?" Usopp asked.

"It's in pain!" She exclaimed as Laboon once again rammed into the mountain.

"I see! So the old man's plan is…"

"Probably! He's trying to kill the whale from inside its body!"

And they assumed Crocus was the reason why Laboon was crashing into the mountain.

"Well…" Crocus was ready to act.

"What a horrible way to kill it!" Usopp expressed his disgust with Crocus' plan.

"Now that we've solved this mystery, let's get out of here. Our ship is going to dissolve if you just stand there complaining." Zoro reminded him.

"Well, the whaling business doesn't bother me and I don't feel like saving this one. Let's get out of here." Sanji casually agreed with Zoro.

Laboon continued ramming his head into the mountain…

* * *

-Inside of the whale-

* * *

Other than Straw Hats and Crocus there were two more people inside of Laboon.

The first one was male dressed in some cheap royal looking green clothes with an orange cravat and a crown on his head…

The other one was a female with long blue hair tied in a high ponytail, she was wearing light green coat with white fur and shirt with circle stripes all over it.

Both of them had bazookas in their arms and they certainly didn't look friendly.

* * *

-With the crew-

* * *

The strength of the waves and currents in the stomach acid sea were keeping Merry away from the exit.

"Shit! The waves are too strong! We won't be able to get to the exit like this!" Usopp exclaimed.

"We are going to have to try rowing. Take the oar!" Zoro decided to take charge over the crew when both Luffy and Vergil were absent.

"We have to get out now! We have to find out what happened to Luffy and Vergil!" Nami urged them to act and to do it quickly.

"They are outside! I saw them get thrown up to the side of the whale's mouth!" Zoro assured her.

"Luffy can't swim!" Nami reminded him.

"He's got Vergil with him! They'll be fine even if they fall into the water!" Zoro reasoned with her.

Even if Nami had anything to argue with Crocus jumping right into the acid made her turn her attention to him. "The old man jumped in!"

"Eh? Why'd he do that? He'll be digested."

Crocus swam deeper into the acid as the skeletons and wrecks of the ships that Laboon swallowed covered the bottom, in the midst of all the ruble one small box seemed to shine and call out devilishly.

* * *

-With Luffy and Vergil-

* * *

While the rest of the crew was dealing with stomach acid and eccentric people Vergil and Luffy were slowly slipping down the passageway.

"Good thing this passageway is made out of metal, otherwise we'd end up spinning all the way down to the exit." Vergil muttered. Luffy was holding onto the half-demon's shoulders as lightning pretty much created a sort of magnetism that kept them on one side of the wall.

"Wouldn't that be faster?" Luffy asked.

"I'm not made out of rubber so I don't feel like going through that experience." Vergil decided.

Luffy shrugged and kept marveling at the lightning that spiraled around Vergil's hand, demon powers were really cool.

"Can we go faster?" Luffy asked.

"Sure, but hold on." Vergil lowered the power of the lightning just about enough to make them slide twice as quickly but still keep the contact between his hand and the metal.

"Yahoooo!" Luffy cheered and soon they reached the exit of this particular passageway. Vergil slowly strengthened the lightning and slowed down nearly to a stop before **Demon Sliding** to the other side of the tunnel they entered.

"Where are we now?" Luffy asked. "An ocean? A river? A pipe?"

"Probably a pipe." Vergil agreed with the last one, it certainly did look like an oversized pipe.

For some reason the pipe that was perfectly horizontal began raising up into vertical position.

"Vergil! Use that lightning thingy!" Luffy quickly told him as they began slipping.

Two spirals of lightning circled around both of Vergil's forearms and hands and he tried to stick to the floor. "It's no use. The angle is against us I can't create and **Electromagnet** powerful enough to keep us stuck! I'll try to slow us down as much as I can but that's about all I can do." He grumbled. Damn that stupid seal, if he was at his best he wouldn't even need to use the **Electromagnet**, he'd just transform and end any trouble they could have in this damn whale…

They both cried out as the **Electromagnet** barely even slowed down their descent…

* * *

-Down the pipe-

* * *

Two suspicious bazooka using cheap dressed humans were leaning against the wall.

"Very good. Our infiltration so far has been a complete success." Male just had to jinx them.

The female nodded.

"Now, Miss Wednesday. On the other side of this door lied the stomach. And that meddling geezer as well. He must be eliminated. For the whale's sake."

"Yes, Mr. 9. This whale is out town's precious sweet honey." Miss Wednesday said.

* * *

-With the rest of the crew-

* * *

Crocus was climbing up the ladder.

"Hey, the old man's coming up!" Usopp informed the crew.

"Just ignore him. We have to figure out how to open the door." Zoro made sure they knew exactly what the crew had to do.

* * *

-On the other side of the doors-

* * *

Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday were ready.

"Okay? Miss Wednesday? '3-2-1, Baby' and we open the door. Don't hesitate." He prepared her.

"Roger, Mr. 9." She easily agreed. "Whenever you're ready."

And then the jinxing from before paid off as Luffy's scream reached the duo.

"We can't stop!"

"What is that voice, Mr. 9?" Miss Wednesday asked.

"I don't know, Miss Wednesday!" And he failed to give an explanation as to what was approaching them.

Not that he needed, just as he said those words they could see the source of screaming, a running two pirates… Electromagnet had ran out somewhere along the line or it simply proved to be useless, so Vergil and Luffy were now running down the pipe with no way of stopping.

Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday joined in on the screaming and the quartet forcefully collided with the doors that gave in and opened.

Crocus' eyes widened as he recognized two out of four free fallers. "Them again."

The crew was left shocked at the sight as well.

"Oh no, Miss Wednesday! Below us is a huge sea of digestive juices!" Mr. 9 exclaimed.

"Luffy? Vergil?" Zoro recognized them.

"Yo! You guys are all okay!" Luffy greeted them. "By the way… Save me."

"While you are all so fine catch." Vergil grinned and caught Luffy's vest.

"You're not…" Zoro's eyes widened as he realized what the first mate was about to do.

"Nami-san! Get down!" Sanji warned the navigator.

"What?!" And then she saw it. Vergil threw Luffy toward Merry.

Nami and Usopp got down and Sanji jumped out of the way but Zoro ended up being the butt-monkey that Luffy just had to collide into…

And the other three just fell down into the acid.

Crocus sweat dropped at the scene but then went to do what he intended from the beginning.

The crew was looking over the lying captain and the swordsman. "You and Vergil caught up with us and all that. But why did you bring a couple of weirdoes with you, Luffy?" Usopp asked.

"Forget about that! Vergil's not coming up!" Nami yelled as she ran up to the railing and looked down at the acid.

There was no need to worry, not until the two weirdoes emerged on the shore and Vergil didn't…

"Hey! Vergil! Get out of there!" Luffy yelled as the four males joined the navigator at the railing.

Suddenly a burst of darkness shot from the acid and formed a thumb up.

"He'll be fine." Zoro assured them.

* * *

-With Crocus-

* * *

Crocus greeted his teeth as Laboon's bellows filled his ears and the whale crashed into the mountain yet again.

"Stop it, Laboon. Stop giving yourself these terrible wounds." He was injecting Laboon with a content in a humongous syringe. "there's just a bit of sedative left, I'll have to make more later."

The needle stabbed into the flesh of the whale and it stopped. "This wall is the wall that separates the oceans of the world. It won't break no matter how hard you hit it, Laboon." It gave a cry and calmed down.

* * *

-With Vergil at the same time-

* * *

Vergil swam deeper all the way to the bottom. As soon as they got into the stomach he felt it… And now he saw it, the black box was containing one of the most powerful chemical substances of the Demon World… The kind of substance that could change the course of the battle, the substance that was distributed through the lower ranks of the soldiers in the Demon World, but due to its backfiring effects it was banned from use. One of the four forbidden substances known to common demons as 'Trigger'…

He never thought he'd find it in the stomach of a whale but considering the size of this animal it wasn't that surprising. The box may have been nearly indestructible but the substance could still be dangerous to the whale if it was left there, he knew what it did to demons, even restrained it was probably causing various problems for the whale. And then there was the fact that even though forbidden it could prove to be useful as the last resort… He could hope that he wouldn't need it but why regret not taking it later on…

His hand touched the box and he pulled it out, the rubble around the box was deformed beyond recognition and the damage was spreading, a proof that made it clear to Vergil that the box was here for at the very least three decades. Knowing when the 'Trigger' was banned strengthened the thought.

He began swimming up with the box smaller than his clenched fist held safely in his hand.

Up on the Going Merry the crew was still waiting with the two weirdoes clinging to the anchor that was being pulled up by Zoro and Sanji.

"Fine my ass." Nami breathed out and in less than a second her sandals were taken off and she jumped into the acid.

"Nami-san!" Sanji yelled and was about to jump in as well but.

"She'll be fine. Vergil's down there as well." Zoro calmly stated but seriously what was keeping him for so long.

With a heavy heart Sanji decided to give Vergil approximately four point two seconds to get Nami out of the acid, otherwise he'd jump in as well.

Nami looked down and searched for her demon when she finally spotted him he was utterly surprised, she watched as the surprise turned into kind of worried annoyance.

Vergil used **Air Hike** to propel himself up to Nami.

Two glared at one another before he wrapped his other arm around her waist and **Air Hiked** out of the acid.

"Luffy! Give us a hand here!" Vergil exclaimed.

"Shishishi! Sure!" As Luffy's arm stretched all the way to Vergil and Nami the white haired male moved the box from his right to his left hand.

Nami, though she still kept glaring at him wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and screamed right into his ear as Luffy pulled them up.

"I suppose I deserved that." Vergil said as he let go of Luffy's hand just in time to easily land on board.

"You can bet you did." Nami muttered.

"Nami-san is so kind! Putting herself in danger for this shitty demon!" And Sanji succeeded in two things, swooning all over Nami and annoying Vergil.

"Come on, let's go and dry that stupid acid off, and change your clothes." They went separate ways and into their respective bedrooms.

Luffy was completely oblivious to the situation while Usopp chuckled uncomfortably. "Let's just let them cool off."

And they really needed to do that. Nami took off the acid soaked clothes and took the towel to dry off, as she moved the towel through her hair she glanced at the emergency doors that connected her room to the room the males shared. This certainly wasn't an emergency but she decided to go through as soon as she got dressed. She put on a black shirt with pink 'MODE' written on it and a pink mesh-like design over it and the rest of the outfit was pretty much the same.

Without even knocking she opened the passage and entered the males' bedroom. She looked at Vergil and caught a glimpse of it, a tattoo on his right arm, right under his shoulder. She barely saw it, it was a circle with something inside of it and something that looked like blades of the scythes on the sides of the circle.

"Why did you jump in?" He asked as he picked up the towel and wiped his face.

"What do you mean why? You just sent that signal and then didn't show up. What was I supposed to do?"

"To wait. If the acid wasn't mixed with the sea water…" He stopped in the middle of the sentence. "Look I understand that I sound like a hypocrite when I say that but I don't want you to put yourself at risk because of me."

"Then don't make me do that." She pretty much put her foot down with that one.

Vergil chuckled and she was honestly surprised. "Guilty as charged, eh?" He turned to her and grinned, for some reason to Nami the grin seemed different, it wasn't just grin that was caused by something random or exciting. He was grinning because he was genuinely happy, worried and maybe a bit annoyed but happy. She smiled and walked up to him, she took the towel from his hand and gently ran it through his hair. "I'm not that careful, you know that by now, but thank you, for worrying." He said and for a moment they stood there looking at each other as Nami worked on drying his hair off with the towel.

"I swear you are mostly in line but when we need to keep you in line you are just as bad as Luffy."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"It's not."

"I'm the one that gets to decide on that."

Nami rolled her eyes at that. "Keep being delusional."

Vergil grinned. "Come on, let's see who those two are."

Nami stepped in front of him and threw the towel onto his bunk. "I'm the navigator here." She stuck her tongue out cutely at him and led the way.

"Maybe you should navigate your way to your room before Sanji freaks out." Vergil pointed out but she was already on her way through the doors, the main ones and not the emergency ones.

"Like I'd fall for someone like you." She teased.

"The feeling is mutual." And he returned the favor.

Little did they know, they had already began falling.

"It's calm. The whale calmed down." Nami pointed out once they joined the rest of the crew.

"Looks that way… So…" Zoro turned to the duo they just saved, they were surrounded by the crew and love struck Sanji who was swooning over Miss Wednesday. "We saved your asses. Now who are you?"

"Mr. 9, these are the pirates." Miss Wednesday whispered to her partner.

"I can see that, Miss Wednesday. But I think we can convince them… Probably…" Mr. 9 hoped he was right.

"Are you two scoundrels still here?!" Crocus asked loudly enough for his voice to reach them all. "Don't make me repeat myself! As long as I'm alive, you won't lay one finger on Laboon!" He declared.

"Oh, he's back." Usopp said.

"Who's the old guy?" Luffy asked.

Before anyone could answer Miss Wednesday chuckled maliciously. "You may say that, but we cannot retreat." She raised her bazooka and Mr. 9 did the same.

"Killing this whale is our mission. We won't let you interfere with our whaling anymore! We'll rip a hole in its stomach!" They pointed their bazookas toward the inside of the whale's stomach. "Let 'em rip, Baby!"

"Roger!" Miss Wednesday cried out and they fired.

* * *

_**And that's it.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Log Pose And The Promise**_


	92. Log Pose And The Promise

**_Answers on reviews:_**

* * *

**_FourthWallBreaker – Thanks for the review, there's not much to worry about Laboon as you already guessed as for the 'trigger', well you'll have to wait for some time to see what it does, but I assure you that it won't be too long._**

**_Guest – Thanks._**

**_blazeinferno – Thanks for the review, I'm glad you like it._**

**_KP360 – Thanks. Yeah, Crocus' gag really does do that to people, especially now when it feels so nostalgic to go back and rewatch the episodes in order to write this. In a way yes, 'Trigger' is kinda connected to the character from last chapter, but not that much. The effects of it were actually hinted at in the previous chapter as well._**

**_20th CBoys fan – Thank you. I'm glad you think that_**

* * *

**_Chapter 92 – Log Pose And The Promise_**

* * *

The cannon balls were shot at the inside of Laboon's stomach.

Crocus ran and then leapt to intercept the cannon balls. "You…!"

Nami took in a sharp breath as she and the rest of the crew looked utterly shocked.

"That old man… stopped the shots himself!" Usopp cried out in disbelief.

"He actually protected the whale…?!" Sanji exclaimed.

Miss Wednesday laughed. "Cease your pathetic resistance!"

"If you want to protect it that badly, just try that again!" Mr. 9 mocked. "This whale is going to feed our town!" And now they were both laughing, but in their mad fit of laughter they failed to noticed the way Luffy looked at them, not that it would help as the expression on the rubber man's face remained unreadable.

Crocus grunted in the water, as he was he couldn't stop another attack, especially not from the water.

"What's going on...?" Nami wondered.

And then Luffy punched two laughing idiots' heads… Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday fell down unconscious on the board…

"Luffy?" Usopp was the first to speak.

"Don't know why. Just had to hit them." And that explanation seemed quite fine when it came to Luffy.

Crocus on the other hand was looking at the straw hat wearing pirate… Even this old he could still count the times the pirates surprised him like this and he didn't really need more to count that far for that.

A bit later the crew and now tied up attackers were on Crocus' one-man resort and Luffy was keeping true to his last name as he held onto the palm tree.

"You helped me immensely. But why?" Crocus had to ask.

"I didn't help you. Just didn't want to see that." And that was classic Luffy, he didn't really need reason to do something.

"Hey. Luffy." Usopp tried to pull Luffy away from the palm tree.

"Hey… What's the deal with those guys? And what are you doing inside this whale?" Nami asked.

"Cut it out." Usopp wasn't giving up. "Hey. Hey. Luffy. Quit it already."

"These two scoundrels are from a nearby town. They want the whale's meat." Crocus explained.

"What do you think you're doing?" And Usopp wasn't giving up. "It's stupid."

"Laboon could feed their town for two or three years."

"'Laboon'?" Nami guessed that it was the whale's name but decided to make sure.

"That's this whale's name. He's an Island Whale. They inhabit West Blue… The largest species of whale in the world. How could I let him become food?" The crew was listening closely to the words of the older man. "There's a reason why he continues to bash his head against the Red Line and why he faces Reverse Mountain and bellows…"

"A reason?" Nami urged him to continue.

"Yeah… This whale, you see… He's a whale with a heart like a person. And he's been earnestly waiting for a certain group of pirates… For 50 years… You'll hear it now, Laboon's story…"

* * *

-Flashback-

* * *

Just like Straw Hats and many other crews before them this one came into the Grand Line by climbing and then descending down the Reverse Mountain. However, one thing about this particular pirate ship was different, they had a baby island whale alongside them…

'I was taking care of the lighthouses as usual that day… When a group of jolly pirates came down from Reverse Mountain and into the Grand Line. Swimming alongside their boat was a small whale. That whale was Laboon.'

Laboon jumped out of the water and then emerged by the ship. He squeaked a couple of times, a few years later those cute squeaks would turn into loud and sorrowful bellows.

'Island Whales like him only inhabit West Blue. They are the largest species of whale in the world. It appeared Laboon had been travelling with the pirates for quite some time. But, they were now headed into the dangers of the Grand Line. They thought they had left him behind in West Blue… but, Laboon had followed them.'

Laboon emerged from the water again and again as the pirates unloaded their ship.

'Island Whales normally swim together with their nakama in pods, but to Laboon, these pirates were his nakama.'

And they treated him as one of their own, the pirates played with Laboon and the whale used his size to allow multiple pirates to ride on his back.

'They remained anchored at this cape for a few months to repair their ship. I became quite friendly with them myself after a while.'

Crocus even joined the parties in which the captain of the pirate ship often remained close to Laboon.

'Then, on the day they were ready to leave…'

"I've got a favor to ask. Could you look after him for two or three years until we come back?" The captain requested. "We're going to sail around the world and then come back for him." He knelt down on one knee and patted the whale. "Hey Laboon, I've something to tell you. We're about to enter the Grand Line and sail around the world. But, you have to wait for us here. It's a dangerous place… So we want you to stay here where it's safe."

The whale kept looking at the pirate, it looked like it was already longing for their company…

"Don't look at me like that, we'll be back in three years or so. You better not forget us. Even if we're not side by side, you're still our nakama." With those words left in hearts of the pirates and the whale the captain stood up. "Well, we're off."

Crocus nodded and the pirate flag stood proudly… "Boys! It's our maiden voyage! Let's show 'em hell!" And they set sail.

Laboon began swimming after the ship but the voice of the captain made him halt. "Laboon! Laboon! Just you wait! We'll be back before you know it! Bet on it!"

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

Today the whale was still bellowing for the crew that failed to come back for him…

"That was 50 years ago." The story has been told and everyone on the crew was left astonished at what they found out.

"50 years?" Zoro repeated.

"Laboon's been waiting for those guys for 50 years?" Usopp asked.

"So that's why he's bellowing? And he's ramming it to reach the other side of the wall?" Nami was completely right.

"Yeah." Crocus confirmed it.

Laboon bellowed yet again…

Vergil closed his eyes and then, as he opened them again he looked at Luffy.

* * *

-Some time later-

* * *

Going Merry was sailing through one of the pipes in Laboon's body.

"This water pipe's incredible. Surprising he's still alive with such big tunnel in him." Zoro commented.

"Is this more of your 'having fun'?" Sanji asked Crocus who was sailing next to them.

"This is my 'doctor' fun." And this surprised some of them, but seeing what Crocus was doing with Laboon it was to be expected.

"Doctor?" Usopp repeated.

"I'm his doctor after all. A long time ago, I ran a clinic here on this cape. I was even a ship's doctor, years ago." He revealed.

"Really? Well then, be my ship's doctor!" Luffy invited him.

"Don't be stupid. Unlike you six younglings, I don't have the energy to go around doing foolhardy things anymore." Crocus downright rejected the invitation as he climbed up the ladder.

"A doctor, huh? So that's why you're living inside the whale." Sanji stated.

"And this is all a result of your medical treatment." Nami added.

Crocus managed to climb up all the way to the top of the ladder and then turned to them. "That's right. When they get this big, there's no way to treat 'em from the outside." He walked up to a mechanism. "Here we go." The doors opened and Merry was now out of Laboon's body and back to the actual ocean.

Luffy laughed and stood up behind the broken remains of the figurehead. "WE'RE OUT! IT'S THE REAL SKY!"

"What should we do with these two?" Usopp asked as he pointed at the poor excuses for whale hunters.

"Just throw them over somewhere around here." Zoro didn't really care as long as they no longer bothered them.

And so they did.

Hitting the water quickly woke up Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday.

"Gah! Where are we?!" Mr. 9 exclaimed.

"Is this stomach acid?" Miss Wednesday panicked.

"No, we appear to be in a real ocean, Miss Wednesday."

"We must've been knocked out by those pirates. Mr. 9!"

"So, who were you guys again?" Luffy joined in on the conversation.

"Shut up! It's none of your business!" Both of them yelled at him.

"No wait, Miss Wednesday. Perhaps it is their business as long as they're pirates, that is."

"True indeed, Mr. 9. Our organization may have some use for you. Prepare yourselves!"

"Then we bid you good day until next time you hillbilly pirates!"

"And heed this Crocus! That whale shall be ours for the taking soon enough!"

"So her name is Miss Wednesday. What a beautiful enigma you are." Sanji was swept off his feet as the woman he was now smitten with and her partner swam off.

"Are you sure about just letting them go? They'll be sure to come back for the whale again, you know?" Nami asked.

"Even if I didn't let them go, there'll be other rogues who'll come to take their places." Crocus stated as the two ships sailed further away from Laboon and closer to the island.

"But 50 whole years? Those lousy pirates sure are making him wait a long time…" Usopp commented as the crew looked at Laboon.

"Idiot. This is the Grand Line, you know? They're dead." Sanji stated the explanation that seemed obvious to everyone and breathed out the smoke from his cigarette. "No use waiting on them anymore."

"That's for sure, since it's already been 50 years. I guess that shows just how terrible and chaotic this unexplored ocean is going to get." Nami added.

Usopp ran up to them looking slightly angry. "How can you jerks say such heartless things?! You don't know that!"

"Heartless or not at this point that's the most possible explanation." Vergil said.

"But they might still come back! It's such a good story!" Usopp argued.

"I doubt he agrees." The Demon Hunter said, he was looking directly at Laboon, not that it was hard task to accomplish…

"But it is! A whale that continues to believe in his nakama's promise… Ain't that right, old man?!"

"Yeah. But the truth is crueler than you can imagine. It was all part of their plan. Those guys ran away from the Grand Line." Crocus shattered Usopp's hopes.

"No way… So, they actually left the whale behind?" Usopp didn't want to believe it but everything pointed in that direction.

"They tried to run away from the Grand Line? That means they would have had to cross the Calm Belt, right?" Nami asked.

"Even if by some chance they are alive, they would never return to this place. The seasons, the weather. The ocean currents, even the winds. They all go around in unpredictable patterns. Common logic is worthless in this ocean. The terror of the Grand Line quickly overwhelms the weak of heart." That was the truth Crocus knew of, that was the truth they all had to realize and the sooner they did the better it would be for them.

"So those weak-hearted shitheads without a thought for your life or their promise packed up and hightailed it out of the ocean." Sanji summed it up.

During the entire conversation Luffy, who was sitting on Merry's figurehead which was now on the deck, simply remained silent.

"They just abandoned the whale? And he's been waiting here 50 years for them to come back for him? That's so cruel!" Usopp went from believing in the crew to being angry at them quite quickly, but that was to be expected.

From everything they learnt one question arose and Nami was the one to ask it. "But if you knew this, why haven't you told him? The whale understands human speech, right?"

"I did tell him. All of it. But he refused to listen."

* * *

-Flashback-

* * *

Crocus stood in front of extremely smaller than now but still probably bigger than Merry Laboon.

"Laboon, listen to me! They've already left the Grand Line! I know you were nakama and you thought they would never break their promise!"

The words did reach Laboon, but the image of the captain and the crew leaving, telling him they'll come back… That overpowered any doubt, he didn't feel betrayed he just wanted to come back to them.

"But… They're never coming back!"

Laboon bellowed and Crocus winced at the loud bellow that seemed to make the very sky distort its shape…

"Laboon, listen to what I'm saying! Hey aren't-"

Another bellow cut him off before he could finish the sentence.

"I know you don't want to hear it! But you have to accept it! Laboon!"

Laboon had enough and he went underwater, as his tail smashed into the surface of the ocean a large wave arose, splashed onto the shore and forced Crocus down. "Laboon!"

Laboon emerged once again and bellowed.

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

"That night Laboon faced Reverse Mountain and bellowed for the first time. And began battering himself against the Red Line. He still believes they'll return from the other side of that wall… He just won't listen to the truth." Crocus finished explaining that part.

Sanji breathed out. "What a whale…"

"Even when there's no point in waiting…" Usopp muttered.

"If there was no reason to wait, he would have listened to me. More than anything else, he is afraid of losing his reason to wait. His home is in West Blue. And yet, there's no way home for him now. All he wished for was to continue being nakama with the men he follows here." Crocus explained.

Luffy was still completely silent.

"You know, he may be in this pitiful state… But you were betrayed too, right?" Sanji pointed out and once again made a pause to let the smoke of his cigarette out. "It's really not your problem anymore, is it?"

"Look at the scars on his head! If he keeps ramming it against the rocks like that, without a doubt he will die. We may have a strange relationship, but it's been 50 years. I'm not going to watch him kill himself." Crocus stated his reasons for not giving up.

Suddenly the entire crew was forced to look at their left as Luffy let out a loud battle cry. He was running and carrying the mast of their ship…

"What's that moron doing now?" Sanji asked.

"Think before you call someone a moron. That might just make you be an even bigger one." Vergil stated.

"Are you going to take his side no matter what?" Zoro questioned.

"That's pretty much the gist of it."

"Seriously, you can't take your eyes off him for a second!" Zoro gave up and returned to scolding Luffy.

"Looks like he's going mountain climbing." Sanji noticed and given Laboon's size that wasn't that far off.

Luffy was heading for a still bleeding wound on Laboon's head. "**Gomu Gomu no Ikebana**!" And he slammed the main mast right into it.

"That's the mast, isn't it?" It was more of a statement rather than a question but Zoro still felt the need to say it out loud.

"Yup. Right off our ship." Sanji felt the same need to simply say it.

"It's our main mast." He said it calmly and then… "QUIT BREAKING THE SHIP!"

Laboon's eyes became filled with tears as he began actually sweating out of pain. And of course like any normal creature driven by instinct without actual limbs to get out the cause of the pain that was stuck right to its body Laboon began trashing around and bellowing. Of course this caused a lot of very large waves.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR?!" Human quartet of the crew screamed at Luffy.

"Quit screaming, what's done is done." Vergil seemed relaxed, way too relaxed.

"QUIT TAKING HIS SIDE!" They were now screaming at him.

Laboon raised up and then actually jumped out of the water.

"Well damn…" Vergil muttered, if Luffy wasn't made out of rubber this would kill him.

And it probably would seeing as Laboon crashed right onto the island head first.

"HEY, BOY!" Crocus called out to him.

"It's okay! He won't die even if he gets crushed!" Nami assured the older man and she was right, though Luffy was bruised he was still quite fine, in fact the one in pain was Laboon who had managed to further open his wound and was now bleeding quite a lot.

"Hah. Idiot." Luffy wiped his face and got ready to fight.

Laboon charged at him but Luffy jumped out of the way. Still, just jumping out wasn't enough as Laboon's massive tail slammed Luffy back to the ground.

The rubber man yelped and jumped away from the tail that was threatening to strike him yet again. Swiftly he landed on the ground and punched right into Laboon's left eye.

The whale's eye widened and he quickly closed it to protect his pretty much only weakness before he charged and pushed Luffy back once again.

"What's he thinking?!" Usopp demanded an explanation for this downright crazy behavior.

Luffy went and slammed his foot against Laboon's head and the whale was actually pushed back, still it recoiled and pushed Luffy into the cape house. The wall cracked under the impact and Luffy gasped as he fell to the ground.

"Luffy! What the hell are you doing?" Zoro had his arm on Wado Ichimonji and even his voice made it clear that he was worried.

Luffy's eyes were overshadowed as Laboon charged again.

Crocus' eyes were wide and he was sweating as he knew there wasn't much Luffy could do against Laboon in the end.

"_Come on! I know you know what you are doing!_" Vergil clenched his jaw and fought every fiber in his body that screamed for him to go and get the 'Trigger'. Loyalty, faith, trust, his very life, dreams and hope. He was the one who took charge, who led others into the battle, he was not the kind of man that would follow and the only one who could ever stand in front of him was dead. That's how it was until the night Luffy walked into that camp with Collin and Arton, the straw hat wearing rubber man reawakened the fierce loyalty and earned what only Grom once had, the right to make black lightning strike and retreat at his will.

And once again Luffy proved more than worthy of that right.

"It's a draw!"

Laboon stopped, utterly confused at sudden proclamation.

Luffy stood up and grinned as he placed the straw hat back onto his head. "Pretty strong, ain't I?!" His eyes were challenging Laboon, telling him that this wasn't over. "You wanna beat me, don't you? Our battle isn't over. So we are going to have to fight again someday. Your nakama may be dead, but from now on I'm your rival! We'll fight again some day to decide which of us is the strongest!" As Luffy declared his promise the crew was grinning or in some cases smirking at him. "Once we're finished sailing the Grand Line, I'll be back!" The tears began forming in Laboon's eyes. "Then we'll finish our fight!"

And he cried. The tears fell from Laboon's eyes before he raised his head up to the skies and bellowed, this time it was to form an agreement.

And then the horror came forth.

Luffy had painted a copy of his last painting of the Straw Hat Pirates' jolly roger right on Laboon's head and it was humongous.

"Lookin' good! This is our 'Fight Promise'! So until I get back, don't go hitting the wall and rubbing the mark off!" Luffy declared, he was also covered in pain and was holding a massive brush in his hand.

Laboon let out a sound to show his agreement and Crocus was smiling, for years he hadn't been able to stop Laboon's tendencies and now it was finally over, the whale was safe.

"All right!" The straw hat wearing pirate exclaimed.

"This is almost animal abuse." Vergil commented, he was loyal, not blind. "Well, at least he gave Laboon a reason to fight him…"

* * *

-A bit further away in the ocean-

* * *

Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday watched the scenes from the distance.

"Miss Wednesday. What are we going to do?"

"At any rate, we should at least head back and report what happened to the Boss… This mission's time limit has long expired."

"I agree, this is quite a dilemma." Mr. 9 stated. "We could be branded as traitors."

Miss Wednesday seemed concerned. "Yes. We've no weapons, so we must return to prove our integrity, start afresh…"

Mr. 9 began looking for something that was supposed to be in his coat. "We've no choice, have we? Very well then, let's return…" And he failed to find it. "Eh? What? It can't…?" He even took off his coat to check further. "What the?!"

"What's wrong?" Miss Wednesday asked.

And the male was crying. "It's gone."

"Eh?"

On Going Merry Luffy came across a strange watch like thing with class orb that had some kind of compass needle in it.

"What's this?" He raised an eyebrow and then began looking around.

"YOU DROPPED THE LOG POSE?!" Miss Wednesday pretty much screamed.

"A minor setback, Miss Wednesday! Without it we can't get back to our town…" Mr. 9 was looking for whatever this Log Pose was through his binoculars.

"If we're left like this…" It seemed like something bad would happen if her voice was anything to go by.

"Oh, oh no, it's…!" And Mr. 9 spotted something. "It's…!"

"N-NO…!"

Seriously what was the big deal, there was an otter ridding on a vulture and clanking a seashell against some rope… What was the big deal about that?

"THE UNLUCKIES!"

"We're too late!"

"Mr. 13!"

"Miss Friday!"

"Please wait! We can explain!"

"W-We were just about to report to the Boss-!"

And they were really panicking… Really? What was the big deal?

The rope caught fire, the vulture dropped the present it was carrying and the bomb went off.

So that was the bid deal…

* * *

-On the shore-

* * *

Vergil walked down to the edge of the ground, quite near to Laboon. He sat down and leaned against one of the rocks.

"It's not the Grand Line or any other place in the world that took them. Nature, no matter how dangerous it can be, isn't the one taking the lives. However, to you it is, isn't it? Grand Line is where they left to and Grand Line is where they died. Therefore, Grand Line is the one to blame. That's your train of thoughts isn't it?" Vergil began, Laboon gave him a soft bellow.

"It's no good, I can't understand what you are trying to tell me." Still he looked at the whale's eye and it was kinda enough.

"I know how that feels, to be left behind. 'It's for your own good.' Yeah right, what's so good about knowing that even after everything something just snapped. You start hating on whatever the cause is. You start hating yourself for not going with them. You hate it because you know that you would have followed them even if it was leading you to the death. But you don't want to hinder them so you stay. Powerless to bring them back. Powerless to do anything. Powerless to realize what it was that took them away from you and you can never know what it was that took them. Not even when the physical form of the final act is obvious because that's not a lightning that strikes out of nowhere, it's a final reaction to actions that go from way back to the final moment…"

As Laboon bellows Vergil slams his fist against the ground making it crack, he greets his teeth and hisses, that's as far as he would let go, he would not let those times affect him now…

"Neither one of us knows… But as long as they have someone that remembers them the dead ones remain alive. So keep Luffy's promise in your heart, keep your nakama in your heart and don't you dare die a meaningless death Laboon." With that being said Vergil stood up, surprisingly Laboon swam up to him and he patted the large animal. "You are amazing, you know that, right?" He smiled at Laboon.

"Vergil!" He heard Luffy calling him out of blue and then saw the rubber man stretching his arm and grabbing onto one of the rocks.

Vergil glanced back and saw the water, everywhere, yep, he'd have to take the hit.

And so he did.

"Shishishi! I found something strange!"

"Hm?" Vergil sat up as Luffy took the strange watch compass thingy.

"What's this?" Luffy asked him and cambion really tried his best to figure it out.

"Some kind of compass, or maybe some watch? Let's go and see if Nami knows what this is." And Luffy was perfectly fine with that.

Speaking of the navigator, she was stretching a bit in front of a table on which she had a map and a compass. "Okay then! I'm finally drawing up the plans for the Grand Line journey now." For some reason the compass needle never stopped…

Everyone else was busy as well. Sanji took the blue-finned elephant tuna he won way back at Loguetown. "All right! I'm finally cooking the blue-finned elephant tuna!"

Usopp was fixing the mast. "Damn…! How dare Luffy break the ship?! Geez…" He then turned to the crewmate that was the busiest of them all. "Hey, Zoro! Help me out here! I'm not a shipwright!" And the busy swordsman in question was sleeping.

And then a scream that could rival Laboon's bellow and actually forced the whale to go underwater echoed.

"What's going on?" Luffy wondered.

"I have a very bad feeling." Vergil felt a foreboding feeling, something akin to a knife ready to cut his throat.

Sanji jumped up to Nami with the fish ready to be eaten. "What's the matter, Nami-san?! If it's food you're worried about, never fear!"

"Oh? Food?" Usopp climbed up as well.

"Th-the compass is broken!" Nami told them. "It won't point in a single direction…"

"Oh, she's right." Sanji could see and so could the other three males.

"Round and round it goes…" Usopp didn't see what the problem was.

"Heh, fun!" and of course neither did Luffy, in fact he marveled at it.

Crocus turned to them. "Do you six came here without any idea what you were getting into. What brazen stupidity. Did you come here to throw your lives away?"

"Eh?" Nami was the one that was most interested in Crocus' words.

"Food?" And Luffy was the least interested one.

"It's FEED for you, moron." Sanji berated him.

"So? What's the deal with the compass?" Vergil asked.

"I told you. This ocean has no common logic to it. That compass isn't broken."

That was all Nami needed to come to a conclusion on her own. "Then, could it be a magnetic field?"

"That's right. The islands of the Grand Line are abundant with minerals causing abnormal magnetic fields along the entire line. What's more, the wind and currents here are completely unstable. If you are a navigator, you must realize how insurmountable this is."

"You're right… We'll be doomed if we don't have any way to determine our direction." She knew he was completely right.

"Delicious!" And Luffy didn't understand a thing about what Crocus and Nami were saying so he just ate.

Nami sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "I didn't know that. My bad!"

"Hey! This is bad! How are we gonna make it?!" Usopp began panicking.

"Hey, this ain't bad! It's great!" Luffy argued over something that had nothing to do with Usopp's panicking.

"HOLD IT YOU GUYS! WOULD YOU PLEASE BE QUIET FOR A SOCOND?!" Nami yelled at them.

"But it's really good! This blue-finned elephant tuna." Luffy told her.

"Navigating the Grand Line will be impossible if you don't have a Log Pose." Crocus continued explaining the situation to them.

"Log Pose? I've never heard of it." Nami admitted.

"It is a unique compass that memorizes a magnetic field." Crocus stated.

"A strange compass?" Luffy translated to himself.

"Yeah, they have a very distinct shape."

"Like that thing you found." Vergil realized.

"Like this?" Luffy showed them the strange thing he found.

"Yeah, like that. If you don't have this Log Pose sailing the Grand Line will be impossible."

"I see. But, hold on a second. Luffy? Vergil?" They both turned to the navigator and the bad feeling was back…

"WHY THE HELL DO YOU HAVE ONE?!" And she punched both of them and actually sent them to the ground.

Luffy and Vergil sat up without much problem.

"Those two weirdoes dropped it on the ship." Luffy explained.

"They did?"

"Why did you punch us?"

"I felt like it."

"Felt like it?"

Nami took the Log Pose. "So this is a Log Pose. There aren't any markings on it." Nami noticed as she studied the compass.

"The islands dotting the Grand Line obey the rules created by magnetic fields. So in order to travel from island to island the Log Pose must readapt to the magnetic field t each island, and it will point you in the right direction. The truth is that there's no way to determine your exact position in this ocean. You are utterly dependent on the magnetic field memorized by your Log Pose. You must first choose one of the seven magnetic fields emanating from Reverse Mountain. But regardless of which island you choose to start from your route will eventually join with the others into one final route. And the name of the island at the end of that route is… Raftel. The final island of the Grand Line. In all of history, the only person known to have confirmed its existence was the Pirate King. The island is legendary…"

"Raftel…" Nami spoke the name out loud.

"So it has to be there! One Piece!" Usopp exclaimed.

"Who can tell? That legend is the most prominent of all but not one other soul has yet reached there alive." Crocus warned them.

Luffy munched on the bones of the fish. "We'll find out when we get there!" At those words Crocus' eyes widened. Luffy let out a satisfied sigh. "Alright, I'm full. Let's set sail!"

"YOU HOGGED IT ALL TO YOURSELF?!" Sanji yelled at him.

"Whoa. Even the bones." Usopp's eyes were bugging out.

"The Log Pose, huh?" She looked so concentrated and was actually smiling, almost as if she felt the experience of using the Log Pose would be exciting. "This is truly precious. Our fate at sea is counting on it."

"You freakin' shitty rubber! I wanted Nami-san…! I wanted Nami-san to…! TO BE THE ONE TO EAT IT!" Sanji exclaimed regretfully and kicked Luffy right in the stomach, of course the rubber man had to fly right by Nami and break the Log Pose…

"Why'd you do that?" Luffy complained.

"You'd better be ready to die, shitty rubber…" Sanji hissed.

"Sanji-kun?" Nami said and it was clear that she was holding back the anger.

"Yes! Nami-san!" He was quite happy.

"YOU TWO! GO SOAK YOUR HEADS!" She proceeded to make then do so as she kicked them all the way into the ocean.

"Hey. Hold up. That was really, REALLY important, wasn't it?" Usopp was panicking.

"Our precious… Log Pose…" Nami was on the verge of tears at the tragedy that had fallen upon them.

"Don't worry. I've got another one you can take. I owe you one for saving Laboon." Crocus told them.

Laboon was also returning the favor as he pushed Luffy, Sanji and the whale hunters out of the water.

"Phew. I thought I was dead." Luffy said and then noticed the two weirdoes from before, for a moment his eyes met with the blue haired female.

Sanji looked at them, more precisely her and then knelt on one knee in front of her and held out his hand. "Allow me, honey."

"Why, thank you." She accepted his help and got up.

"Nice weather we're having, isn't it?" He was kinda opening the flirting ceremony.

"Hey! I have a request." Mr. 9 declared.

* * *

-A bit later-

* * *

Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday were kneeling in front of the crew.

"Whiskey Peak? Weird name…" Luffy said.

"What is it?" Usopp asked.

"It's the town we live in! Erm… sir." Mr. 9 said.

"Don't you have your own ship?" Nami asked.

"Sadly it was destroyed." Miss Wednesday explained.

Nami got closer to Mr. 9. "Wouldn't that be a little too kind on our part, Mr. 9? Considering you tried to kill that whale."

"Just who are you two?" Usopp joined in on a bit of interrogating.

"I am a kind." Mr. 9 blatantly lied.

"Liar." Nami pulled at his cheek as a vein popped on her head.

"We cannot say." Miss Wednesday exclaimed.

"But all we want is to return to our town! We didn't really want to do this kind of underhanded work…"

"…But please understand, 'Secrecy' is our organization's motto!"

"We truly cannot say anything!"

"We're begging you kind people to help us!"

"We will surely repay your kindness!"

They really talked in synch.

"Don't listen to them. No matter what they say, they're a couple of underhanded sleazebags." Crocus warned the crew.

Nami then showed them the broken Log Pose. "The thing is, we broke this Log Pose and don't have another… You sure you still want to come?"

And immediately their demeanor changed. "WHAT? YOU BROKE IT?! THAT WAS MINE, YOU KNOW!" Mr. 9 roared at her.

"You made us throw ourselves at your feet when you can't even go anywhere?!" Miss Wednesday joined in.

Nami grinned. "Oh, BUT Crocus-san is giving us another one."

And they were back on their knees and with their heads bowed down all the way to the ground.

"We throw ourselves on the mercy of your kindness!" Mr. 9 begged. "_Shit! That bitch tricked us into telling her everything!_"

"Sure. You can come." Luffy made the decision, one that greatly surprised the begging duo. "It's called Whiskey Peak? Let's go there."

"H-Hey, are you serious? We just met these guys and you're gonna bring them along just like that?!" Usopp was worried, after all they couldn't exactly trust them.

"Captain's orders. Furthermore if they try something we can deal with them." Vergil assured him.

"Yeah. Don't worry about the details like that." Luffy added.

"But the only place you can decide your course from is here at the starting point." Crocus made sure Luffy knew exactly what he was getting into with this decision.

"If we don't like it, we'll just try again." Luffy grinned.

"I see."

"Okay, let's get going. I've made a promise to the whale. Let's get ready to leave." Luffy stretched his arms above his head.

"And just who are you?" Miss Wednesday asked.

"Me? I'm… the man who's going to become the Pirate Kind!" Luffy declared.

Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday looked at each other before chuckling to themselves at the bold declaration. "_Foolish pirates_." She thought.

* * *

-A few hours later-

* * *

"Everything's ready. Your Log should be set. Did you orient it to the map?" Crocus was checking up on them for the last time.

"Yeah." Nami nodded. The Log Pose was safely secured around her wrist. "It's pointing towards Whiskey Peak."

"Later! Flower old man! Thanks for the Log Pose!" Luffy thanked him.

"Sure. Now get going."

"See ya. I'll be back, whale!" He bid his goodbye to the whale for now as well.

"Set course to Whiskey Peak! Full speed ahead!"

"AYE!"

As Laboon bellowed the crew set sail yet again.

"They might be the pirates we've been waiting for all this time. That man had the mysterious air to him. Don't you think so?" Crocus said, maybe to himself, maybe to someone else…

"Roger…"

* * *

_**Reverse Mountain Arc – Finished**_

* * *

_**And that's it. It took me a few days to get back into full on writing schedule and I guess the fact that counting this chapter I updated only 18 chapters in this year didn't help much. To show just how awful my updating has been over the last half a year I can tell you that I had 40 chapters by the end of last June. So while I do apologize for that I can guarantee to finish at least up until first Luffy VS Crocodile by the end of August. I am also aware that if I want to ever end this story properly I need to finish Alabasta saga by the end of the year so yeah, I needed to put this here so I can remind myself of that fact.**_

_**As for Vergil's monologue with Laboon, well that's kind of my take on how Laboon might feel. You can take it as Vergil being wrong or right, it's completely up to you.**_

* * *

_**Trivia:**_

_**-Vergil was at one point eaten along with the crew.**_

* * *

_**Next Arc – Whiskey Peak Arc**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – A Pirate-Loving Town**_


	93. A Pirate-Loving Town

**_Answers on reviews:_**

* * *

**_Guest – Thanks._**

**_20th CBoys fan – Thank you, I'm glad you like it._**

**_blazeinferno – thanks for the review, I'm happy to hear that._**

**_KP360 – Thanks._**

* * *

**_Arc 11 - Whiskey Peak Arc_**

* * *

**_Chapter 93 – A Pirate-Loving Town_**

* * *

Grand Line was truly ferocious and deadly place, capable of playing with hearts and minds of the pirates and marines alike. Once it bared it's fangs it was almost impossible to predict and now it was baring them right at the Straw Hats.

Going Merry was covered with snow, completely covered and to make matters worse it was still snowing with no apparent sign of weather planning to show mercy to the crew that came fresh from the safety of East Blue.

Nami was bundled up in a coat, scarf and pretty much anything she could find to warm her up. "How the hell can it be snowing? It was nice and warm just a minute ago…"

The rest of the crew was however taking the situation in a much better way. In fact Luffy and Usopp were playing.

"Okay! It's done! The man that came from the sky Snowman-san!" Luffy patted Snowman-san. Snowman was a person made completely out of snow thus he remained true to his name. He was made out of two balls of snow, had slice of a watermelon for mouth and two black marbles for eyes, his nose and his arms were actually wooden and he had a barrel as a hat, to keep him warm he also wore a green cape tied around his neck.

Usopp laughed slowly and Luffy, who had accumulated quite a mass of snow on his straw hat turned to him. "I've never seen such inferior snowcrafting." He then went and proudly presented a where good snow made copy of none other than Kaya sitting on something similar to a throne. "Behold! The art of my soul! 'The Snow Queen'." Usopp introduced it.

"He's whipped." Vergil commented, the white haired male was sitting on the railing observing the two.

"I AM NOT!" Usopp roared but there was a hint of blush on his cheeks.

"Whatever you say." Vergil grinned at him.

"WOW! AWESOME! **Snowman Punch**!" And Luffy made one of the wooden sticks fly right into Usopp's sculpture's head.

Usopp's eyes widened and then in fit of rage he gained the courage to attack the man that came from the sky, Snowman-san. His foot went right through the Snowman's head thus ending the short lifespan of the creation. "I'LL KICK YOUR ASS!"

"AHH! SNOWMAN-SAN!" And the all out brawl began…

"I'll get you for that!" Luffy tackled Usopp to the snow.

A moment later Luffy was running as Usopp threw a barrage of snowballs at him. "Here! That that!"

And then Luffy had enough and actually formed a human sized snowball. "Now it's my turn.

Vergil watched as Luffy collided the snow ball with Usopp and the sniper getting up, lifting the snowball with his body imprinted on in and chasing after laughing Luffy. "You bastard! I'm gonna…"

The duo continued their mock brawl and Vergil grinned at them, they certainly knew how to stay warm and have fun.

He wasn't the only one watching over Luffy and Usopp. "How can those two be so hyper in this freezing weather?"

Sanji on the other hand kept himself busy by shoveling the snow. "Nami-san! How long shall I continue my Snow Shoveling of Love?" Of course that was the reason behind his actions…

"Until it stops snowing, Sanji-kun!"

"Yes, Nami-san!"

"Hey you. Doesn't this ship have any heating?" Mr. 9 asked.

"I'm cold." Miss Wednesday added even though the two of them were just as bundled up as Nami, if not even more considering the addition blankets they used.

"SHUT YOUR TRAPS! YOU TWO AREN'T OUR GUESTS! GET OUT THERE AND START SHOVELING!" Just as soon as Nami yelled that a lightning cracked above the ship.

"That was a strong one." Vergil noticed.

"Lightning!" And it flashed again. "What's up with this weather?!" Nami tried to get a better understanding of the situation by recounting what happened up until now. "Just a while ago the weather was warm. Then for no good reason, it started snowing. Now there's thunder and lightning. The seasons are spinning out of control. It's just like Crocus-san said…"

"This is the Grand Line." Miss Wednesday reminded her.

"You have no idea what you're doing, do you?" Mr. 9 seemed to like poking fun of the woman that had them flip from begging to yelling and then back to begging not too long ago.

"And you're not even steering the helm. You sure that's a good idea?" Miss Wednesday was smirking at Nami.

"I just checked our heading a second ago." Nami assured them and then she stepped out.

Navigator checked the Log Pose and screamed.

Usopp and Luffy stopped their snowball battle and Sanji stopped shoveling.

"W-What is it?" Usopp asked.

"What's wrong?" Luffy was also quite curious.

"What's happened, Nami-san?" Sanji

Nami was looking at her Log Pose and it seemed like the needle was pointing… backwards?

"No way! Turn the ship around for 180 degrees! Hurry!" She surprised all of them with that order.

"180? Why are we turning back?" Usopp asked.

"You forgot something?" Luffy guessed.

"The ship reversed direction and we're heading the wrong way! I only took my eyes off the Log Pose for a second… And the waves were so quiet…" She muttered and then felt Vergil's hand on her shoulder.

Their eyes met. "This ocean has no idea who is navigating our ship." He was grinning confidently and Nami smiled.

"Are you really a navigator?" Miss Wednesday interrupted.

Nami glared at her and the blue haired female that felt a shiver run down her spine when she looked at Vergil's eyes. Yeah, she'd have to be a bit more careful with what she said or did…

The stupidly cocky smirk on her face was gone and she was now giving an actual advice, sort of. "On this ocean… The wind, the sky, the waves, the clouds… You can't trust any of it. The only thing you can trust is the direction the Log Pose's needle points. Get it now?"

And Nami had enough. "QUIT LECTURING AND GET OUT THERE AND HELP!" She snapped as she literally kicked them out of the room.

"Turn the brace yard! Catch the wind coming from starboard! Turn the ship 180 degrees to port! Usopp take the aft sail!"

"Right!"

"Sanji-kun! Take the helm!"

"Leave it to me, Nami-san!"

"Vergil! Watch out for any icebergs or anything that could damage Merry!"

"Got it!"

"You there! Keep it up!" She instructed Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday that were currently pulling at the ropes.

"She's so rude, that bitch." Mr. 9 complained.

"Quit bitching around." Was all Vergil needed to say for Mr. 9 to flinch, they haven't seen the demon in action but he seemed powerful.

"Hey wait, the wind's changing!" Usopp noticed.

"No way!" Nami was starting to lose her mind over this weather.

The sky was once again clear and the sun was shining but quite a cold wind began blowing.

"The first sign of spring!" Mr. 9 exclaimed as he and Miss Wednesday seemed to enjoy in this kind of weather.

"What?" Once again Nami was astonished.

"You idiot! Don't sleep when you're covered with snow!" Usopp yelled at Zoro.

Four of them run around while Vergil climbed close to the crow's nest so he could overlook the ocean and notice anything that might endanger the ship.

"Hey, there's a pod of dolphins over there. Let's go see 'em!" Luffy was oblivious to any kind of bad situation.

"SHUT UP, YOU!" Nami yelled at him.

"When did you even get to strip all those clothes off?" Vergil asked as he looked at now casually clothed navigator.

"CONCENTRATE!" She snapped.

"I get it, I get it." He gave a mock salute.

"There's a large iceberg at 10 o'clock! Don't steer the ship, just keep going!" Vergil yelled but no one had the time to ask questions.

"The waves are getting bigger!" Usopp added.

"Nami-san, there's a fog!" Sanji went and told her even more bad news.

"What is WRONG with this ocean?!" Nami was panicking.

"We're gonna hit!" Usopp screamed.

"VERGIL! Do something!" Nami cried out.

And he did. The Demon Hunter landed onto Merry's figurehead, jumped forward once again and **Demon Slid** away from the ship. "**Devil Arms: Dark Edge**." The broadsword appeared on his command and his eyes shone brightly.

"**Hell… Reaper**!" The darkness slash sliced the iceberg in half and made more than enough space for Merry to pass.

"Luffy." Was all Vergil needed to say for the captain whose eyes were glowing with excitement to stretch his arm and pull Vergil back onto the deck.

Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday were utterly speechless and scared as they stared at the halved iceberg. Now they were actually questioning their plan…

"That's my demon." Nami muttered to herself as she watched Vergil and Luffy grinning at each other. Still he had no time to sit around. "The clouds are moving fast!" And the storm was incoming. "The wind…"

"Huge!" Luffy was holding onto his straw hat.

"It's coming…" Miss Wednesday realized.

"Take in the sails! The winds getting too strong! If the sails catch that much, we'll capsize!" Nami instructed.

Sanji stepped out of the kitchen with a large plate of rice balls. "Guys, eat up! It'll keep your energy up!"

Usopp quickly ate one and got the other one, Mr. 9 took a few for himself and Miss Wednesday while Luffy was stuffing his mouth.

"Dork! You're taking too many!" Sanji bonked the captain over the head but Luffy didn't exactly stop eating.

Vergil grabbed two and quickly swallowed one of them.

"There's going to be a storm, right?" Vergil asked Nami as he ran up to her.

"Yes, looks like it'll be a big one." She looked worried.

"I'm going to go to the top of the mast and make sure Merry doesn't take any lightning strikes." He volunteered to be the Straw Hat Pirates' personal lightning rod.

Nami nodded and gave him a bit of a puzzled look when he offered her the rice ball.

"Come on and eat it, you need to keep that brain at 100 percent, you need it more than us." He grinned at her and she took it.

"Sanji's cooking really is the best." She said as she took a bite of it.

"There's no one who can argue with that." He grabbed the rope that Nami was holding up until then and pulled it. Still he was too late, the sails began ripping.

"Crap! That sail's tearing!" Usopp ran up to them.

"You're free, get up there and fix it somehow!" The navigator ordered.

"We've sprung a leak below deck!" Miss Wednesday exclaimed.

"Shit!" Usopp went to fix it.

The crew was struggling with sails and the lightning began roaring around the ship.

Vergil handed the rope to Sanji and **Air Hiked** up to the top of the mast to intercept a lightning that was heading for the ship. Being a lightning demon, he was not only pretty much immune to lightning but he was also recovering a bit of his strength by being exposed to direct strike of the naturally caused lightning.

After what felt like hours the weather had finally stabilized and the green haired swordsman woke up. He sleepily stretched his arms up and then sat up. "Good nap." He stood up and then saw the state of his crew. Usopp was slumped against the railing, Sanji was on the floor and so were Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday and Nami was on the upper deck in a similar position.

"Hey, hey. Aren't you guys being a little lazy on a nice day like this? You know where we're headed, right?" He probably chose the worst words to say at the worst possible moment.

"_YOU…_" Nami, Usopp and Sanji were downright furious at that but they still found no strength to say anything.

And then the swordsman noticed two guests they had. "Why're you two on board?"

"SLOW!" Mr. 9 snapped.

Luffy and Vergil seemed like the only ones capable of doing anything at the moment as the Captain simply had a lot of energy and the First Mate was recharged, literally.

"We're headed towards their town. The place's called Whiskey Peak." Luffy explained.

"You mean we're giving them a lift? It's not like we owe them anything." Zoro said.

"Yeah. Nothing." Luffy agreed with that.

"Well, not that I care." He proceeded to get down to an eye level with Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday. "Those look like faces that have nasty ideas… What were those names again?"

The duo flinched away.

"Please call me Mr. 9"

"I'm Miss Wednesday."

"Really?" Zoro rubbed his chin as if he was thinking of something. "I've been thinking about those names since I first heard them. Maybe I've heard them before, maybe I haven't…" And he was making them shiver slightly. "Well, either way-" And he was interrupted by Nami punching him on top of the head and making him hit the board with his face.

The swordsman cried out in pain as he sat up abruptly.

An orange flaming aura enveloped Nami and if looks could kill Zoro would be long gone with the way she was looking at him. "YOU. I hope you enjoyed taking that little nap of yours… Snoring away, no matter how much we tried to wake you…"

Zoro was engulfed with green aura but when compared to Nami even his attempt to fight back was in vain.

Three punches later he was nursing three lumps on his head.

"Stay on your toes, everyone. Who knows what might happen next? I can finally grasp the fearsomeness of this ocean! I understand why they call it the Grand Line… I know because none of my navigation skills worked!" Nami declared.

"Will we… really be okay?" After what they went through Usopp was quite worried.

"It'll be fine. Something good will come our way. And if you want proof… Look! The first log of our journey is complete!" She pointed her finger at the island in the distance, they reached it, the Whiskey Peak. The island looked like a couple of gigantic round cacti from the distance but it was an overall big island.

"Land ho!" Luffy exclaimed as he sat on Merry's figurehead.

"So this is Whiskey Peak… Sure is a weird-looking island." Sanji commented.

"Check out those huge cacti!" Luffy exclaimed.

"The Human World sure has weird islands." Vergil was honestly surprised by it.

And the weird duo jumped onto the railing and made a slight bow as they knelt on one knee.

"This is our stop." Mr. 9 said.

"Thank you for the ride, my honeys." Miss Wednesday thanked them.

"We'll meet again, if it is to be!" Mr. 9 added.

"Bye-bye, baby!" They both jumped into the water and began swimming toward the island.

"There they go." Nami didn't really care but she still said it.

"Who were those guys?" Usopp wondered.

"Who cares? We're here!" Luffy was too excited about their first island in the Grand Line to care.

"There's a river mouth up ahead. Looks like we can disembark there." Nami stated.

"You don't think there'll be monsters and stuff here, do you?" Usopp was getting anxious.

"Could be. This is the Grand Line." And Sanji did an amazing job at keeping him that way.

"If we meet some monsters, we can just leave, right?" Luffy was surprisingly the one to ask that. Or perhaps he was hoping for the answer to be negative and thus they'd be forced to go on an adventure.

"No we can't. Don't forget there is a certain amount of time we have to stay on this island." Nami probably gave him the answer he was hoping for.

"How come?" Luffy remained interested in the topic.

Nami simply pointed at the Log Pose. "We have to let the Log Pose adapt to this island's magnetic field. Or else we can't continue on to the next island. The time it takes to adapt Is different for each island. Therefore, some islands may take only a few hours, but others may take days."

"What? So even if we want to get off this 'Monster Island' we might not be able to leave for DAYS because of the Log?" Usopp was hoping he got it wrong.

"That's right." And Nami shattered his hopes.

Luffy grinned. "Well if it happens, we'll worry about it then. Let's just go!"

"Luffy's right. Let's go. Just thinking about it isn't gonna get us anywhere." Zoro joined in.

"And no matter what happens, I'll protect Nami-san!" Sanji declared.

"Hey, everyone, listen to me. I've suddenly contracted I-can't-get-on-this-island disease…" Usopp was holding onto his neck as if he was having troubles with breathing and his voice was kinda hoarse.

"Just stay close to us if you are scared." Vergil told him.

"Vergil! You'll protect me, right?" Usopp practically jumped in front of the first mate.

"Yeah, of course." And with that Usopp felt somewhat safer, really even if it was the Grand Line the monsters of the crew should be capable of dealing with them.

"All right. We'll go. But, remember, be prepared to run or fight at any time." Nami warned them.

Going Merry was going deeper and deeper into the island's territory and the fog was starting to obscure the crew's vision.

"I wonder what's in store for us." Sanji wondered.

"P-Please." Usopp begged for something safe.

And Luffy of course chuckled.

* * *

-On the island-

* * *

Three males, hidden by the fog observed the Going Merry.

"Hey, it's a pirate ship. Pirates have come."

* * *

-Going Merry-

* * *

They were sailing for quite some time now and finally they could see the silhouettes moving on the shore.

"Something's moving." Luffy was the first to point it out.

"People? There are people on shore!" Sanji informed everyone else.

"Are they humans… or demons?" Nami had to ask, after all demon next to her would look quite like a human if you didn't see his eyes.

"Humans. No matter how strong and skilled they are they wouldn't be able to mask this much power." Vergil assured her.

"I see. Good to hear. Still, everyone, on your guard." Nami said.

"Ah… Shit…" Usopp was standing on shaky legs as he prepared his slingshot and put the goggles on. "I guess I'll have to brace for the worst. Be you monsters or whatever…"

Zoro lightly held onto the Wado as he stood his guard.

"COME ON OUT!" Usopp dared to challenge the potential attackers.

And the attackers were… most common people… that were actually cheering.

"Welcome to the Grand Line!"

"Welcome to our town!"

"The town of celebration… Whiskey Peak!"

And the crew was left astonished.

"The Monster Island is… welcoming us?" Usopp expressed his disbelief.

"Is this supposed to be normal?" Vergil asked.

"What's going on?" And it seemed like no one was capable of providing him with answer as Sanji was also confused.

"Pirate crew! WELCOME!" The townsfolk were waving flags with 'Welcome' written on them and greeting them. If they didn't know any better they'd think they were some heroes or something.

"Long live the heroes of the sea! Banzai!"

As Sanji got a closer look at the crowd his eye turned into heart. "Oh! There's so many cute girls!"

Usopp was sending them kisses. "They love us! Pirates really are heroes to everyone, aren't they!"

"HEY!" Luffy greeted them as well.

"This certainly doesn't look like place from which an order to kill a whale would come." Vergil pondered on the possibilities.

"I guess no one needs to remind you to be on guard." Zoro commented.

"I suppose. What do you think about this?"

"It's strange, that much is clear. Well, whatever happens, happens."

They dropped the anchor and set foot on Whiskey Peak where someone that looked like mayor with long and curly hair that looked like oversized traditional judge curls greeted them.

"Welco-" He suddenly coughed. "Mah-mah-maaah!" He sang to get his voice back from hoarse to smooth. "Welcome. My name is Igarappoi. I am the mayor of Whiskey Peak."

"I'm Luffy. Nice to meet ya." Luffy introduced himself. "Old man, your hair's way too curly." He pointed at Igarappoi's hair.

"This is the town of sake brewing and lively music, Whiskey Peak!" And he ignored the hair comment. "We take pride in our hospitality. We have an entire ocean of sake for your enjoyment. Would you care to join us in celebration and share stories of your adventures? We would be-" And his voice failed him again. "Mah-mah-maaah!" He sang again. "We would be delighted to hear them."

"OUR PLEASURE!" Sanji, Luffy and Usopp exclaimed.

"Three stooges." Nami had her hands on her hips as she watched the immature behavior of her three nakama.

"Hey, by the way." Nami got Igarappoi's attention. "How long will it take for the Log to adapt to this island?"

"Log? Let's not talk about such formal things. Take a well-deserved rest from your travels, please!" Igarappoi stepped behind Nami and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Now, everyone! Prepare for a celebration! A song for our adventurous guests!"

The people cheered and Igarappoi began leading Nami, well he planned to. "Hands. Off. Now." Vergil, already as suspicious as he was also took being protective up to eleven.

Igarappoi did as he was told and Nami smiled apologetically. "Sorry about that, Vergil is a bit protective."

"Have n-" And his voice failed again. "Mah-mah-maaah! Have no worries, I understand. Now, let us go to the party."

Though she apologized Nami sent Vergil a smile over her shoulder to show that she did appreciate little act of protectiveness.

No one noticed an otter clacking at the shell on top of a vulture…

* * *

-Later, at night-

* * *

The night had already fallen and the crew was immersed in a party for quite a few hours by now. Yet the music, food and alcohol were still going strong.

Usopp put on his manly brave face as he pointed a finger and stared down at his imaginary opponent. "And then I said, quite calmly… 'Even if you are Sea Kings, you ain't gonna lay a hand on my nakama.'"

Of course this earned him quite a few females swooning over him. "That's so cool!"

"Well, when we were escaping the Calm Belt, I must admit even I was quivering. Quivering with excitement." His lying was good for once, anyone who wasn't there might even believe this.

"Amazing!"

"Cheers to Usopp-san!" And the townsfolk did believe him.

Vergil was simply drinking a glass of water at one of the tables near Zoro.

"You aren't going to drink?" Zoro asked.

"I am drinking."

"Alcohol."

"I don't drink alcohol."

The swordsman looked at him in bewilderment. "At all?"

"There is one kind of cocktail I do drink but that's about it." The white haired male stated.

Nami sat down right next to Vergil and he offered her a bit of a puzzled look, he didn't mind her sitting right next to him but this was kinda unusual.

"What?" She asked him.

"That's my line. What's wrong?" He was worried, Nami sought the direct contact when she was either scared or uncomfortable.

"Don't tell me I can't sit next to you?" She challenged and the fact that she seemed completely relaxed calmed him down as well.

"No, it was just a bit unusual."

"Get used to it." She stuck her tongue out at him.

Igarappoi walked up to them carrying two mugs of alcohol. "Here you are. Please feel free to help yourself."

Nami raised her hands at that. "Oh no, really. I'm fine without alcohol."

"Don't worry-" Voice failure initiated. "Mah-mah-maaah!" And he fixed it. "Don't worry yourself. This is our finest wine, made from the highest quality grapes on this island. Our Special Drink. Although it is called the Wine of the Sea, there's little alcohol in it."

Nami picked u the mug and drank. A smile appeared on her face. "You're right! It's delicious!"

"This year's grape harvest was exceptional. And to celebrate the harvest our traditional Kanpai Contest!" People around Igarappoi cheered. "Let me explain. It's a contest where everyone keeps drinking, and the last one standing is the winner. Everyone please join in."

Nami once again raised her hands to try and get out of the contest. "I'm fine. I couldn't possibly drink that much."

"And the prize is. 100,000 beri!"

Just as he uttered that Nami had a mug downed and raised it up as she stood by Vergil. "Fill 'er up!"

"Zoro, Vergil, you're taking part too."

"I'm not." Vergil refused right away and quite firmly, two stared at one another before Nami finally gave up.

"You need money, right Zoro?"

"What?" Well he was going to drink anyway so he might as well join in.

Luffy on the other hand was eating hell of a lot of food and at a frantic pace as well.

In little to no time Zoro drank another tankard of wine.

"Wow! He's already on his 10th tankard!" Someone from the crowd was counting.

"I can't… d-drink anymore." One of the contesters fell…

"Another!" Zoro requested.

"But SHE'S already on her 12TH TANKARD!" And Nami out drank two more of them.

"Oh YEAH!" She yelled as she wiped her mouth.

"More!" Luffy demanded.

"Wow! Their Captain's already eaten 20 servings of food!"

"The cook fainted!"

And the cook really did fall down with the knife still in his hand. "Need… a break…"

Sanji was surrounded by women and was laughing like mad.

"And this guy's wooing 20 girls at the same time!"

"What kind of crew IS this?"

"And this one fell asleep even with all the music and noise!" They watched as Vergil seemed to sleep his way through the party.

"Vergil! Come on and drink!" Nami yelled at him to wake up.

"Later… Tired…" He mumbled.

Igarappoi laughed. "Yes, truly a delight-" He coughed. "Mah-mah-maaah! A delightful evening! There's nothing better to see than everyone enjoying themselves!" He laughed but then when he was sure no one was paying attention his face turned from cheerful to sinister. "Yes, definitely. Nothing better."

Igarappoi failed to notice a dangerous glint flashing in Vergil's eyes. The demon didn't lie, he really didn't drink alcohol so he was still completely aware of everything around him.

* * *

_**And that's it.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Zoro VS Bounty Hunters**_


	94. Zoro VS Bounty Hunters

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review. As for the questions, he's not going to interfere directly with Zoro VS bounty hunters, that's Zoro's time to shine after all, but he will change the plot a bit afterwards.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks for the review. Yeah, I suppose it can be a bit surprising.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**Guest – Thank you, I will try my best.**_

_**Guest – Thank you. I'm glad you found time to catch up and I'm happy to hear that you liked it.**_

_**Guest – Thanks for the review. Well the second part of the review will be shown in the next chapter, maybe even the first one depending on how long the next chapter ends up being. Anyway I don't really want to spoil anything.**_

_**Naroku – Thanks for the review and don't worry, I haven't been updating much lately so I'm the one that needs to apologize first. As for the Demon World part of the story, it'll come after Strong World, yes, it looks so far away and it really is but that's point of the story where I feel it would fit the most.**_

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_**Chapter 94 – Zoro VS Bounty Hunters**_

* * *

Somewhere on Whiskey Peak Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday were writing their report and apology for the Boss.

"And due to their interference, our provision acquisition mission ended in failure. However, we would like to report that we have successfully lured their crew to Cactus Island. B-a-b-y!" And he was done writing the letter. "Very good!" Furthermore he seemed rather pleased with it. "Once the Boss gets this, we'll be cleared of our disgrace!" He rolled the parchment and handed it to Miss Wednesday.

"That's right." She confirmed it as she took it. "I'll put it in the Unluckies Box." She stepped out and placed the rolled parchment into a mail box. "They'll deliver it for us." On the mailbox there was something similar to a Jolly Roger with a 'BAROQUE' written above the skull. "To the Boss."

* * *

-With the Straw Hats-

* * *

Zoro lowered the empty tankard on the table. "That's it. I'm done. Nap time."

"And after his 13th tankard, bro here is DOWN!"

"What's WRONG with you, Zoro?!" Nami was obviously very loud when she was drunk and the blush on her face seemed to confirm her drunk state even further. "You're such a wuss."

"It's down to these two."

The only competitors left were Nami and dark skinned nun.

"That girl's at her 15th!"

"She's up against the Sister!"

"Perhaps you should take it easy for your health's sake…" Sister gave a simple warning to Nami but seeing as the woman was sweating it was probably due to simply wanting Nami to back out.

"Hypocrite…" Vergil muttered as he continued his sleeping.

"What're you talkin' about? I won't stop 'til I win that prize! AHAHAHAHA!" And Nami was laughing like crazy…

On the other side of the bar Luffy actually fell down looking like he had inflated himself. "That was so good!"

"And now THREE cooks are out!"

"It was my pleasure." One of them mumbled.

Nami and Sister were still going at it but Sister finally fell onto the table.

Nami raised her tankard. "I WIN! AHAHAHAHAHA!" And she leaned against the tables as she felt quite dizzy. "Oh, I feel good."

"And she's finally down."

Usopp was close to falling asleep as well. "Ah, what a great town."

Sanji was delirious as he rested his head on the lap of one of the females he was flirting with. "This is paradise."

As the townsfolk relaxed and didn't pay much attention Vergil and Zoro glanced at one another. The look in Zoro's eyes made Vergil give him a subtle nod, they decided to leave this to the green haired swordsman. But for now, they'd keep the appearance, just until everyone was out and the only ones that remained were their nakama.

* * *

-Outside-

* * *

As the lights went off in the bar, Igarappoi's voice spoke of the ill fate that was bestowed upon the crew.

"They've finally tired themselves out and fallen asleep. Sweet dreams. My little adventurers." He made a small pause. "This night, the dancing moonlight is glistening beautifully on the Cactus Rocks."

"Well, aren't you the poet, Igarappoi?" The tall man was not alone, there on the roof Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday were watching over him. "Rather, Mr. 8." Mr. 9 was the one to speak.

"It's you two." Mr. 8 simply acknowledged their presence.

"What of them?" Miss Wednesday asked.

"They've fallen." Another brief pause. "Into Hell, that is."

Miss Wednesday looked at him and for a moment it looked like though ready she didn't want to do this out of malice…

Sister walked out of the bar. "Honestly… They were a stubborn bunch. We had to keep putting more and more alcohol in their drinks. If we hadn't, they'd still be awake causing ruckus." She began taking off her nun outfit. "Still, was it really necessary to put on that drama?" Sister was an incredibly tall and muscular pink haired female with short hair tied in twin-tails, she was dressed in a magenta and white diamond patterned dress. "For five measly little kids and even more pathetic demon that fell asleep without even touching the alcohol?" At her question Mr.9 and Miss Wednesday panicked, the demon in question was not pathetic, that much they were sure of. After all, how could anyone pathetic slice an iceberg in half? "We should have finished them off at the harbor. Even without them here, the whole town has a food shortage to worry about. I knew these two wouldn't be able to bring back that whale meat." And she was finally done with ranting.

"You don't have to say it like that! We tried very hard, I'll have you know!" Mr. 9 snapped at her.

"Compose yourself!" Mr. 8 berated both of them. "Look at this. I've been doing some checking on them." And he pulled out the wanted posters of none other than 'Straw Hat' Monkey D. Luffy worth 30 million beri and 'Black Thunder' Leonidas Vergil worth 18 million beri.

"30 million and 18 million beri?! That's 48 million beri!" The other three screamed.

"THOSE GUYS?" Mr. 9 exclaimed.

"It is foolish to judge a pirate's abilities by their appearance alone, Miss Mo-" And his voice failed him. "Mah-mah-maaah! Miss Monday."

"I-I'm ashamed." She rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment.

"But now that they've been disposed of, we can make a favorable report to the Boss. We'll take all the valuables on their ship immediately." Mr. 8 stated. "Furthermore that demon went down easily, you could even say too easily…"

"And what about them?" Miss Monday asked.

"What will we do?" Getting the prize on the heads of the Captain and the First Mate were a must do, but the question was how to approach the task so Mr. 9's question was completely justified.

"If we kill them, we lose 30% of the bounty. The government enjoys its public executions, after all." Mr. 8 paused for a few moments. "Go! Capture them alive!"

A blade flashed in the moonlight. "Hey. Sorry to interrupt. But, could you let them sleep a little longer?" Zoro was there, on one of the roofs sitting cross legged with raised sword in his hand and the surprised quartet turned to them. "They're tired from this afternoon's voyage."

Two of the townsfolk got out. "Mr. 8! Miss Monday! The one wearing a haramaki has escaped…!"

Miss Wednesday sighed. "He's up there."

"Fiend! You should be completely unconscious!" Mr. 8 seemed furious at this development.

"No true swordsman, no matter the circumstances allows himself to be overwhelmed by drink." Zoro told them. "I see what's going on here… This is a nest of bounty hunters. You deceive merry pirates just as they've made it into the Grand Line and then take them for all their worth. Looks like there's roughly 100 bounty hunters here. I'll take you on. Baroque Works!"

The eyes of the ones with coded names widened at that. How could he know and just how much did he know? That was going through their heads, they couldn't know the answer but they knew… The swordsman could not be left alive at any cost!

"How do you know that name?!" Mr. 8 was the first one to speak.

Zoro was already standing. "A while back when I was still in this line of work, your organization sent a scout to talk with me. I refused of course. The members know nothing about each other and call each other by codenames. And of course, the Boss' location and identity are a puzzle even to the members. A criminal organization that faithfully carries out its orders, Baroque Works." Zoro's smirk widened. "Was it supposed to be a secret?" He was taunting them.

"This is surprising." Mr. 8 said. "Since you know our little secret, we have no choice but to eliminate you. And then…" He raised his head to glare at Zoro. "We will add another gravestone to the Cactus Rocks."

The cactus looking hills… What looked like cactus needles from afar… Those were actually graves… Thousands of them…

Mr. 8 smirked. "KILL HIM!" He pointed at the roof as he yelled out the order but… Zoro was no longer there.

The eyes of the bounty hunters widened…The man they were supposed to kill vanished.

"H-He disappeared!" Miss Wednesday exclaimed.

"He's gone!" Mr. 9 was astonished, first that damned white haired demon now this swordsman, just what kind of crew did they end up running into?

"W-Where the hell did he go?!" Mr. 8 implored.

And while the bounty hunters looked around the town the last place they thought about checking was the exact place where Zoro was. Right in the middle of them looking at the roof.

"Okay…" Zoro grinned as bounty hunters took a step away from him. "Shall we?"

Bounty hunters pointed their rifles and guns at Zoro. "Bastard, making fun of us!"

"FIRE!"

Bullets missed the target and the bounty hunters that were standing on the path of bullets were shot instead. Zoro disappeared once again… Just like that, a few dozen of bounty hunters were down.

"Those idiots! They shot each other!" Mr. 8 cursed.

"H-He disappeared again!" Mr. 9 and Miss Wednesday no longer had any doubts… The swordsman they were up against was in a league of his own.

Mr. 8 was growing more and more frustrated. "Hurry up and kill him! It's just one swordsman!"

He should not have underestimated that one swordsman, not when that one swordsman was capable of killing him.

And Zoro had proven himself capable of cutting through Mr. 8's head without the agent even noticing before it was too late as the blade cut through the hair right next to Mr. 8's ear.

Zoro was smiling confidently, he didn't even need to look around, he had absolutely everything under his control. "Let me ask you something… Will adding just one grave be enough?"

Mr. 8 swallowed a lump that was forming in his throat.

Unfortunately for him he was working with retards…

"There he is! Right here!" Someone shouted as numerous bounty hunters pointed their guns at Zoro and Mr. 8.

Mr. 8 went blue with fear. "Y-You idiots! Are you trying to shoot me too?! Stop!" They didn't… "Igarappa!" He took his trumpet and blew in it, yet, instead of sounds it made the bullets shoot the bounty hunters…

It took Zoro just a few moments but he once again left the sights of the bounty hunters.

"Now where did he disappear to? That man…" The feeling of frustration in Mr. 8's voice grew more prominent.

Zoro was quite close, right behind one of the buildings. He let out a sigh of relief. "That thing's a shotgun? It nearly got me."

"It seems that we'll have to deal with this one ourselves." Mr. 9 stated.

Miss Wednesday moved her clenched hand and surprisingly outstretched little finger back. Miss Monday cracked her knuckles. Mr. 8 was still trembling as he looked at the cut strand of hair.

"Does he really think he can fight all of us by himself? Even after revealing he recognizes us as Baroque Works." Mr. 8 knew the answer, the swordsman may have made it out of their trap but the rest of his crew didn't… He was doing this to keep them safe because as long as their attention was solely on him he can buy time. Mr. 8 only hoped that the suspicious demon stayed out of this as well…

Speaking of the demon… Vergil was completely awake, sitting next to Nami who was resting her arms and head on the table and sleeping while the rest of the crew was snoring away the night.

"Pretty girl, hey… Won't you come a little closer…" Sanji mumbled.

"Songs praising the great Usopp, #721… Here we go…" As if one of them wasn't enough, Usopp joined in…

Vergil had the back of his head leaning against the sofa as he looked at the ceiling, he heard the gunshots but he was certain Zoro was completely fine.

"So this 'welcoming town' of Whiskey Peak is really a nest of bounty hunters…" Nami opened one of her eyes and looked at him. At the sound of the navigator's voice Vergil looked at her. "I figured it was something like that."

"So what are you going to do?" Vergil asked.

"Naturally I'll go and steal their treasure." She was still leaning against the table.

"I doubt you'll find much. They don't look like a bunch that actually has a lot of treasure." He made a short pause.

"Don't tell me you are worried?" Nami sat up and leaned in towards him.

"I am." Yeah, the white haired male was blunt, very blunt, but she supposed she didn't mind it in these situations.

"Don't worry, I've been stealing for eight years." It didn't do much to reassure him.

"That doesn't really stop me from worrying."

She still grinned at him, there was nothing he could say to stop her and he simply decided to let her have her way.

* * *

-With Zoro-

* * *

And the bounty hunters still couldn't find Zoro.

"Where is he?!"

"Find him!"

Zoro gripped the handles of his other two swords, the new ones he got not too long ago. "My new boys I got in Loguetown… Yubashiri. Sandai Kitetsu. This is a good chance to give you two a serious test." His smirk widened. "I'll let you loose on these guys!"

His chatting was over as one of the bounty hunters pointed a gun at him from the roof above Zoro.

"Hyahyaha! Found ya!"

Zoro's eyes widened as the bounty hunter pulled the trigger. "DIE!"

The bullet was evaded and Zoro jumped through the doors and into one of the houses.

"Shit." Bounty hunter cursed but Zoro was yet to get out of the predicament he got himself in.

Half a dozen of bounty hunters joined in and pointed their guns at Zoro who due to limited space around him had no choice but to jump behind a table and roll it so he could use it as a temporary shield.

Bullets ricocheted around the room and though some went through the table none actually managed to hit Zoro, in fact the swordsman was quite casual about the entire situation.

"I'll start with Yubashiri." He unsheathed it, sliced through the table in half thus surprising the bounty hunters. The surprise ended up costing them as Zoro needed less than a moment to get past them and slice them.

"Light! Nice katana." He made a satisfied grin as he gave his judgment of the new blade.

It didn't take long for other bounty hunters to start chasing after Zoro as well.

"We've got him now! This way!" Ignorance was a bliss. "Wait!"

"Found me, eh?" And he didn't seem worried at all as he ran up the stairs to the roof.

"He's going to the roof!"

"Eat this!" Someone dared to fire a bazooka at Zoro but he quickly ducked under it.

"That was close!" He may have dodged the cannon ball but he was certainly defenseless at the moment.

"End of the line."

Miss Monday threw a barrel filled with wine at Zoro but he sliced it into four pieces, just enough to knock out the bounty hunters in front of him.

Zoro sighed, he was looking kinda regretful over what he had to do. "That was good wine. What a waste."

While Miss Monday greeted her teeth in frustration another bounty hunter who was wielding a stone axe attacked Zoro from behind.

Zoro quickly drew Sandai Kitetsu with intention of blocking the axe and then counterattacking, but as he jumped to his feet and sliced the blade went right through the axe and his counter with Yubashiri was enough to make the opponent fall.

"What kind of response was that?! What an overwhelming bloodlust, Sandai Kitetsu!" He understood what this meant… "A Meito is only supposed to cut when its master commands… This one looks like a problem child. Is this what it means to own a cursed blade?" An ominous red glint flashed against the blade for a brief moment, the blade was thirsty for blood and it looked ready to affect its wielder.

Suddenly a child like battle cry caught Zoro's attention, he turned around and knocked a small knife out of the child's hands. The former bounty hunter stood there with unsheathed swords as nun ran up and held the boy in her arms.

"Oh, God, grant us your Divine protection…" She began praying for the safety of her child and herself. "Your benevolence…" Zoro's face remained emotionless as he looked directly into the eyes of the woman. "Grant us your divine protection to save us!" Suddenly the crying stopped, the nun smirked and the crest held in her hands spared the pepper spray. "**God's Blinding Protection.**" And it failed, Zoro was already behind the two.

And he hit them with the blunt sides of his blades. "You're supposed to use the innocent act against kind-hearted people." The fell down unconscious. "I used the back of my sword, be grateful." He proceeded to climb up another ladder while bounty hunters again began chasing after him.

"He's going up even higher!"

"Corner him!"

"He's over here!"

"Get ahead of him!"

"Surround him!"

"AYE!"

They entered the bar in which Sanji, Usopp and Luffy were sleeping only to halt when Dark Edge stabbed into the floor a few feet before they reached Usopp.

"Get out or die. It's your choice." Vergil said as he stood up and walked up to the Dark Edge.

The bounty hunters looked at his eyes and more or less froze, the killing intent was clear in his eyes and it became even worse when Vergil pulled out the Dark Edge and pointed it towards them.

"You… SHOOT HIM!" Someone dared to order. They pointed their guns and rifles at Vergil and fired.

He had nowhere to go, nowhere to run or dodge, his crew was behind him and though Luffy was bulletproof the other two weren't and the chances of a stray bullet shooting Usopp or Sanji were high enough for Vergil to stand his ground.

He raised his left hand and pointed his palm toward the bounty hunters. Lightning cracked around his arm and sparks shot toward the bullets. "Bunch of retards." He sighed and the utterly frightened bounty hunters took a step back when lightning circled around Vergil's entire body.

"_Screw the shortcut, let's run around_." A thought that pretty much in one form or another crossed the minds of the bounty hunters as they ran out.

As they left the Dark Edge disappeared and Vergil sat back down, he closed his eyes and decided that this was a better decision in the long run.

Of course the decision Vergil was thinking about had something to do with Nami. Whether to let her go on her own or to leave the sleeping trio defenseless.

Nami made sure he understood the priorities clearly. 'I can deal with this, they need you more than I do right now. Seriously, sleeping while there's at least a hundred bounty hunters around here.' The fond smile on her face left him unable to argue, and he had no reason to because as it was she was completely right. And now she was out in the town looking for treasure.

* * *

-With Nami-

* * *

And Nami was looking for treasure… and looking… and looking… and opening any and all places where one could hide the treasure…

What she found was utterly humiliating for both the bounty hunters who had no success whatsoever and for her because she believed they'd have something more to offer.

"This is all the treasure they have? Some bounty hunter nest this is. This sure is a pretty meager town… Whiskey Peak."

* * *

-In the streets-

* * *

"Hahahahaha! He's got nowhere else to run up there!" Ignorance truly was a bliss.

The bounty hunters began going up the ladder to follow Zoro but as soon as one reached the top he saw Zoro slowly pushing the ladders and the pulling them back while smirking. Yeah, they were doomed…

"No! Please don't…!" He pleaded but Zoro was for once playing a cruel game with them.

And the ladders were pushed off.

"The ladder's falling!" Someone felt the extreme need to state the obvious…

Zoro jumped and landed on the falling ladder which he then used to leap once again and reach the other roof.

"He's coming right at us!"

"FIRE!"

Bullets missed.

"**Two** **Sword** **Style**…" He landed on the roof and swung his blades. "**Hawk Wave**!"

More bounty hunters jumped down toward Zoro but he quickly made use of Sandai Kitetsu's sharp edge to cut a hole in the roof. He stepped out of the perfect circle and casually walked away.

Of course five bounty hunters landed right onto the cut area.

"Be careful, I cut a hole there." As if on cue, roof gave in and they crashed down…

Zoro's eyes widened when he saw the shadow of ladder being swung right at him as if they were a mere bat. The shadow made the attack clearly visible and he ducked under it.

"Crap! She almost got me!"

The one doing the attacking was none other than Miss Monday. The broken ladder were thrown away and she put on a brass knuckle on her right hand. "Don't get too cocky. No man can defeat me with strength alone."

She grabbed him and lifted him off the ground but she was still taller than him. "This is the end for you." Miss Monday raised him up even more and clenched her hand around Zoro's neck. The swordsman greeted his teeth as the muscular female squeezed the life out of him. She decided to end things as she slammed him against the roof. Zoro grunted in pain and she pulled her fist back. "**Superhuman** **Strength**!" Zoro's eyes widened. "**Fist**!" And she slammed the brass knuckle equipped fist right onto Zoro's head. The impact was so strong that the roof beneath them cracked and though it didn't give in a shatter the damage was clearly done.

Of course knowing the strength of his partner Mr. 8 believed it was over.

"What a was-" and his voice failed him, again. "Ma-ma! What a waste of time. But it looks like he's finally finished. It's 'The End'." And it wasn't.

Just as the trio turned to leave ad get the remaining five pirates Miss Monday's scream echoed through the streets.

"What?!"

"M-Miss Monday!" Mr. 9 exclaimed and right there on the roof Miss Monday was down on one knee, still almost as tall as Zoro by the way, holding onto Zoro's arm looking like she was trying and failing miserably to set herself free from the grip the swordsman had on her head.

"What happened to all that boasting? Didn't you want a contest of strength? Eh?" Zoro glared at her as her hands fell down to her sides, she no longer had any strength to fight both the swordsman and the pain he was inflicting upon her.

He squeezed a bit stronger and she fell down, unconscious…

It's not that Zoro was uninjured, the strike Miss Monday managed to get in left him with a wound on the forehead, one that was bleeding quite a lot.

"Wanna keep going, Baroque Works?" He licked the blood that reached his lips. "This fight's a joke."

Dark clouds moved across the night's sky as the remaining officers of Baroque Works watched Zoro get to the edge of the roof. The clouds moved past the town and they could once again see him clearly.

"He defeated Miss Monday in a battle of strength!"

"This can't be happening…"

Finally an explanation crossed Mr. 8's mind. "T-That's it! Those Marines must have made a mistake on the wanted poster!"

"I see. So that's what's going on. If he's the one that's worth 30 million beri it makes perfect sense. He must be the real Captain!" Mr. 9 agreed with the idea.

And apparently so did Miss Wednesday. "So that's it. I knew it was strange for such a smiley-faced kid to be worth 30 million beri."

"But even so, this is a disgrace! Losing to a single pirate swordsman. Since the Boss entrusted this town to us, we'll be held responsible!" Mr. 8 stated.

"It seems we finally get our chance to debut." Miss Wednesday added.

"You may already know this…" Mr. 9 spoke to Zoro. "In Baroque Works, the lower the number the stronger the member. We three, Mr. 9… Mr. 8… And Miss Wednesday are all single digit agents. Which means that the lot you just took out don't even come close to our strength."

Zoro simply smirked. "There's no point bragging in the middle of a battle. The strongest will win. Simple as that."

Well someone call the fire department because certain someone got burnt, badly.

They stood in silence for a few moments before Mr. 8 began the assault. "**Igarappa**!" He blew in his trumpet shotgun and Zoro jumped out of the bullets' way.

"We strike, Miss Wednesday!" Mr. 9 exclaimed.

"Yes, Mr. 9."

As her partner jumps from one roof to another she whistles.

"Give me a hand, Carue!" And a spot-billed large yellow duck offered her its wing.

"NOT LITERALLY! NOW GET OVER HERE!" She snapped at the duck.

A moment later she was sitting on the duck as if it was a horse. "Now, let's show him your faster-than-leopard speed!"

And Carue quacked before simply sitting down.

Miss Wednesday was once again frustrated at the fact that the duck was either deaf or a bit stupid. "Who told you to 'SIT'?!" She whapped its head.

And Zoro was kinda confused… "What the hell is that?" Seriously was the female actually serious about fighting him.

"Hahahaha! Can you afford to be distracted?" Mr. 9 gave his position away by pretty much shouting at Zoro. Well at least he fought fair and square and allowed his opponent to know right where he was. "Let's see how you handle my Acro Bats!"

He began descending from one of the buildings toward Zoro. "**Hot-Blooded 9 Guts** **Bat**!" A bat clashed with sword but sustained no damage whatsoever.

Mr. 9 jumped over Zoro and landed behind the swordsman.

"Hahaha! These bats are solid metal! Be careful not to break your swords!" He warned as if Zoro didn't already know that.

Zoro went to sheathe one of his swords but he stopped midway.

"What's wrong? Too pale with fear to move-?" And Mr. 9 paid for that taunting because the one pale with fear was him.

Zoro began slashing and stabbing with Yubashiri with speed far greater than something Mr. 9 could properly counter. The man with nine on each cheek stepped back again and again and eventually reached the very edge of the building.

"What's wrong with your little Acro Bats?" Zoro taunted and stopped the attack.

Of course Mr. 9 fell for the taunting. "If you want to see them so badly, here they come!" He made a back flip but there was no roof for him to land on… The officer landed on a few barrels of gunpowder and sustained a small explosion.

"Man, isn't there anyone better?" Zoro wondered.

"Someone better? That would be me! Prepare yourself… Mr. Bushido!" Miss Wednesday gave him a nickname and was stating that she was better than her partner while standing on her duck. "Come… and enjoy the sensuous fragrance of my perfume…" She raised her arms above her head and revealed the perfume bottles in her hands. "**Alluring Perfume Dance**!" She began swaying her hips and the shirt she was wearing made the dance coupled with the smell of the perfume something that caused dizziness.

Even someone like Zoro had to fall to his knees, it truly seemed like Miss Wednesday was a competent opponent.

"Good boy." She pulled out her weapon, a simple yet deadly peacock slasher. "Now to finish you. **Peacock Slasher**!" She spun the weapon around her little finger which explained her habits. "Go Carue!"

Carue quacked and ran forward.

Zoro was defenseless but he was more surprised with the way the duck was going… It went straight past Zoro…

"YOU WENT STRAIGHT PAST HIM!" And they fell off the roof…

"Fighting these guys is getting embarrassing…" He complained.

Sound of trumpet brought him back to reality as he jumped out of the way and dodged the bullets. Quickly he jumped down through the hole he created before.

"He went down through the hole…" Mr. 8 muttered to himself. "A futile action. Now have a taste of my true terror!"

Zoro ran out of the building and hid in the shadows of another. "That shotgun's a pain in the ass. How am I going to get close enough to him?" And then an idea came to him, he was yet to try it out in action so this was a good opportunity. "Yeah, that should work." He smirked.

* * *

-Meanwhile-

* * *

Miss Wednesday decided to go with a hostage, if they had one Zoro would have no other option but to give up. So with that intention in mind she entered the bar.

"You, eh?" Vergil's voice sent chills down her spine.

* * *

-With Zoro-

* * *

Mr. 9 cried out as he stepped out of the rubble. "How dare you do something so low to me?! You will so pay!"

"You fell off all by yourself." Zoro reminded him but as it usually goes angry idiots cannot even hear, let alone process or god forbid create, reasonable thoughts.

"Home-run Training Bat!" Suddenly the tip of the bat rocketed toward Zoro while still being tied to the other part via metal chain. The chain wrapped around Zoro's left forearm thus making him incapable of running away.

"Hahaha! Now I've disabled one of your arms!"

"Iron chains…"

Mr. 8 joined in as well from one of the roofs. "So you've caught him."

"Do it now! Kill him, Mr. 8! Hahaha! No more of your running away!"

Zoro was waiting patiently.

Mr. 8 pulled at his bowtie. "Prepare cannons." And finally the ridiculous hair seemed to prove it's worth, there were exactly six cannons hidden in its rolls… "Cannons at the ready!"

"What?!" Zoro's eyes widened for a moment.

"**Igarappappa**!"

"Is he an action figure or something?!" Zoro snapped as he pulled at the chain and made Mr. 8 catapult right into the line of fire…

Mr. 8 wasn't fazed by the fact that he actually hit his comrade. "**Igarappappa**!" Zoro jumped out of the way and unsheathed Wado. "**Igarappappa**!" Zoro stood in a stance as soon as he dodged this round of bullets as well.

* * *

-Flashback-

* * *

Zoro and Vergil have been sparing for quite some time now but there was one night that stuck out to Zoro, their first spar after Vergil got his Dark Edge back.

"You want me to show you **Drive**?" Vergil asked, now the white haired male did expect the technique he used back in Arlong Park to become one of the late night topics but he didn't expect Zoro to bring it up as soon as they were once again capable of sparing with swords.

"That's right."

Vergil thought it over for a moment. "Well I guess it's not impossible for you to come up with a human version of **Drive**. **Drive** itself does rely on speed and strength rather than the powers demons have." He decided to give it a try. "**Devil Arms: Dark Edge**." The large broadsword appeared in Vergil's hand.

Zoro took a step back to give him some space for the demonstration. "Balance is pretty much a key when it comes to forming **Drive**. The grip on the handle needs to be strong enough for you not to let go of the weapon but it needs to be light enough for the blade to flow." He made a slow diagonal slash with the needed grip. "It's a decent defense as well, you'll have the strength to block but also to counter once you are ready."

They knew each other long enough for Zoro to pick up the small invitation to join in, he drew Wado and kept the remaining two swords sheathed.

Two swordsman on the opposite sides of Merry and mirrored each other's speed and slashes.

"Next up is strength, once we get this step done we'll get to the actual **Drive**. There's not too much limit behind the strength or speed, however you need to put enough strength behind it to create a form of a distortion in air, you need the strength to disrupt the air before you can go and slice it by slashing quickly enough. **Drive** has a single and quite narrow slashing line what makes it a good thing to have in your arsenal is not purely its cutting power, it's the area it affects, with enough power **Drive** can affect a two feet wide area which makes it perfect defense against needles, bullets and the attacks of such kind."

Vergil made a powerful swing and Zoro saw it, the slight wavering of the air that sustained the cut, yet the former Despot made sure his swing caused nothing but that.

The remaining of the time was spent in them repeating the process. Zoro, who was yet to cut steel was having somewhat of a hard time. And he was frustrated, Mihawk was capable of cutting Don Krieg's ship in half with just one slice and he didn't even touch it. So after seeing Vergil's **Drive** Zoro came to a conclusion that humans could replicate the technique. Still he was so far away! He was the crew's swordsman, the only style of fighting he used was his **Three Sword Style** yet he was inferior to the white haired male in front of him. That much was clear to him when Vergil went and sliced warships in half with a single slice of his blade. He greeted his teeth in frustration and sliced far quicker than ever before.

A flying sword slash was created and Zoro's eyes widened for a moment. Vergil grinned and intercepted the slash before it could damage anything.

"No idea how you'll name it, but you officially sliced the air for the first time, it needs some improvement but not bad for the first time." There was quite a lot of pride shining in the golden eyes, pride of the First Mate and of the Despot.

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

It was a product of frustration and he needed to work his ass off to get it done again, which is actually the reason why he slept through the most of the day today, even through that storm. But finally he got it… His personal air slash kind of attack.

"**36 Pound Phoenix**!" He made a diagonal slice with his Wado, right toward Mr. 8. The flying sword slash disrupted the trajectory of bullets and made a cut on Mr. 8 chest. Baroque Works last agent fell down as blood gushed out of the wound.

* * *

-The Demon World-

* * *

She was getting ready to leave, that was the plan and she was supposed to be on her way an hour ago, but the recording she was listening to was what put the plans off. It was a damn catastrophe, she fell and accidentally pressed the button to let the words fill the silence.

And then, in that one hour she listened to those words in small snippets, a few lines and she'd stop to take a breath for a couple of minutes.

She took a deep breath, intending fully to let it play out to the very end and pressed the button, the recording filled the room and the hunting words they used fell heavy upon her tired soul.

'-drench the field… Let the light close your eyes… Let the darkness take your life… Just let there be no-" And she cut it off, her breathing was uneven and she was gasping for air. This… The ending… She couldn't take it… Not anymore…

The last lines of the anthem for the soldiers of Epystras… Anthem that everyone that passed the Demon Hunter exam knew by heart and followed it to the very end… Because the last part, the part she just couldn't listen was the part that made the anthem the most hunting one in the history of the Demon World…

She cried out as winds slashed everything around her and she snapped open a portal to the Human World…

* * *

_**And that's it. All right, I think I may have went a bit too dark with that last part. Tell me what you think though.**_

_**As for Zoro using 36 Pound Phoenix, well I decided to use Vergil to the maximum. East Blue built trust between the crew and introduced areas which are Vergil's expertise, something that allowed the scene in flashback to unfold. Thus Zoro got his Pound Phoenix, at least the weakest one far sooner than in canon.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Princess Of Alabasta**_


	95. Princess Of Alabasta

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**blazeinferno – Thank you, I'm glad you liked the flashback, I quite enjoyed writing it.**_

_**KP360 – Thanks, and yes, there will be moments like that with every Straw Hat.**_

_**Guest – Thank you.**_

_**Naroku – Thanks, sorry for the wait.**_

_**20th Cboys fan – Thank you. Yeah, I can see that moment stuck out to many.**_

_**Guest – He's 23 years old.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 95 – Princess Of Alabasta**_

* * *

As Mr. 8 fell down Zoro allowed himself a satisfied smirk. "All done." He said and roamed through one of the building in search of some alcohol. Once he found one he climbed up to one of the buildings to watch over the town. He sat down cross legged and opened the bottle. "It's finally a nice, quiet night."

* * *

-In the bar, about five minutes earlier-

* * *

Miss Wednesday decided to go with a hostage, if they had one Zoro would have no other option but to give up. So with that intention in mind she entered the bar.

"You, eh?" Vergil's voice sent chills down her spine.

Her heart skipped the beat and she reached out for her weapon.

"Cut it out. I can kill you before you get a chance to attack." And she froze again.

Carue surprisingly stood in front of his scared owner.

"Carue…!" Miss Wednesday gasped.

Vergil looked at the spot-billed duck's eyes and even though animals were naturally afraid and hostile, in case of carnivores, to demons the duck didn't move away.

Minutes passed in silence as if the white haired male was pondering on what to do, finally he seemed to make his decision.

"Miss Wednesday, was it?"

"Y-Yes."

"Where can I find some meat?" And she tilted her head to the side, of all the things he could ask, demand or whatever he asked for meat?

"There should be some left in the kitchen." She answered anyways.

"I see." And he casually walked into the kitchen, he left her alone to do whatever she wanted. She still understood her situation, he was confident enough to stroll around carelessly because he knew he was stronger than her. She wasn't blind, or stupid, he had her beaten at every aspect of combat.

It didn't take him long to come back either. He was carrying a piece of meat in his hand and she thought that he was a bit hungry, so when the demon crouched down next to straw hat wearing boy and held the meat just above Luffy's mouth she was a bit surprised.

Luffy sniffed the air as if he sensed the meat near him and then opened his mouth to eat it while still sleeping.

"Wake up and then I'll give it to you."

Luffy blinked a couple of times when he realized that he wasn't getting his meat, courtesy of Vergil constantly pulling it back before Luffy could snatch it away.

Finally, Luffy sat up, even though his large stomach did make it a bit harder than usually and Vergil gave him the meat.

The pirate captain looked around sleepily and saw Miss Wednesday. "Hmm? It's that weirdo?" He mumbled sleepily.

"She is a bounty hunter, so is the other weirdo and so are all the people in this town." Vergil stated. "Zoro probably took care of them by now and Nami is out looking for treasure."

"But they gave us food and we had a party…" Luffy argued, once again sleepily.

Miss Wednesday was utterly baffled, how could anyone be that stupid. The captain was just told that there were bounty hunters all around him and that everything was pretty much a trap but all he cared about was the fact that they got food from their enemies so their enemies weren't exactly their enemies…

* * *

-In the streets-

* * *

Bounty hunters that were still conscious had finally given up on fighting Zoro and were now running for their lives.

"I can't believe it… he took out all four of the agents! They all had numbers less than 12!"

"But, just where the hell are we running to?!"

"Doesn't matter! We just have to hide out until those guys leave the island!"

Though they said that and though they were reaching the outskirts of the town they halted when a vulture and an otter stopped in front of them…

"The Unluckies!"

"H-Hang on a second! We weren't running away!" Even Usopp would lie better than that. "We were just…"

"Please! Don't report us to the Boss!" They wouldn't need to.

Two animals attacked the bounty hunter trio.

"Hold it." A voice of a male made them halt before they could actually make any damage or kill the trio.

"Pretty lively town for the middle of the night, huh?" A female asked.

"Tch. What boring crap we get ordered to do… Making us go to out to the front lines like this…" Male added.

Two animals were now sweating profoundly as they turned to look at the duo.

An explosion echoed as the screams filled the silence of the night.

Zoro, who has been drinking on one of the roofs turned around toward the sound of the explosion curiously.

* * *

-In the bar-

* * *

Zoro wasn't the only one who heard the explosion, everyone presently awake in the bar heard it as well.

Miss Wednesday's eyes widened as she discarded the fear for her life and ran out. "_Igaram!_" Was the only name she thought of as worry overcame her heart.

"Should we go and see what's going on?" Vergil asked though he pretty much knew what Luffy's answer would be.

"Shishishi! Sure!" Well they had a bit of a problem… Luffy's stomach… though he could still fight this looked ridiculous…

They got out through the doors and Vergil turned to Luffy after taking a few steps away. "Let's get you back in shape first." He sighed and took a guarding stance. "Come on now. We could spar for a bit."

Luffy once again grinned, in all the time they spent as crewmates the two have worked together, teamed up, made combinations, but they never exchanged blows before. And though this would just be spar it would still count.

"**Gomu Gomu no**…" Luffy closed his fist and lightning circled around Vergil's. "**Pistol**!" Rubber fist clashed with lightning powered up punch. Lightning sparked but did no harm to Luffy, and though Luffy's punch was strong Vergil held his ground.

Rubber fist snapped back to its normal length as Vergil **Demon Flashed** closer to Luffy and tried to kick him. Luffy jumped over the half-demon's side kick, without wasting any time he counter attacked making Vergil stay on his toes throughout the entire spar. "How's this? **Gomu Gomu no Stamp**."

Vergil blocked the foot with his forearm and jumped back to lower the impact of Luffy's attack. His golden eyes widened, however, when he heard the name of the next attack Luffy had in store for him. "**Gomu Gomu no Gatling Gun**!" White haired male smirked, they were sparring but that didn't mean they were pulling back punches.

"That's more like it!" Vergil grinned and waved around a couple of punches before finally managing to catch one of Luffy's fists, the other one got him right in the face but he still pulled Luffy towards him.

Blunt force was useless against Luffy, but darkness wasn't so a darkness clad fist was a decent payback for a punch right in the face. "**Darkness Vortex**!" Darkness spun lightly around Vergil's fist thus adding the additional damage to anyone but Luffy. Vergil's fist bounced back due to the size of Luffy's stomach but Luffy also had to take a step back.

"**Gomu Gomu no Whip**!" Luffy quickly tried to sweep Vergil off his feet but the white haired male jumped over the kick, Luffy allowed the inertia to pull him and he spun around. "And… **Gomu Gomu no Pistol**!"

Need to dodge? No, what was the point in that now. "**Darkness Blast**!" **Blast** collided with **Pistol** and Luffy snapped his fist back, the dust settled and Luffy's stomach, which was getting smaller over the course of the spar was more or less gone by now.

The captain and the first mate grinned at each other, with Luffy burning down some of the accumulated food they could go and take a look at the situation in the town.

* * *

-In the streets-

* * *

Mr. 8 was still conscious but barely. "I can't rot away here… I have an important mission to accomplish…!" He tried to get up.

"Ig…! Mr. 8!" Miss Wednesday, who was riding on Carue shouted out.

Mr. 8's face revealed relief as he saw she was completely fine. Miss Wednesday quickly jumped off Carue and knelt down next to Mr. 8 to see his wounds.

Unfortunately she was interrupted. "How pathetic can you get? Losing to a single swordsman?!"

Everyone else present turned to look at the man who said that and right there in front of them they saw a pair of agents. A blond girl with an umbrella and a short dress as well as a black haired man with cravat and dark brown long coat with five on it.

"Mr. 5! Miss Valentine!" Mr. 8 exclaimed.

"Are you guys kidding or what?" Mr. 5 asked.

"Ahahaha! This is plain evidence of why our status is higher." Miss Valentine mocked.

Mr. 8 growled angrily. "Did you come here just to laugh at us?"

"Well, that too." Mr. 5 simply confirmed part of the answer.

"Ahahaha! Of course, we have a mission as well." Miss Valentine added making Mr. 9 misunderstand her.

"Thanks… he doesn't stand a chance… With you guys backing us up!"

"That's right! Please, hurry and take care of that swordsman!" Mr. 9 wasn't the only one who misunderstood the situation, Miss Wednesday was also blindly believing that the two had came to Whiskey Peak to offer help.

"Huh? Quit the lame jokes. You want us to 'back you up'?" Mr. 5 began shattering their delusions.

"You think we came all the way to this end of the Grand Line for that?" And Miss Valentine finished what he started.

"What? Then what kind of mission are…" Mr. 9 didn't even get to finish, but seeing as Mr. 8 remained silent and actually glared at the two newly arrived agents the mission was clear.

"I think you have an idea. There are criminals here that merit the boss dispatching us directly." Miss Wednesday fully understood what that meant while Mr. 9 still tried to figure things out. "The Boss' exact words were: 'Someone knows my secret.' Just what that secret is of course, even I don't know. But our organization's primary directive is 'Secrecy'. Therefore we do not tolerate any kind of investigation into the identity of our members. And if someone were to learn of the Boss' secret… Naturally, they would have to be eliminated." Mr. 5 explained most of the mystery.

"So, we thoroughly investigated which persons could have found out Boss' secret. Ahaha! And what a surprise! We discovered that important members of a certain kingdom had infiltrated Baroque Works!" Miss Valentine was clearly loud.

They were unaware of Nami listening to the conversation. The orange haired girl was frowning, as it was this could turn a bit more difficult…

"A 'certain kingdom'…?" And once again Mr. 9 misunderstood. "Wa-wait a minute! I may be wearing a crow, but I'm not really a king! It's just my style!"

"We didn't mean you!" Miss Valentine shouted at him, well she was always kinda shouting.

"The infiltrator is none other than the kingdom of Alabasta's currently missing…" Mr. 5 began.

"_They know! We've got to!_" Mr. 8 stood up and fired. "DIE! **Igarappappa**! You won't lay a finger on the Princess! On my name as Captain of the Alabasta Royal Guard, you won't!" The explosion engulfed the duo but it didn't seem like it would be enough…

"Igaram!" Miss Wednesday exclaimed.

"Captain of the Alabasta Royal Guard, Igaram. And Princess, Nefeltari Vivi. By order of the Boss of Baroque Works, you are to be eliminated." The explosion did nothing and by now it was clear that the two agents were more than meets the eye.

Nami raised an eyebrow at that. Eliminated? Princess? Yeah, she had a grand scheme that would get her some money.

Vivi's eyes were wide as the realization hit her, they knew and they weren't in shape to fight them…

Zoro observed as Igaram shot at Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine again and again.

"Hurry, Vivi-sama! Escape while you can!" Igaram shouted.

"Igaram!" She didn't want to leave him.

But the bullets did nothing. Mr.5 flicked something toward Igaram and the tall man was caught in an explosion.

"Igaram!" Vivi reached out to get to her fallen comrade.

"Don't bother." Miss Valentine was actually hovering in the air as she said that. "Kyahahaha!" She dropped down and sent a swift kick toward Vivi who managed to evade it to a certain extent, the kick still released her hair from the bind and the blue haired girl quickly pulled out her peacock slasher and counter attacked.

The effort, though not in any way bad lacked the skills necessary to go up against Miss Valentine. The blond kept laughing as she returned back to Mr.5's side.

"Monsters…" Vivi hissed.

Surprisingly her partner, Mr. 9, was on his knees bowing down to her… "So you are a Princess, Miss Wednesday!"

"Stop being ridiculous, Mr. 9!" She snapped at the kneeling man,

"V-Vivi-sama…" Igaram breathed out.

Vivi immediately turned toward him. "Igaram. Are you alright?"

"Vivi-sama, don't worry about me. Please hurry and flee this place! For the sake of our homeland…" Her eyes widened. "Without you, the Alabasta Kingdom will… Now, quickly…"

Mr. 5 began picking his nose. "Don't even think of escaping."

Behind one of the buildings Nami continued listening.

"Hey, Princess. Weren't you out hunting for treasure?" Vergil's voice made her turn to her right.

She pressed her finger against her lips and hushed them.

Captain and the first mate glanced at each other and shrugged as they walked up to Nami.

"What's going on?" Vergil asked as he leaned against the wall next to Nami.

"I'm not sure. From the looks of it some Princess infiltrated the bounty hunters, they found her out and now they want to kill her." She summed it up as quietly as she could.

"That Miss Wednesday girl?" Vergil guessed and Nami nodded, the white haired male then turned to Luffy who was confused. "Think about it like this. A high quality meat infiltrated frying pan filled with low quality meat so now that the low quality meat realized they have an intruder they feel jealous and want to kick it out of the frying pan and kill it."

"I see. So that princess is high quality meat." That sounded kinda wrong.

"Kinda…" Vergil muttered realizing how it sounded…

Nami sweat dropped at that. "Are you two idiots?"

"I guess so…" Vergil muttered.

Back in the street Vivi pulled out two peacock slashers and began spinning them. "Don't underestimate me!"

Mr. 5 simply continued picking at his nose.

Vivi was however utterly surprised when Mr. 9 stood in front of her ready to fight. "I can't even begin to understand the circumstances… but because of our long relationship as partners, I'll buy you some time. Now go, Miss Wednesday."

"Mr. 9…"

"I'm a pretty good guy, aren't I? Bye, bye baby! **Hot Blooded 9**…"

"Mr. 9!"

Mr. 5 finally stopped picking at his nose. "The only thing we should need is the willingness to carry out our missions. All this comrade bullshit does is invite death. Now understand that for yourself!" He prepared to flick his snot at Mr. 9. "**Nose Fancy**…"

"**Guts**…"

"**Cannon**!" The snot exploded upon impact with Mr.9 and the man was sent right into the ocean.

"MR. 9!" Vivi screamed.

"Hey, hey! That's some dangerous snot!" Zoro commented from the sidelines, he had jumped down into one of the streets not too far away from the battle. What he clearly didn't expect was Igaram grabbing onto his left ankle. "What? You!"

"Master Swordsman! Seeing the strength of one such as yourself, I ask of you an unreasonable request!" Igaram exclaimed.

"Don't offer things to me! I don't care! Get your hands off me!" Zoro wasn't going to listen to any requests.

"The two before us have abilities of the Devil Fruit! I am no match for them! I beseech you! Protect the Princess in my stead! Will you accept?!" Igaram was downright begging for help but Zoro wasn't about to relent.

Mr. 5 smirked and Miss Valentine laughed as Vivi finally fully understood how powerless she actually was in front of these two. Quickly she climbed on top of Carue. "Carue! Run!"

The spot-billed duck quacked and took off.

"She escaped." Miss Valentine was quite casual about it.

"She can't escape." Mr. 5 was picking his nose, again. "Here we go, Miss Valentine!" He took off after Vivi.

"Yes, Mr. 5! Kyahaha!" The blonde girl agreed as she followed the male.

* * *

-Back with Zoro-

* * *

Far to the east lies the Kingdom of Alabasta! If you deliver the princess safely-" He coughed up blood. "There will most certainly be a handsome reward! I beseech of you this one request! Please protect the Princess-!" He had a reason worthy of begging to his enemy, he had a reason worthy of sacrificing all his dignity and pride.

"Quit screwing around!" Zoro snapped at Igaram. "You just tried to kill us, remember?! Don't make me cut you again!"

"A handsome reward you say?" And the duo was interrupted by none other than Nami who was now sitting on one of the roofs. She was sitting with her knees crossed and her right arm pointing at Igaram as she grinned. "I like the sound of that! How about 1 billion beri?"

"What?" Zoro was surprised, just how far was this girl capable of going to get money? These people tried to kill them!

"One! One billi-" Igaram coughed. "Ma-ma! Maah!" He cleared his throat, it looked like the abit wasn't something he faked.

"I thought you'd passed out." Zoro told her.

"Oh, come on." She jumped down. "A suspicious town that throws a party when pirates come by? What kind of idiot would get smashed in a place like this? It was all an act. An act. I can take loads more!"

"Yet, you were willing to out drink anyone for a bit of money." Vergil grinned, he and Luffy decided on a more direct approach as they simply walked up to the trio.

"You two are awake too, eh?" Zoro grinned.

"Ma-maa-maaah!" Igaram continued clearing his throat.

"Well? Will you offer me the billion beri, Guard Captain?" Nami questioned. She then smirked kinda evilly. "If we don't help you out, your Princess will die, right?"

Igaram growled a bit but then looked away. "I am but a soldier. I cannot make such an expensive promise."

Nami crouched down in front of him. "So you're saying the Princess of your Kingdom isn't worth that price?" She taunted.

Igaram's eyes widened at that.

"Gimme." She didn't care.

"Isn't that extortion?" Zoro tried to stay out of it this but he just had to say that.

"Wait a second. Let's make this a bit more fair for both sides." Vergil interfered making Igaram look at the demon instead.

"Vergil." Nami tried to stop him.

"That kingdom of yours, from what I gathered it's in a bad situation, isn't it?" Vergil ignored her.

Igaram once again looked away. "It shames me to say so, but yes."

"Is there a possibility for citizens to be involved?" The white haired male continued questioning.

"Yes." Igaram kept the answers short.

"And that girl, Vivi, was it? She is the Princess that's putting her life on the line to make things better?"

"Yes."

That was all Vergil needed to know.

As Vergil took a step back to let Nami continue she looked at Igaram with clear expectations of money.

Seeing that the questioning did nothing and that he didn't get any clear response from the demon in front of him Igaram relented. "Then… if you guarantee you will deliver her unharmed… If you negotiate with Princess directly, I am certain she will agree!"

"So you are saying we have to save her first." Nami challenged.

"Even as we speak… The Princess' life is…!" Igaram tried to make her see just in how much of a hurry they were in.

Neither Nami, nor Zoro who was looking at the former thief as a bad feeling overcame him, nor Igaram noticed Vergil turning around.

"Where are you going?" They didn't notice Luffy asking that question either.

"I kinda like that kind of royalty, I'm off. Keep Nami as busy as possible or she'll pull us into money-making scheme." Vergil grinned and so did Luffy.

"I get it. We'll save your Princess for the time being." Nami stood up and ran her fingers through her hair as she decided on who to chose from the trio, or rather duo at the moment around her.

Igaram couldn't fight the smile on his face at her agreement.

And she chose. "Right! Get moving, Zoro!"

"I'M NOT GOING, IDIOT!" He snapped with shark like teeth. "Why do I have to be part of your goddamn money-making schemes?!"

"You're so stupid." She dragged the sentence out on purpose as she held out her hand. She then proceeded to place it against her chest. "My money is mine. But my agreements are your agreements." And she pointed a finger at Zoro as she said that, though by that she meant all of them.

"SINCE WHEN DID A BRAT LIKE YOU BECOME MY BOSS?!"

And she was completely calm. "What? All you have to do is go and finish off those guys."

"I hate being used. Go get that dork cook of yours to do it!" Well that would be easier for all of them as Sanji would go and do it in a split second for two reasons. His beloved Nami-san would request it from him and he would have to save a girl, meaning a female specimen.

"So you're telling me that you can't beat those guys?" And Nami knew exactly where to hit.

"What was that dammit?! Say that again!" He just had to ask for it.

"SO YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT YOU CAN'T BEAT THOSE GUYS?" And Nami just had to give him what he asked for.

"Need a piss…" Luffy walked away to do what everyone needed to do once in a while.

"DON'T REPEAT IT!" She was really doing an amazing job at pissing him off, making him lose his cool and pretty much fuss over something that was decided long before the conversation even started.

"Have you forgotten? You owe me a debt." And she decided to play yet another one of her cards just right.

Previously furious Zoro had calmed down and was now confused. "Eh? No, I don't."

"In Loguetown, you said you wanted to buy some katana, so I loaned you 100,000 beri." Nami reminded him.

"But I gave it all back to you. I got the katana for free, so I didn't spend any of it?" He did have a point, but this was Nami…

"But, when you borrowed it, you promised me you'd repay three times the amount."

'I wanna buy some things.'

'I'll loan it to you. If you pay it back three times over.'

Back then Zoro had no idea he would regret that short conversation for the rest of his life…

"That's 200,000 beri you haven't given me." She calculated the debt.

"But I gave you the exact same money back right after you gave it to me!" Zoro fought and fought but he was fighting a losing battle. One day he would defeat Mihawk, but Nami would forever remain one opponent he could never beat…

"Too bad." She looked at him as if she was looking at a problem child and he flinched back… "You can't even keep a single promise, can you?" Now she had him.

Zoro was furious, with pride more wounded than ever, and utterly hopeless to come up with an argument. She pretty much broke the green haired swordsman.

And she was grinning victoriously as if she was adding salt to the wound. "If you do what I say, we'll call it even."

"I- I hope you die a horrible, horrible death." He voiced his desires for her future.

"That's right. I'm going straight to Hell." And she didn't even need to argue with that.

"Shit! I hate you!" And she really did break him but as Zoro ran past Luffy who had just returned he realized that Vergil wasn't there.

"Hey, Luffy. Where's Vergil?" And that got Nami and Igaram's attention as well.

"He went to save that Princess girl. He said something about liking that kind of royalty." Luffy bluntly said and the expressions on the faces of the three in front of him were priceless.

Zoro had just realized that he took a beating to his pride and honor for nothing and he had a mixture of anger, surprise and grief over the fact that this meant Nami could once again pull the debt card at him.

Igaram was simply surprised, for two reasons, first was the fact that the money loving girl and powerful swordsman argued over going to save Vivi when someone already went and the second was the fact that the one who left was a demon, of all people it was a demon.

And Nami… Oh she had quite a lot to be angry at Vergil. Liked that kind of royalty? That stupid snow haired idiot! He liked that kind of royalty, so he liked the girl. He liked the girl so he was going to go and save her… Yeah, the navigator was getting jealous. She chose Zoro not only because she could talk him into it, but also because Vergil saving a girl, other than her, or potentially girl that could join their crew later on, was a 'Not a chance' in her rulebook.

Zoro and Luffy took a step back from the navigator as an orange aura of rage enveloped her.

"He better not make liking the royalty singular to that girl…" She growled.

Vergil on the other hand felt a chill run down his spine. "_Well, Nami found out I went to save the girl…_"

"The humiliation…" Igaram suddenly speaking up made the trio turn to him. "If I were stronger, I could've protected the Princess myself." He expressed his regret.

"Don't worry! Vergil's got this." Luffy grinned at him.

"Yeah, he does get the job done when he wants to." Zoro smirked.

"It's alright." Nami assured Igaram as fond smile appeared on her face. "That demon is so strong, it's stupid!"

"The Princess… If anything happens to Vivi-sama… It will spell the end of the Alabasta Kingdom!" As Igaram said that everyone's expressions became serious… The situation… They were yet to realize just how much Alabasta needed Vivi and along with Vivi, people capable of protecting it. "She MUST survive!" Tears fell down Igaram's face…

* * *

-With Vivi-

* * *

"Run! Run, Carue! Behind the Cactus Rocs, there's a ship anchored! We can use it to escape the island! And then, to Alabasta! Hurry, Carue!" Vivi urged him. Carue quacked but they were forced to halt when explosion went off not too far ahead of them.

"Carue, stop!" And the duck did as it was told.

From the smoke of the explosion a male figure appeared to be walking toward Vivi and Carue.

"Mr. 5. He's found us." She muttered. "Carue this way! Hurry!" And Carue ran off in another direction.

Miss Valentine laughed as she landed on one of the crates that Vivi and Carue just passed. "Impossible kid." Mr. 5 commented.

It looked like Vivi had one more person to worry about as Miss Monday, who was carrying a massive log stepped in her way.

"Miss Monday!"

"Go." Well that was surprising. "Once you get past here, you can get on the ship. I'll stop them here."

"But…" Vivi tried to argue.

"For losing to that superhuman swordsman, we'll be punished for failing our mission no matter what." She stopped next to Vivi. "So, I'll gladly suffer to be a shield for a friend." Vivi bit her lip, first Mr. 9 and now Miss Monday, these people were sacrificing themselves for her and her Kingdom even though it had nothing to do with them and then there was Igaram, just how many sacrifices was she supposed to leave behind to save her people. "Well, what are you waiting for? If you are caught, Mr. 8 and Mr. 9's sacrifices will be in vain! Go!"

Vivi looked away for a moment. Ashamed of herself for needing to leave her comrade behind. For even if it was for the sake of infiltration she still grew to kinda like these people she worked with… "Thank you."

"First Mr. 9, and now you… Miss Monday." Mr. 5 rolled up his sleeve.

"You'll go no further. Upon my pride."

Miss Valentine laughed. "That's funny."

"To Baroque Works…" Mr. 5 rushed toward Miss Monday.

The muscular woman pointed the large log toward the man and tried to impale him with it. Still her strength failed to make up for the lack of needed speed to hit the male who slammed his arm into her. "You are a disgrace!"

Massive explosion made Vivi's eyes widen as she made Carue stop and turned to look at flame engulfed area.

"Miss… Monday…" She gasped.

"It's fast. That duck of yours." It was the same voice, the voice that sent chills down her spine not too long ago, but this time it wasn't cold. It didn't send chills down her spine. And it certainly didn't sound threatening. She turned around and saw Vergil.

"You." She took a deep breath. "Don't stand in my way!" She didn't have time for this.

"Calm down. Vivi." The surprise on her face allowed him to continue. "Tell me, that kingdom of yours… Would you die for it?"

Though the question caught her off guard she didn't need to even think to answer.

"Yes." It was firm clear response.

"And will you fight for it?"

"Yes."

He grinned. "You pass. Now, I don't know how things will go after this, but let me make sure you get off of this island alive. Will you stay there and let me do that?"

"Why?" She knew she shouldn't ask but she did.

"I had people to take care of as well, back when I was still in the Demon World. But, that's a different story. Let's just say that I like the way you are trying to save your people. You aren't watching and ordering around, you are actually fighting on the frontlines." His grin was honest and Vivi felt like she could trust him over the two that were chasing her at the very least.

She nodded and then the test for Vergil began as Mr. 5 flicked his snot at them.

"Stay calm." He instructed, raised his hand and sent a single lightning to strike the snot and make it explode about ten meters away from them. "See? I can deal with them."

"Don't get cocky. I can make any part of my body explode. I'm a bombman. Using the powers of **Bomu Bomu no mi** _**(Bomb Bomb fruit) **_I never failed to complete a mission."

"And with my **Kilo Kilo no mi **_**(Kilo Kilo fruit)**_ ability, you shall now be crushed into the ground." Miss Valentine added from above.

"**Devil Arms: Dark Edge**." Large blade appeared in Vergil's hand. "Go ahead and try, I'll skewer you like a human sized shish kebab." And that really sent chills down Miss Valentine's spine. Not just words but how casually he said it.

* * *

-Back in town-

* * *

Nami was sitting on one of the barrels and leaning against the wall as they waited for Vergil. "Hey… By the way… Who exactly are these Baroque Works guys?"

Igaram pondered on whether to tell them or not, eventually he did. "It's an underground criminal organization. The members do not know the Boss' name or face. They specialize in espionage, assassination, theft and bounty hunting. Everything moves according to the Boss' orders."

Nami looked a bit angry. "But why does everyone take orders from a Boss they know nothing about?"

"The final objective of Baroque Works… is the foundation of an 'Ideal Nation'. Those that carry out the Boss' wishes successfully… are promised high positions and great wealth in the 'Ideal Nation' he will create." Now it made sense.

"I see."

"The Boss' codename is Mr. 0. To put it simply, the members with codename numbers closer to 0 will receive more power and prestige! They are the strongest members. And the power of Mr. 5 and those above him is… Unnatural." Igaram stated.

"Eh? Now I kinda wish I went and fought them." Zoro said.

"Vergil's got this. They can be as unnatural as they want, he's completely natural monster." Nami grinned.

* * *

-With Vergil-

* * *

"Why are you protecting the Princess of Alabasta?" Mr. 5 asked, merely out of courtesy.

"The hell if that's got anything to do with you." Vergil replied.

"You are in the way of our mission so you are our enemy." Mr. 5 stated.

"That's right. An obstacle." Though she was still scared, Miss Valentine was certain Vergil couldn't take both her and Mr. 5 down.

"Obstacle? Well yeah, that's exactly the right word for the two of you." Vergil had no need to go and get completely serious. But the enemy was enemy, still they didn't really do anything to his nakama so there was no need to kill them.

Dark Edge disappeared and so did Vergil as he Demon Flashed in front of Miss Valentine. "Sweet dreams." Electricity sparked around his hand and he swiftly jabbed her neck thus knocking her out.

Mr. 5 pulled out his snot and tried to flick it at Vergil who kicked him away thus making the explosion engulf its caster.

"I change my mind. You aren't worthy of being called obstacles, more of a nuisance."

"No way… Baroque Works… officer agents… he's toying with them…" Vivi realized.

"Why you… Making a mockery of us and Baroque Works." Mr. 5 growled at him.

"Nope, you aren't even worthy of making mockery of." And that one had to hurt. Mr. 5 however didn't have time to heal his wounds as Vergil **Demon Flashed** toward him and slammed lightning engulfed fist against the male's chest. "I'm not putting enough power behind this to kill you, but keep this in mind, next time you try to interfere I will kill you." He warned and Mr. 5 felt electricity take away his consciousness.

"He did it…" Vivi looked at Vergil's back and then he turned toward her.

"They won't wake up until the morning so that should give you enough time to decide on what to do." He assured her and then grinned. "Shall we go? Once we get back to where my nakama are we can discuss what to do next." Vergil motioned her to follow him and Carue strolled after him with Vivi.

"Thank you, Mr. Demon." Vivi thanked him.

"It's Vergil." He corrected her but once again there was nothing dangerous about the way he spoke or held himself, yet she was sure, nothing could catch him off the guard. Soon though, she'll find out that there is someone who can catch even him off the guard.

* * *

_**And that's it. Anyway *SPOILER* I went with Nefeltari because that's how it was romanized in chapter 823.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Miss All-Sunday**_


	96. Miss All-Sunday

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Kakusei – Thanks for the review. Yeah, this is more or less the first time I showed all three of Vergil's base abilities.**_

_**Guest – Thank you, I will.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**Naomi – Thanks for the review. Vergil and Nami will get together after Strong World, during the Demon World saga. As for Vergil's weaknesses. The most obvious one is the weakness to wind, the stronger the wind the harder it is for him to accurately control his lightning. As seen in his flashback he first awakened his lightning power so his main weaknesses are associated with said element. Then there's the fact that as a cambion he is more vulnerable to regular weaknesses of demons, such as certain poisons. He does have a few other weaknesses but other than wind they can more or less be bypassed.**_

_**20th Cboys fan – Thank you. I admit I thought about letting it unfold like in canon but I thought why not use Vergil when I can and change some canon bits.**_

_**Sagicknight – Thanks for the review and sorry for the wait. I think the answer is obvious but you'll see soon enough.**_

_**black phoenix2217 – Thank you and you are right. It's Nami.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review. The spar between Luffy and vergil was never intended to even come close to Luffy VS Zoro, the former was a simple spar, free from any specific emotion, the later was filled with emotion, power, it was simply serious fight. So yeah, I completely agree that Luffy VS Vergil was worse that Luffy VS Zoro but that's quite to be expected. As for Nami, yeah, I kinda like that too.**_

_**Naroku – Thanks, yeah, they will get close but Nami won't get too jealous.**_

_**Guest – Well it's kinda natural, I've added a bit more of an explanation down in the chapter.**_

_**KP360 – Thanks. Well yes, I suppose you are right, perhaps not for the reason why but you kinda are right. I don't want to spoil so yeah, I'll leave it at that. **_

* * *

_**Chapter 96 – Miss All-Sunday**_

* * *

Nami was once again a bit angry over Vergil taking this long to bring Vivi back. "I'm going to go and find them." She stated and then furiously pointed at Luffy and Zoro. "If you even take a single step away from this spot you'll owe me one million beri. Got it?" They frantically nodded. Danger? Sure. Deadly fight? No problem. Adventure? Do you even need to ask? Owing money to Nami? NO! Anything but that!

"Good!" She smiled sweetly at them but that smile could not fool them… Vergil was done for… Luffy would need a new First Mate in a matter of minutes now…

* * *

-With Vergil-

* * *

As Vergil led Vivi back to where others were she was pondering over specific thing he stated earlier.

'_I had people to take care of as well, back when I was still in the Demon World.'_

"Vergil-san." She began almost as if she was testing the waters.

"Yeah?" And he seemed willing to have a conversation.

"You said you had people to take care of. What did you mean by that? Were they your comrades?" She asked.

Vergil looked at her and ponder or whether or not to talk, finally he saw no harm in answering her question. "I spent two years working as a Despot of one of the Districts in Epystras, a country in the Demon World. Epystras is a bit of a strange society by human standards. Our definition of war is not conflict and battle or even bloodshed caused by two armies opposing to one another. To us war is an act of violence that causes suffering and death of civilians, of those that have nothing to do with the battle. Hence the anthem, 'Just let there be no war', it's drilled into every soldier's mind and especially into minds of Despots. No matter what, even if it kills you, fight to keep the battle away from the innocent." He paused and looked at astonished Vivi.

She couldn't believe it. Was that really the mentality of demons? Of a kind that the humans deemed as monsters? From what Vergil said they weren't monsters… Instead those with power sacrificed everything, even their lives to keep those without power away from harm.

"So when you said you had someone to take care of… Those were the citizens of your district? Your people?" She asked just to make sure she completely understood what he said.

"It's been a long time since I said it like that. But yes, that's the gist of it."

"And would you go back to the Demon World? If they were in danger?"

"Of course. My district may have been disbanded so to speak, and I may have left Epystras six years ago but I still have a duty to keep them safe." There was no doubt in his mind, he'd go and fight whoever threatened the citizens of Epystras. He knew it was selfish, he was part of the Straw Hat pirates, his life over there was over, but he'll be damned if he just sat by and allowed the place that he called home for more than a decade to just crumble.

"What do you think you are doing?" Nami's voice got attentions of the trio as the orange haired navigator walked up to them and stopped right in front of Vergil with her hands folded aover her chest. "Why did you just go like that?" Yeah, she was jealous and he…

"What does it matter anyway? You can make contract and get money whenever you feel like it as long as she's alive." Vergil didn't really get a clue…

What happened next left the white haired male stunned and with red mark on his left cheek. Nami just slapped him. Slapped. Not punched. Or kicked. She just downright slapped him, with an open palm and right across his cheek. He was actually completely caught off guard, but for Nami to actually slap him, without raging or yelling at him… He did something wrong and he had little to no idea what was going on.

Vivi and Carue shared an utterly dumbfound and frightened respectively expressions… Seriously, was this demon really just slapped in front of them and he seemed to be caught off guard.

Nami glared at him for a few moments and then turned to Vivi, since her frustration was kinda lower at the moment she actually smiled at the girl. Furthermore this was business…

"Good thing you managed to keep the girl safe." She added to the still surprised male kinda bitterly. "You almost cost me one billion beri."

"You people. What are you talking about? Why did you save me?" Now Vivi kinda understood Vergil's reasons but Nami's, well she was yet to find out.

"Oh that's right. We need to talk about that." Nami grinned at her. "Would you mind negotiating a contract with me?"

"Contract?" Vivi repeated.

"Let your duck go to the docks and to our ship, it will be safe there." Vergil told her and Carue.

"Quack." Carue replied and Vivi jumped off of him.

"Go ahead, I'll come back for you." Assuming that she wouldn't keep traveling with the crew.

* * *

-Some time later-

* * *

The crew, at least the awake part of it, was once again reunited and Nami began explaining the contract to Vivi.

"I still can't believe you are alive…" Zoro said to Vergil as the trio sat down a bit away from Nami. Luffy was sitting, cross legged, on the barrel, Zoro saw on some logs and Vergil sat on some crates.

"Shishishi! Nami almost killed you." Luffy laughed.

"And I still don't know what's she so angry about…" Vergil grumbled as he glanced at Nami, she seemed in quite a good mood now that she was talking about money and he really didn't understand what the point of her anger was. He protected Vivi and made sure she was safe and now Nami could get whatever money she was planning on getting. So what in the world was she so angry for anyway?

Vergil sighed and looked at the two humans. "Listen up, one thing about Nami, and most women… When there is an argument going on, there are more than 28 million possible arguments you can use." He made an 'x' with lightning. "All of them are incorrect." He purposely dragged out the sentence to make it clear.

Zoro and Luffy nodded.

"You three SHUT UP!" Nami snapped at them and all three of them immediately stopped talking. Nami once again smiled at Vivi. "So, that's our offer. We want one billion beri to escort you there safely. You saw how strong just one of these guys is, right? Think of what another three like him can do. Quite a bargain, don't you think?" Well Nami was right, the main four fighters of the crew could take on anyone and anything and she believed in that.

Vivi didn't waste time to think. "Impossible." Nami was taken aback by that. "You have my gratitude for saving my life. Thank you."

"Why? You're a Princess, aren't you? It's just a measly billion…" Nami tried to persuade her.

"Do you know of a country named Alabasta?"

"No…"

Vivi looked down and Nami looked kinda worried for the girl, what Igaram told them… it was enough to spark some understanding, worry and respect in Nami.

"It was a great pillar of civilization. A land of peace. Long ago, that is." Vivi solemnly stated.

"Long ago?" Nami repeated. "And now?"

"It's on the verge of civil war. In recent years, a call for revolution has emerged. The citizens began committing acts of insurrection… causing the land to fall into chaos." Her fists were clenched as she told them the situation her country was in. "But one day, I heard the name of a secret organization, Baroque Works!" Her eyes narrowed in anger as she thought of what they did to her people. "I discovered that they were responsible for inciting the rebellion. Aside from this, however, I was unable to procure any further information. So I went to Igaram, who had looked after me since I was a little girl."

"The chikuwa-haired old man?" **(chikuwa is a kind of rolled fish cake)** Luffy asked as he gestured the shape of Igaram's hair with his hands.

"Chiku-" Vivi stopped for a moment at kinda strange but appropriate description. "Yes, that's him. I decided to infiltrate Baroque Works. I thought that if I did, I could find out who was pulling the strings and what his plans were."

"Pretty gutsy for a Princess." Zoro commented but even he began respecting the blue haired girl.

"That goal is the establishment of an Ideal Nation, right?" Nami wanted to confirm the accuracy of the story with Vivi as well.

From Vivi's surprise it was clear that she was startled at the fact that Nami knew that.

"Igaram-san told us earlier." Nami explained and then came to a realization. "Could it be that…"

"Yes. He claims that establishing this 'Ideal Nation' is their purpose. But that is a complete lie. His true intention is to seize the throne of Alabasta!" Her eyes once again flashed with rage. "I must return to my country to tell the people the truth! And prevent them from joining the insurrection! If this continues… If this continues…!" She didn't have strength to utter the consequences of this situation they were in.

"I see. So that's what's going on. It finally makes sense now. If you are on the verge of civil war money must be scarce." Nami stated and even though she said that she still did think about helping the girl out.

"So you are telling me that some criminal organization walked in, right to the middle of quite happy citizens of a strong country and found a way to spread the idea of revolution and rebellion?" And here he was, the bluntest of them all, Leonidas The Blunt Vergil.

"You just had to? Can't you stop being so blunt and insensitive all the time?" Nami hissed at him.

"I don't really care. Whatever happens is in the end Luffy's decision and you have no obligation to tell us the reason why Baroque Works managed to spark a rebellion." Vergil stated, but he still made his point, he didn't completely buy Vivi's story.

Luffy had a question of his own as well. "Hey. So who's the mastermind?"

Vivi's eyes widened. "The B-Boss' true identity?! You can't ask me that!" As she exclaimed that the rest of the crew looked at Luffy and in Nami's case she looked kinda scared.

"But you know, don't you?"

Vivi waved her hands in front of her as if to make her point. "Don't ask that! I can't tell you! If I told you, they would hunt you down too!"

Nami laughed uncomfortably. "We wouldn't want that. And of course, trying to take over a whole nation… He must be an incredibly strong guy, right?" She pretty much asked for it.

"Yes he is." The pout on Luffy's face disappeared the moment she finished speaking. "No matter how strong you may be, there's no way you could even hope to touch him. One of the Shichibukai… CROCODILE!" How could this girl keep the fact that she was a spy for so long? How could anyone capable of such slips keep a secret? Vergil had no answer to those questions.

"Who's that?" Luffy asked and he wasn't the only one who had no idea who Crocodile was.

Nami's jaw dropped, Luffy looked happy and Zoro and Vergil looked kinda annoyed, not because she said it but because she just said she can't say it and then went to say it either way. And Vivi, she was covering her mouth as she realized just what she had done.

"You just said it." Zoro pointed out.

"We've got company." Vergil noticed as he looked up to the roof and saw an otter and a vulture, in other words Unluckies.

Two animals flew away and Nami cried as she began shaking Vivi. "Hey! What's with the otter and vulture?!" She screamed.

"Sorry! Sorry! Sorry! I'm so sorry!" Vivi was also crying as she repeatedly apologized.

"One of the Shichibukai is gonna be after us now!" Nami continued screaming.

"She said 'Shichibukai'!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Not bad!" Zoro was also quite happy.

"Finally some challenge." And Vergil seemed just as fine with this as the other two.

"What is going to happen to us now?!" Nami was however not sharing the enthusiasm her nakama showed.

"I'm so, so sorry! It just slipped out!" Vivi apologized but finding strength to speak was kinda hard when Nami was shaking her like this.

"'Sorry' won't do us any good now!" Nami screamed. "Now you've gotten us mixed up in all this!" And then she dramatically cried out and buried her face in her palms. "We just made it into the grand Line and now I'm marked for death by one of the Shichibukai… Why me?"

"We're pretty lucky we get to fight one so soon." Zoro said and that irked Nami off.

"Wonder what he's like?" Luffy was just as excited.

"SHUT UP YOU TWO!" Nami snapped at them and then began stomping off. "Though it wasn't for long, it's been nice knowing you all!"

"Where are you going?" Luffy called out after her.

"They don't know my face yet, so I'm outta here!" Unfortunately she jinxed herself as the otter ended up being amazingly accurate at drawing portraits and he showed all four of them to Nami who ended up clapping. "Haha! You're good!" She praised nervously.

"NO! NOW I CAN'T EVEN RUN AWAY!" She screamed as vulture flew away.

"I'm so sorry." Vivi apologized.

"That guy's pretty cool." Luffy commented.

"Where were you going to run to, anyway?" Zoro had to ask as Nami stormed over to Vergil.

"Vergil! Do something about those animals!" Nami ordered.

"I refuse." Vergil blatantly rejected and Nami began choking him.

"What do you mean you refuse?! Our lives depend on that!"

"I will NOT attack ANYONE if their BACKS are turned to me!" It was a rare occasion but Vergil actually snapped at Nami and set himself free from her grip on his neck.

Nami looked a bit shocked at that but then went to sulk and bask in all the gloom of her predicament.

What none of them knew was the fact that a slash of win would intercept the Unluckies…

"In any case, the four of us have been added to the Baroque Works Death List!" Zoro smirked.

"Shishishi! This is so exciting!" Of course Luffy was most expressive about his enjoyment.

All the while Vivi was trying to comfort Nami. "I have savings… about 500,000 beri…" At least she figured out what was it that could cheer Nami up and though the means were correct the amount was no where nearly high enough to motivate Nami into stopping her worrying.

Vergil looked at the navigator and sighed.

"DO NOT WORRY!" Igaram joined them but he was looking… quite different so to speak… He was dressed in clothes that were way too similar to Vivi's and he looked as similar to Vivi as much as a much taller and overall much different man could. To top it off he was carrying four dolls. "Fear-" He coughed, did his voice simply fail him or did his wounds affect him to such extent would never really be clear. "Mah mah maaah! Fear not, for I have a plan!"

"Igaram!" Vivi was quite happy to see him alive. "What are those clothes for?" She simply had to ask.

"Old man! You'll fool anyone wearing that!" Luffy laughed.

"My god. I'm surrounded by idiots." Nami was still sulking.

"You know you should get used to this, it's not like things will change drastically in the future." Vergil sat down on the ground next to her.

"Go away. I'm still angry at you."

"How angry?"

"Furious."

"I still don't know why though."

And she raised her head just to glare at him.

"You can be angry later, come here." He said and though she was still angry he did have a point and she honestly did like being in his arms so she quickly allowed him to wrap his arms around her as she rested her head against his chest, the soft, consistent beat of his heart was enough to temporarily calm her down.

"Vivi-sama, please listen carefully. Baroque Works' information network will soon receive that report. Once they learn we are the ones that know the Boss' true identity, you understand what will happen, don't you?" Igaram spoke to her.

"As many as a thousand hunters could soon be coming after us." She stated.

Nami did the only thing she could as she flinched, she closed the distance between her and Vergil even more seeking some kind of protection.

"Zoro easily dealt with one hundred, we can deal with measly thousand." Vergil assured her.

"That is why I have dressed in the manner of the Princess. I will depart with these four dummies and travel on a straight course for Alabasta." Igaram explained.

Luffy, who has been poking one of the dummies finally looked at Igaram. "These are us?"

"Decoys?" Zoro realized.

"Once they have begun pursuing me Vivi-sama and yourselves can depart safely for Alabasta." Igaram assumed that the pirate crew would just escort Vivi to her home.

"Now wait just a minute!" Nami actually stood up as she snapped and left Vergil's embrace. "Who said we would take the Princess anywhere?! We still don't have a contract."

"Take the Princess? What's that about?" Luffy still didn't really comprehend what this all was about.

"Weren't you listening to anything? The old man here wants us to take her home." Zoro explained.

"Oh, is that what they're on about? Okay." He agreed way too easily but that was exactly how Luffy was.

"Crocodile's going to try and kill us!" Nami tried to make Luffy see reason.

"Key word is try, he's not going to succeed. Furthermore whether we take Vivi with us or not our heads will still be on his wish list." Vergil reminded her.

Luffy turned to Igaram. "This Crocodile, is he really that strong?"

"He is currently one of the Shichibukai. Though, as a government-sanctioned pirate, he is no longer on their wanted list. But before his sanction, his bounty was 80 million beri." Igaram stated.

"Hooh." Zoro sounded impressed.

"80 million?! That's FOUR times Arlong's!" Nami was panicking again. "TURN HIM DOWN!"

"We can deal with them." Vergil tried to calm her down.

"It's easy for you to say that!" She snapped.

"And as long as I am alive whoever wants to get you killed on my watch will have to kill me first." He stated firmly making the orange haired navigator blush just a little bit.

"Will you accept?" Igaram was speaking to Luffy.

"Sure. Sounds like fun."

"You have my gratitude."

* * *

-At the docks-

* * *

"Mah! Mah! Maaaah!" Igaram made his voice much more girl-like. "Well then, I, Vivi, shall be leaving now."

"Shishi! Old man! You're just like her!" Luffy laughed.

"Like who?" Really, in which form was Igaram like Vivi.

"Now then Princess, please hand me the Eternal Pose." Igaram requested and though Vivi did do so reluctantly she did give it to him.

"Eternal Pose?" Nami being the navigator was interested in new means of navigation.

"You haven't heard of it? I'll try to explain. It is an eternally preserved version of a Log Pose. A Log Pose guides you from one island to the next, but an Eternal Pose never forgets the magnetic location of the one island it is set to. It shall eternally point towards that island. And this one points the way to Alabasta." Igaram explained.

"With this, you can get to Alabasta." Vivi told him but it was clear to everyone that there was a lot of worry hanging in the air as the two separated.

"Vivi-sama, after making a few stops please hurry to Alabasta. I have never done it myself, but I'm certain you can follow the Log two or three times to get there." He assured her. "And with that, I leave the Princess in your care."

"Sure." Luffy grinned.

"Igaram." Vivi bit her lower lip as she looked at the man that she knew since she was a small child.

He smiled at her. "I think the journey will be dangerous. Please be careful along the way."

"Iga-" She was about to cry out, to tell him what she really felt but she didn't, she chose to be strong for him who was strong for her sake. Therefore, she offered him her hand. "You too."

Igaram's ship set sail and they watched him leave.

"_We shall meet again upon our homeland. Our country's salvation is in your hands_." Igaram thought.

"Well, he's gone. He was a cool old man, wasn't he?" Luffy said softly.

"Yes. We can count on him." Vivi said that and then the tragedy fell upon them…

Hands moved, many of them, almost as if they appeared from thin air and a gust of wind pushed Igaram…

The explosion engulfed the ship, deafened the crew on the shore and lightened up the sky…

"_No_…" Nami thought as the entire crew fell silent. "it can't be! They've already come…?!"

Luffy picked up his fallen straw hat and took a deep breath. "HE WAS A GREAT MAN!"

Vergil was silent for a different reason, the wind, something felt strange and the feeling felt way too familiar to him. "_Must've been my imagination._" He for once chose to think that he mistook it, because the one to who the signature he dared to believe that wind felt could never do something like this. He turned around and followed Luffy, but unknowingly to him, he wasn't mistaken, the wind he felt and the person he associated it with, he wasn't wrong… That person had interfered in some way…

"Nami! The Log!" Zoro asked.

"It's okay! It's already set!" Nami assured him.

"Grab her! Then get to the ship!" Zoro instructed and Nami turned to the stunned blue haired female.

"Vivi! Vivi!" She went and pulled Vivi's shoulder but the girl was frozen and refused to show what she felt. "Hurry! If they see us here, everything will be in vain, right?!" Nami tried to snap her out of it but then she saw that Vivi actually bit her lower lip hard enough to draw blood. Quickly she hugged the girl. "It'll be all right! We'll get you home!" Vivi finally let the tears appear in her eyes. "See these guys? They might not look like much…" Nami began.

"I'll go get Sanji and Usopp!" Vergil quickly informed Zoro and Luffy before he **Demon Flashed** toward the bar.

"We'll get the ship!" Zoro replied though they couldn't be sure that Vergil heard what Zoro said.

"…but they saved all of East Blue! Just the five of them! What's Baroque Works to them? What's Crocodile?!" Nami felt like those five could challenge the world and win. "The Shichibukai don't stand a chance."

* * *

-With Vergil-

* * *

As the cambion **Demon Flashed** his mind wandered off to the wind he sensed still he shook his head. "It wouldn't be the first time I imagine feeling that wind…" He muttered to himself as he slammed the doors of the bar open.

He saw Sanji and Usopp and gave them a small shock, of course that woke them up and didn't harm them so the result was fine.

"Aaaah! A monster!" Usopp screamed.

"What the hell did you do that for shitty demon?!" Sanji snapped at him.

"We are leaving!" Vergil stated and grabbed both of them by the backs of their shirts and once again began Demon Flashing.

"Hey! What's going on here! This is such a nice town we're not in any hurry!" Usopp argued.

"That's right! The women here are beautiful!" Sanji added.

"Shut it and listen to me. First of all this town was a bounty hunter nest. Zoro dealt with it but it turns out that blue haired girl from Twin Capes is actually a Princess who infiltrated the bounty hunter organization known as Baroque Works. Some weakling officers of that Baroque Works came to eliminate her and that tall man that greeted us when we came here so we saved her and now we are going to take her back to her home. By the way tall guy that greeted us is already killed by those Baroque Works agents so we need to haul our asses out of here." That was too quick and too brief but Sanji and Usopp kinda understood, or rather knew that they would simply have to trust their First Mate and leave and then ask Nami for explanation, or in Sanji's case a thought of another woman on the ship ended up being all he needed to know for now…

* * *

-With Nami-

* * *

Nami and Vivi were running toward where Going Merry was.

"Hurry! Vivi!" Nami urged her.

"R-Right!"

* * *

-On the other side of the island-

* * *

A tan woman dressed in purple cowgirl outfit sat on her personal living transportation. This woman was known as Miss All-Sunday…

"What a fool. Acting as a decoy." She muttered.

"What a fool. Acting all high and mighty." Miss All-Sunday never even sensed the presence of another woman.

"And you would be?" Miss All-Sunday still quite calmly turned around and saw a female covered completely with a grey cloak hovering in the air with none other than unconscious Igaram on her back, even though she was clearly smaller than Igaram she easily supported his weight. Next to her a ball of air was rotating at the speed that didn't allow anyone to see the content of the ball.

"At the moment…" Woman paused and made the ball go near Miss All-Sunday before it disappeared and dead otter and vulture with cuts slicing through their vital points fell down. Miss All-Sunday's eyes widened in a friction of a second and only a bit before she returned to her calm composed nature. "…I am your enemy." Woman finished.

* * *

_**And that's it. Next chapter will wrap up Whiskey Peak with some additional scenes.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – King And Despot**_


	97. King And Despot

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Bbbbbbb – Thank you, I'm glad you do. Well I am fully aware of how long One Piece is and how slow my overall pacing is. So there are two outcomes. I end it somewhere along the line by killing off Vergil, if I am completely sure I have no way of completing the entire One Piece, or I complete it. So when it comes to for how long, no idea, but I do not plan on resorting to killing off Vergil unless the only remaining choice is to keep the story incomplete.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**Guest – Thanks, I'm happy to read that.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks, I suppose it is.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you. That was actually the point. Igaram's survival was, as far as I'm aware never explained clearly so I went and used the opportunity.**_

_**Naroku – I'll do my best.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 97 – King And Despot**_

* * *

"At the moment…" Woman paused and made the ball go near Miss All-Sunday before it disappeared and dead otter and vulture with cuts slicing through their vital points fell down. Miss All-Sunday's eyes widened in a friction of a second and only a bit before she returned to her calm composed nature. "…I am your enemy." Woman finished.

"Is that so?" Miss All-Sunday didn't make any sudden movement but neither did the woman hovering in the air, it seemed like neither female had an intention of attacking.

"Now why would I lie? You look smart enough to see through a lie." Woman said in quite dominant yet bored voice.

"Oh, but haven't you called me a 'fool' not a minute ago?" Miss All-Sunday had similar demeanor to her.

"Being smart enough to realize that someone who just saved your enemy and dropped two of your comrades, now dead by the way, in front of you is an enemy doesn't make you smarter than a fool." Woman smirked and Miss All-Sunday gave her an amused smile as she looked at the pale female's eyes.

"I'm afraid I cannot argue with that."

"Well then, since we've so nicely agreed on something and…" Pale woman paused for a moment. "…Since I'm not going to interfere any further, let me give you a fair warning."

Miss All-Sunday chose to humor the woman in front of her. "I'm listening."

"I can tell you from experience. Messing with Leonidas can never end well for those stupid enough to do so. So choose your actions wisely, because though the blood he carries is no longer pure by any standard he is still a Leonidas." Mysterious woman warned Miss All-Sunday and then at a simple snap of her fingers, a portal to the Demon World was open. She was gone and Igaram was gone along with her.

One thing that Miss All-Sunday wouldn't forget about this woman was the fact that those demonic eyes were unnatural, instead of usual yellow color those eyes were… red…

Well now… She still had a little something to do…

* * *

-The Going Merry

* * *

Zoro and Luffy prepared the Going Merry to set sail.

"And we're here." Vergil sighed as he let go off Usopp and Sanji who were admittedly a bit dizzy due to the way Vergil got them to their destination.

"Get on! We're ready to go." Zoro told them.

"Who died and made Moss Head the boss?" Sanji grumbled loudly enough for Zoro to hear him.

"What was that Dart Brow?!" Zoro snapped.

"Cut it out! We don't have time for this!" Nami snapped as she and Vivi ran up to the ship.

"Yes Nami-san!" And Sanji immediately went love-mode.

Vivi began climbing up the ladder. "If we sail up the river, it'll branch off into the sea. We'll be able to get on course faster."

"Alright! Let's go!" The sails were lowered and Going Merry sailed off.

Vivi looked quite worried as Carue looked at her.

"Hey." Zoro walked down the stairs

"Mr. Bushido!"

"Just how many hunters are we talking about?"

"I don't know. Baroque Works has about 2000 employees. And I've heard that there are other towns like this one in the area." Vivi replied honestly.

Nami hunched over the railing. "Really? 2000 people?" Well things weren't getting better in her book…

"Anyway, can someone give us a better explanation as to what is going on? Shitty demon is shitty when it comes to explaining things." Sanji said.

"Sure, let's just concentrate for now, there might be an ambush somewhere. I'll explain everything once things are clear." Nami assured him and Usopp.

"An ambush!" And Usopp already didn't like the sound of that…

"We're about to clear the island." Vivi said as they slowly got further away from the town.

"Cool! Fog!" Of course Luffy loved anything and everything about the journey, even the troublesome fog.

"It'll be morning soon." Nami realized.

"Well, it's a good thing you got away from your pursuers!"

Vergil, whose guard was already up, became twice as careful now at the sound of the new voice but even with that he remained still. "_Shit… I had my guard up and still didn't notice her._"

"It sure is!" Nami casually replied.

"Watch out for the shallows so that you don't strike the hull."

"You can count on me!" And then Nami slowly realized what was going on. "Uh, was that you, Luffy?"

And Luffy was confused by her question.

Nami allowed herself an uneasy smile as she glanced behind her and saw very amused Miss All-Sunday.

"Nice ship." She made a comment as she sat on the railing one level above the most of the crew.

"Who's that?!" Zoro exclaimed, he may have been surprised but his hand was already on Wado.

Vivi let out a short scream. "You! You're…!"

Miss All-Sunday smiled. "I saw Mr. 8 not too long ago, Miss Wednesday."

Vivi's eyes widened as rage painted over her. "You killed Igaram!" It wasn't Miss All-Sunday's fault that Vivi assumed that, well it kinda was yet it kinda wasn't.

"Even if you did why the hell are you on my ship? Who are you?" Luffy demanded.

"What are you doing HERE? Miss All-Sunday!" Vivi was also quick to make demands.

"Miss All-Sunday?" Nami repeated. "Which number's partner is it this time?"

"Mr. 0's. The Boss' partner." Vivi revealed.

"CROCODILE'S?!" And Nami was terrified now…

"Seems fitting." Vergil commented.

"Oh, how come?" Miss All-Sunday figured this was the Leonidas she was warned about.

"You look confident, have that damn annoying air that's sending nonverbal but clear message, 'whatever you say or do I am ten steps ahead' and that damn unreadable expression of yours… I'm damn sick of that…" Vergil growled the last part out. "_Because she was like this too_…" Xenia's face flashed in his mind.

Emotional, most likely triggered by mere thoughts of something and not difficult to predict. Clearly this one wasn't that much of a problem. Perhaps he had strength to worry about but other than that he looked like he posed no threat. So Miss All-Sunday dismissed the warning that was given to her for the time being. She would think it over one more time later but for now…

"So she's the bad guy?" Luffy asked Vivi.

"She is the only one allowed to know the Boss' true identity. We shadowed her in order to find out who he really was." Vivi revealed.

"Or to be more precise… I let you shadow me." Miss All-Sunday corrected her.

Too much like Xenia, damn this woman annoyed him already. There was no way he could bring himself to act at the moment, not when Xenia was all he could when he looked at the woman that had no physical similarities to his sister. Her eyes, the color of her hair, the skin-tone, everything was different yet the look in her eyes and the tone of her voice. Damn was he annoyed. And he showed it downright clearly with the scowl on his face.

"Oh, she's a good guy." Luffy came to a conclusion.

"I knew that! And then the one who informed the Boss of his exposed identity was you, wasn't it?!" Vivi demanded confirmation for her suspicions.

"Correct."

"So she is a bad guy." And Luffy changed his mind and was now kinda glaring and pouting at the same time. Why couldn't this woman just stop giving him a rollercoaster and decide whether she was good guy or a bad guy…

"Just stay out of it." Zoro told him.

"Just what exactly are your intentions?!" Vivi exclaimed.

"Who knows?"

"Quit playing games with us damn it…" Vergil growled but Miss All-Sunday irked him even further by simply smiling at him with that damn confident smile that damn annoyed him.

She turned her attention back to Vivi. "But you were so serious about it… I just had to cooperate. A Princess who actually thinks she can make enemies of Baroque Works and save her country… It's just so ridiculous…"

Igaram flashed in front of Vivi's eyes as she raged. "YOU SHUT YOUR MOUTH!"

At her cry Sanji pointed a gun at Miss All-Sunday at a point blank range, Usopp prepared his slingshot, Zoro drew Wado and Nami prepared her staff.

Miss All-Sunday was anything but worried over this situation. "Would you mind not pointing such dangerous things at me?" She calmly requested but before anyone could actually grant her request, the weapons hit the deck and Sanji and Usopp were pushed down to the rest of the crew.

Nami gasped.

"Could it be…?" Zoro began…

"Oooh!" Luffy was excited.

"The Devil…" Vivi realized.

"The Devil Fruit!" Zoro finally finished.

"What? What kind of ability Is it?" Nami exclaimed.

"Hey! Keep your hands off them…" Vergil growled and there was no pun intended, he was completely unaware that he guessed Miss All-Sunday's ability. The look on his face made it clear to her that it was simply a figure of speech.

"Oh? Do I look like I touched them?"

And the white haired male just glared.

Sanji recovered from the fall and fell victim to Miss All-Sunday's looks… "WHOA! Looking from here, she's one beautiful lady!"

Miss All-Sunday chuckled briefly. "Really, don't be in such a rush. I am not under any orders at the moment. So I have no reason to fight with you." Luffy's hat suddenly jumped off of his head and right into Miss All-Sunday's hand. "So you're the famous Straw Hat Captain, hm? Monkey D. Luffy." She put strange amount of emphasis on 'D.'

Luffy of course began throwing a tantrum for a good reason. "HEY! GIVE BACK HAT! YOU WANNA FIGHT?!" He was breathing heavily as he angrily stared at Miss All-Sunday.

"You're not wanted here so get off our ship, jerk!" Usopp bravely chased her away from behind the mast.

"What bad luck…" She simply placed the straw hat on top of her cowboy hat. "You pirates picking up a Princess that Baroque Works wants dead. And that Princess being protected by such a small number of pirates… But your worst luck of all… is the route that Log Pose is leading you on." At her words Nami looked at her Log Pose.

"The name of the next island is… Little Garden." She made a small pause. "My dears, even if we do nothing to stop you, you won't make it to Alabasta. You will be annihilated."

"I don't care! GIVE BACK HAT!" Luffy yelled.

"Yeah! You moron!" Usopp bravely yelled as well.

"Are you a little kid?" Zoro called him out on it.

"Rushing towards a place where you'll die. Doesn't that sound awfully foolish?" She finally tossed the straw hat back to Luffy and along the way tossed an Eternal Pose to Vivi.

"An Eternal Pose…" Vivi muttered.

"With this, you can avoid Little Garden. This needle points to Nanimonai Island just short of Alabasta. Since none of our members know this route, you will not be followed." Miss All-Sunday explained and shocked Nami by actually offering them help.

"What? She's helping us out?" Nami expressed her thoughts and disbelief.

"Why are you doing this?" Vivi asked.

"It's obviously a trap." Zoro stated.

"I wonder." Miss All-Sunday remained mysterious.

"_What should I do? I don't want to accept something like this from her… But, if I'm going to be riding this ship… then taking the safest route would be best._" Vivi waged her options as she looked at the Eternal Pose.

The decision was already made in Luffy's mind though.

He took the Eternal Pose. "Who the hell gives a crap?!" And he crushed it making both Vivi and Nami breath in quite audibly, furthermore he paid the price when Nami went and kicked him in the face.

"ARE YOU A COMPLETE DIMWIT?! She just told us the best way to go! What is she was trying to help us?! What then?!" Nami screamed at Luffy who didn't really pay much mind to either her complains or the kick he got, he simply looked at Miss All-Sunday.

"You don't decide the route for this ship!"

They looked at each other's eyes for a few moments before Miss All-Sunday finally smiled again. "How unfortunate."

"Geez!" Nami was still angry over the broken Eternal Pose.

"She blew up chikuwa old man. I hate her." Luffy stated and his statement surprised Vivi.

"Well, I don't hate those with high spirits. If you survive. Let's meet again." She suggested as she began walking to the railing on the side of the ship.

"NO." Luffy bluntly rejected her suggestion making the older woman chuckled again.

She jumped over and softly landed on a sea turtle. "Let's go, Banchi."

"W-What's that?" Zoro ran over to see.

"Is that thing a Sea King?" Usopp asked and then they saw exactly what it was.

"WHOA! It's a turtle!" Most of the crew exclaimed as Miss All-Sunday left on her turtle banchi.

"That is one HUGE turtle!" Luffy exclaimed.

Vivi fell to her knees. "That woman…! I can't understand what she's thinking!"

"Welcome to the club…" Vergil muttered but he wasn't thinking of Miss All-Sunday at all.

"Then trying to understand is a waste of time." Nami reasoned.

For a moment Vergil thought about her words, there was some true to them, but when the one whose thought you couldn't fully understand was close to you… "_Xenia died because I couldn't understand what was going through her head. If I had_…" There was no point in thinking about it again, he had to concentrate on anything but that.

"Yeah, we got people like that on the ship already." Zoro added and he was cleary talking about Luffy.

"Can someone explain this properly?!" Usopp demanded.

"Oh! Miss Wednesday, are you one of our nakama now?" Sanji was quite happy with another girl on board.

"Whoa! We've got an ostrich now?!" Usopp just noticed Carue.

"Quack!"

"Would you like something to eat?" Sanji offered.

"SOMEONE THAT ISN'T VERGIL EXPLAIN ALL THIS!" Usopp cried out.

* * *

-Demon World-

* * *

Igaram's eyes slowly opened and he found himself in a bed. He was bandaged up and his wounds were cleaned but he only now regained consciousness. He was still on guard. Did Baroque Works capture him? If so why was he in a bed, in a warm room and not in some prison cell bleeding to death? Igaram looked around the room, it was quite plain, a single bed, table with one chair and surprisingly big locker. Fireplace in the corner of the room was keeping it warm.

"I see you are awake." A female voice made him sit up ignoring his wounds and reach out for his bowtie. In an instant a hand stopped him. He didn't even see when the woman moved and he was yet to see her, so he turned his head to look at her.

The woman was wearing plain sky blue sweatshirt and jeans just as plain as the sweatshirt, although she had combat boots on, the way she held herself gave away the fact that she was more than capable fighter. Her golden eyes gave away the fact that she was a demon and her skin was a bit too pale but even with all that and her white hair tucked underneath her sweatshirt she still looked beautiful.

"Don't make any sudden movement, your wounds will reopen. Some swordsman sliced you up quite nicely with an air slash, I suppose it was a human replicating **Drive** to some extent. You took quite a few explosions as well hence so many bandages." She said and then grinned. "Though you already know all of this."

Igaram remained silent, the intentions of this woman were still unknown.

"You are at my home, it's not much but you can recover here and then I'll bring you back to the Human World." She made it clear that he was in the Demon World.

"I am grateful, but why did you save me?" It was quite a logical question.

"I do have my reasons for interfering. To be frank though, saving you was a bit of a whim, on the other hand I can't just watch as someone goes off to commit a suicide."

"I thank you, but I need to go back to Alabasta." Igaram said and tried to stand up only for the air to force him back down, he almost forgit, he was dealing with a demon, she didn't need to touch him, but only to command her specific element, in her case wind.

"Alabasta? Did they by any chance attempt negotiating and making diplomatic relationship with Epystras eleven years ago? King Nefeltari Cobra was on the throne back then if I'm not mistaken." Female said and once again Igaram was surprised. Seeing as Igaram wasn't going to do anything stupid woman walked up to her table and sat down on the chair.

"How do you know that?"

"Despot of the Special Combat District at the time, Parzifal Grom, was the one in contact with King Cobra. He was also someone I was quite close to as a child so I knew about it." She said.

"Contact stopped ten years ago, we never knew why." Igaram said after a few minutes of silence.

"Grom died. When new Despot finally took his place eight years ago he had no intention of making any contact with humans and none of the other Despots were willing to spend time on that." Her explanation made sense.

Another few minutes passed in silence. "I'll take you to Alabasta once you recover, that's the least I can do." She decided.

"You saved me and now you are offering to take me back home… I am forever grateful." Igaram bowed down to her as much as he could.

"Relax, there's no need for all the formalities, I don't really hold any position at the moment."

"I still don't know your name." Igaram reminded her, because though he was grateful he had no way of knowing her name.

"My name? Ah, sorry about that. It's been such a long time since I had to say it so I kinda forgot my manners. The name's Leonidas Xenia. Nice to meet you." White haired girl grinned at him.

* * *

_**Whiskey Peak Arc - Finished**_

* * *

_**And that's it. A bombshell, I suppose, that last sentence. Or is it? You tell me.**_

* * *

_**Trivia:**_

_**-I almost had Vergil waking up the entire crew.**_

_**-Vergil at one point ended up cutting Mr. 5's arm off, as you can see, that did not happen.**_

* * *

_**Next Arc – Little Garden Arc**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – An Ancient Island**_


	98. An Ancient Island

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Guest – Thank you, I'll try to keep the regular updates for as long as I can.**_

_**black phoenix2217 – Thanks, here it is.**_

_**Sagicknight – Thank you.**_

_**Guest – Well relationship speaking, kinda, not completely but kinda.**_

_**KP360 – Thanks, well there is one crucial difference between Sabo being alive and Xenia being alive but telling that would be a spoiler. For a bit, I suppose they will kinda have a bit of an odd relationship, maybe not really rivalry because I don't really see Robin in that light but Vergil being reminded of Xenia because of Robin will cause some funny reactions I guess.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**20th Cboys fan – Thanks, you'll see what's going on sooner or later.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks. They'll meet up, that's for sure and to be honest I can't wait to write it down either.**_

_**anquan – I'm still not completely sure but between 75 and 85 million.**_

_**kival737101 – No, not all of the OC I create will be demons, most of them will be but not all of them. So far I can tell you for sure that Alabasta has a demon, Skypiea human, Enies Lobby demon. Vergil will clash with Luffy's enemy at times and same can be said for Luffy as well but they won't rotate the opponents to the point of Vergil fighting decisive battle against Lucci while Luffy fights the decisive battle against demon OC for CP9.**_

* * *

_**Arc 12 – Little Garden Arc**_

* * *

_**Chapter 98 – An Ancient Island**_

* * *

_**The story actually went over 500 reviews. Thank you everyone.**_

* * *

"And that's how it is." Nami finished explaining the situation to Sanji and Usopp.

"I see. I've done something inexcusable, but I still have yet to show my abilities." Sanji was talking to Vivi. "Don't worry. Your sleeping knight has awakened and I will make it my duty to ensure your safety." He promised.

"Damn…! I'm glad I was asleep!" Usopp was quite relieved.

"It's not over you know." Vergil broke the sniper's temporary feeling of safety.

"Nami-san, are you jealous?" Sanji grinned at Nami whose eyebrow twitched a bit as she remembered Vergil going off to save Vivi.

"Not in the least." She still answered truthfully when it came to Sanji.

Vergil's eyes widened at the brief conversation between the navigator and the cook. He looked at Nami, thought back to her actual slap and pieced it together… She was jealous!

"I wonder… is it really alright for me to be aboard your ship? I don't want to be a burden…" Vivi said slowly.

Nami raised an eyebrow and walked up to Vivi. "What are you talking about? Thanks to you, we're all marked for death." She pressed a finger against Vivi's forehead. "If you didn't want to be a burden, you shouldn't have done that in the first place."

"I'm sorry." Vivi apologized.

"Right, Luffy?" Nami turned to her captain and the rubber man agreed completely.

"OH! I'm hungry!"

"I don't think he cares…" Vivi sweatdropped.

"In any case, we know our next stop." Zoro pointed out.

"Little Garden, eh?" Sanji muttered.

"Is it really okay to go there?" And Usopp was scared.

"Who cares! Let's go crew!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Yeah!" The crew responded.

* * *

-Tomorrow-

* * *

The crew was more or less outside doing the only thing they could actually do at the moment, which was unfortunately nothing.

"I wonder if it will snow." Luffy said as he and Zoro rested on the railing and against the railing respectively.

"How the hell can it snow?" Zoro, who was sleeping the first time it did snow was skeptical.

"Sure it can! You were asleep, so you wouldn't know."

"Hm?"

"Hey. It'll snow again, won't it?" Luffy asked one person he could, Vivi.

"Well it's not as if it will never snow again, but that first stretch of ocean is unique. The 7 magnetic fields emanating from Reverse Mountain affect everything in the area. Nevertheless, we must stay on guard. It's quite rare to have such a violent trip as that first one. But this sea is more difficult to navigate than any other in the world." Vivi walked up to the railing and looked at the ocean. "The iron-clad rule is to never take this sea lightly."

"Hey you louts!" Sanji walked out of the kitchen carrying a trey of drinks in his hand. "How about a round of my Special Drink?"

The males of the crew quickly gathered on the deck along with Carue who was trying to drink.

Vivi slammed her palm down on the railing as she frowned.

"Hey Usopp, make some fishing gear for us!" Luffy sort of ordered.

"Fishing gear? Great idea!" Zoro approved of the idea as well.

"Thinking about it I haven't gone fishing since we got Merry, I might try it out one of these days." Vergil thought about it.

"Since you got Merry? What made the difference?" Sanji asked.

"I used to jump into the water to get some fish, I guess we never really ran out of supplies so I didn't need to go that far, plus I don't really have the gear needed." Vergil explained.

"Alright! I'll make some really artistic fishing lures!" Usopp agreed.

"Add some fishing net to the list as well." Vergil added.

Carue was having troubles with drinking, he could keep the straw in the drink and still sip on it.

"No, no. Like this…" Sanji helped him and once the duck had the taste of it there was no stopping it. "You like that, huh?" Sanji grinned.

"Quack!"

"Tasty, ain't it?" Sanji handed him another glass as the rest of the males looked intrigued.

"Cool!" Luffy exclaimed while Carue chugged on one glass after another.

Vivi gritted her teeth in frustration, just how could these pirates be so relaxed?

"Chug it, Carue!" Usopp cheered on the duck.

Nami stepped out of the kitchen carrying two glasses of the drink with her.

"How can they act like this?" Vivi asked Nami as she angrily pointed at the rest of the crew.

"Here's yours." Nami handed her the glass.

"Eh?"

"Just let them be." The navigator sipped on the drink. "If a storm does come, they know what to do. They don't want to die, you know." Speaking of Nami, she changed her clothes once again. This time she was wearing white long sleeved shirt with purple sleeves.

"Well, I suppose. But it seems like they're not even trying to be alert!" Vivi stated.

Nami grinned at her. "You shouldn't worry like that. Not on this ship."

Vivi remained silent as she watched Carue drinking.

"Go! Go! Go!" Usopp cheered and then Carue's eyes began spinning causing the duck to fall on his back and spill a little fountain out of his mouth.

Luffy and Usopp laughed at that and Usopp even made a comment. "Idiot Carue!"

Nami was leaning against the railing as she watched them. Finally she turned to Vivi who eventually did smile.

"Well, this is kind of relaxing…" She admitted.

A bit further away a dolphin jumped out of the water.

"Hey guys, look! It's a dolphin!" Sanji said making them turn to where the dolphin was.

"It's cute!" Nami exclaimed.

And she might want to take back and rethink that statement… Damn dolphin jumped out of the water and it was gigantic! Not as gigantic as Laboon but damn was it gigantic! "IT'S HUGE!" And Nami worded it more or less perfectly.

When it splashed back into the water it created something quite similar to a tsunami.

"RUN AWAY!" Those were the only two words Luffy needed to shout for the crew to go from relaxed to hard working and responsible.

"Let's do it!" Zoro ran off to steer the ship.

"Yeah!" Usopp began climbing up the mast and Sanji and Vergil jumped down.

Vivi could only bask in the glory of utter surprise as everyone worked in perfect synch.

"Secure that line!" Usopp exclaimed.

"Leave it to me!" Sanji was right on it.

"These guys…" Vivi was speechless.

"FULL SAIL!" Luffy shouted.

Dolphin jumped out once again.

"Alright! We'll catch the wave and ride it out of here!" And that they did.

The little adventure was over and everything was once again calm.

"Nami! How's our course?" Luffy asked.

"Just a second, I'll check." The needle was pointing a bit to Nami's left. "Turn us hard to port!"

"Aye-aye!" She was the navigator and that meant they followed her orders in a blink of an eye.

* * *

-Some time later-

* * *

It took them some time but the crew could finally see an island in front of them.

"No doubt about it. That's our next destination, Little Garden." Nami stated as she checked the Log Pose again.

"'Little Garden'? By whose standard is that little?" Vergil had to ask.

"So that's it? The second island of the Grand Line!" Luffy exclaimed.

The island they were heading to… It didn't look like it belonged in this time…

* * *

-Somewhere else-

* * *

On a small island resort somewhere in the Grand Line an enemy was making a move.

"Mr. 3…" A female voice called the man that was pouring tea in a cup.

"Whatever is it now? One moment." He brought the tea cup to his mouth and took in the aroma of the tea. "Truly all teas pale in comparison to Earl Grey."

"I'm bored." Girl complained, she was quite a petite girl dressed kinda like a painter.

"You keep saying that you are bored and yet you loathe working as well." Mr. 3 reminded her. To that she could only nod. "So until we receive further orders, what say we just relax and enjoy ourselves? Taking a peaceful holiday like this… is a special privilege of being an Officer Agent. And one more thing… Stop carelessly using my codename in public like that. People might actually discover that I am Mr. 3." She really should be more careful, after all he was doing everything he could to conceal that fact, he even went as far as to have his hair styled so he had a large number three shaped hair. He went to such lengths just to mislead people for anyone reasonable enough would know that if he really was Mr. 3 he'd never so blatantly show it.

"Really?" His partner asked.

Mr. 3 snorted and leaned back into his armchair. "And by the way, for the last few days you've done nothing but look at that scrap of paper. Whatever could it be?"

"Orders from the Boss." And she showed the paper to him.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME SOONER?!"

He grabbed the paper and began reading it. "So Mr. 5 was taken out. Hmph, now if it were Mr. 2, I would have been happier."

"Then we'd get promoted."

"Mr. 5's defeat is nothing impressive. That man foolishly replies on his Devil Fruit ability as an end in itself. No matter what sort of marvelous power of the Devil you acquire if you are unable to fully master it, you are truly pitiful." He downed his tea and his eyes narrowed. "A superior criminal uses his superior intellect to achieve his ends. Perhaps we should teach them a little something. Just how frightening it can be to make enemies of a criminal organization."

* * *

-Little Garden-

* * *

Going Merry reached the island and now the crew was looking for a place to dock at.

"So this is Little Garden." Luffy looked quite happy.

"What the hell do they mean 'little'?" Zoro found nothing on this island to be little.

"Perhaps the visitors?" Vergil found the fact that there the answer with so little logic behind it seemed quite logical when faced with everything that wasn't little in a place known as 'little garden' quite annoying.

"Where's the logic in that?" Sanji asked.

"In the same place at which the logic behind the name is." Vergil replied.

"It doesn't look nearly as cute as its name…" Nami commented.

"This is like, unexplored territory!" Usopp was as usually scared. "An untamed jungle!"

"We have to be careful. I'm still concerned about what Miss All-Sunday said.

* * *

-Flashback-

* * *

"But your worst luck of all… is the route that Log Pose is leading you on." At her words Nami looked at her Log Pose.

"The name of the next island is… Little Garden." She made a small pause. "My dears, even if we do nothing to stop you, you won't make it to Alabasta. You will be annihilated."

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

"D-D-Does that mean there's gonna be monsters?!" Usopp panicked.

"Who knows?" And Luffy didn't care, he was having fun and he knew he could take any monster on.

"Aah! Let's just go to the next island without stopping here!" Usopp hoped they would listen to him.

"Don't you remember what Nami said about Log Pose?" Vergil looked a bit annoyed.

"Yeah, we need time to set the Log." Nami reminded him.

"That, and it's about time we picked up some provisions. We didn't get to stock up at the last town." Sanji added even more reason to dock.

"I see a river mouth up ahead!" Zoro informed them.

"Really?" Most of the crew went to see.

"I hope there's a yakiniku restaurant here!" Luffy exclaimed as they sailed up the river and deeper into the territory of the island.

"What the hell would one be doing here?!" Sanji scolded him for even thinking about that.

"But didn't you say we needed provisions?" Luffy made a point.

"I meant we need to get ingredients!" The cook snapped. "I don't know what goes through that tiny brain of yours!"

"But landing is going to be dangerous." Nami said as she pointed toward the shore. "I mean, take a look at those plants. Those aren't in any botany book I've ever seen."

A loud screech of a bird made both Nami and Usopp scream and cover their ears.

"Cute!" Sanji was love struck at how cute Nami looked and truth be told she really did look cute.

"You mean me?" Usopp had one eye open and it was kinda sparkly as he tried to look a bit more… cute…

"I MEAN NAMI-SAN, OBVIOUSLY!" Sanji roared.

"What is that?" Nami cried out.

"Don't worry. It's just a little old bird. And this is just a normal jungle. Nothing to worry about." Sanji said as he pointed behind him. He was yet to be fully aware of the size of the creature that was flying toward him with clear intention to get him as a lunch,

"Flock of feather face." Vergil hissed as he formed a darkness ball in his hand and shot it at the large bird.

The bird took the hit and swayed a bit in the air as it gave up on its meal for now.

"A lizard…?" Luffy could see some resemblance. "I wonder how it tastes?"

"What was that bird just now?" Sanji had to ask but then turned to Vergil. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it. You'd be fine even if I didn't do that." Vergil shrugged it off.

The abnormalities of this island just weren't stopping as something similar to an eruption went off.

"Is that the kind of sound you hear in a normal jungle?" Nami and Carue were terrified and let's not start with how Usopp was taking this.

"That sounded like a volcano erupting!" He cried out.

"And we're not finished yet." Vergil casually looked to the side where the very king of the jungle, tiger, and quite a large one as well, walked up to the shore. It growled at the ship and seemed ready to pounce at any moment.

"A tiger?!" Nami and Usopp just couldn't get a break.

"And it's huge!" Usopp nearly screamed.

Vergil on the other hand had completely different reaction. "No matter how many times I see them I'm always amazed at how magnificent they are. I mean just look at it, the power, speed, tiger has all of that and it also has pride and gracefulness, and just look at those stripes of fur…"

"Can you concentrate?!" Usopp yelled at him.

"Do we have to find out that you have a cat fetish now of all times?!" Nami joined in.

"I like tigers and wolves, sue me if it's bothering you that much." Vergil felt oddly irritated at Nami saying that he had a cat fetish.

The tiger kept following the ship but then it became clear that something was wrong. It actually spat out blood and fell down.

"What? What happened to it?" Nami asked. "This is not normal. This is definitely not normal. How can a tiger, the King of the Jungle collapse in its own blood?!"

Usopp was sweating as he came to a simple solution to their problem. "Well then, it's decided we are NOT stopping at this island!"

And Nami supported that decision wholeheartedly. "We'll just sit on the ship and quietly wait for the Log to set…"

"Yes." Usopp gave her a voice of support.

"Then we get out of here as fast as possible." She had it all planned out.

"Yes!"

"We do have to hurry to Alabasta, right?" She was scared, too scared to realize that Luffy was having none of that.

A few minutes later Zoro dropped the anchor and Luffy, who was strangely quiet up until now began laughing in excitement.

"Sanji, lunchbox!" Luffy requested.

"Lunchbox?" Sanji repeated.

"Yeah, to recharge my power! A ton of meat and no vegetables! A PIRATE Lunchbox! I smell an adventure!" And Nami's plan to sit around quietly just ran out through the closed window and now everyone was too busy repairing the damage to go and bring it back.

"N-Now hold on a second, you! Where do you think you're going?" At least she could say she tried.

"On an adventure!" Luffy actually had sparks of excitement sparkling around him as he threw his arms around. "Wanna come? Adventure! Adventure!"

Nami began crying as she came to realize the cruelty of her situation. "_It's useless… I can't stop him. He's too excited._"

Usopp was also crying but he also had his jaw dropped. "You're kidding right? The monster that killed that huge tiger is still out there!" He was barely audible as he said that.

"Sanji! Lunchbox!" Luffy reminded the cook that was already off to do the task.

"I heard you." Sanji assured him. "Give me a minute."

"Hey, is it okay if I go with you?" Vivi asked.

Usopp nearly had a heart attack when she asked that.

"Yea, c'mon! Let's go!" Luffy was eager to go and he was eager to have company as well.

"Don't tell me you're going along with this?!" Nami shouted at Vivi.

"Well, if I sit around here, I'll only get depressed. I might as well relax while we wait for the Log to set." VIvi reasoned.

"You can't! Luffy does this all the time, but it's far too dangerous for you!" Nami tried to talk at least Vivi out of it as Luffy chanted 'Adventure!' again and again.

"I'll be alright! Carue will be with me!"

Two seconds later Carue let out a terrified 'Quack' at what Vivi just said.

"He's so surprised he can't speak." Nami looked a bit concerned about him.

"Well, Vivi-chan, I'll make you a special Love Lunchbox!" Sanji told her.

"Can you please make some Drink for Carue, too?" She requested politely.

"Of course! Leave it to me!" And he was in the kitchen.

"Vergil! Wanna join?!" Luffy asked excitedly.

"Su-" Vergil tried to agree but Nami slapping her hand over his mouth and pulling him back stopped him.

"You are not leaving me!" She snapped and to her relief Usopp jumped in front of Vergil and pushed him back as well.

"Or me!"

Vergil looked to the side and sighed. "Fine. I'll stay." He reluctantly agreed and then turned to Luffy. "Next time. Looks like I've been booked for today." He grinned.

Luffy pouted but then shrugged it off. "Next time then!"

"I'll do my best to slip out of their clutches next time." Vergil promised.

"Shishishi! Sanji! Pirate Lunchbox!" Luffy demanded.

And a few minutes later Luffy had a bad strapped onto his back as Sanji tied it. Afterwards he proceeded to strap the small barrel with drink onto Carue's neck. "Okay! One Pirate Lunchbox and one Special Drink just for Carue! You're all set!" Sanji said as he stood up.

"Yup!" Luffy exclaimed as he jumped down and Carue, with Vivi on top of him followed.

"Okay, we're off!" Vivi said.

"Alright! Let's GO!" Luffy began running and Carue followed.

"We'll be back soon!" Vivi assured them.

"She's got guts… Miss Wednesday." Usopp commented.

"What would you expect from someone who infiltrated a criminal organization?" Nami reminded him of her previous actions.

Zoro cracked his neck a bit. "Well, I've got some time to kill. I'm gonna take a walk."

"A WALK?" Usopp breathed out and Zoro just jumped down to the ground.

"Hey, Zoro! Hold up." Sanji stopped him just in time. "We're out of food. If you see something that looks edible, bring it back."

"Right, got it. I'll go hunt something you couldn't possibly handle yourself." And that's how the relationship between the swordsman and the cook went downhill.

"HOLD UP!" Sanji yelled.

Zoro turned to glare and Sanji placed a foot on the railing. "I heard that. Bastard, you think you can bring something bigger than I could?"

"Damn straight." Zoro was sure of himself.

The two glared, growled and sparks were created due to the distortion in air they were causing.

"A Hunting Contest." Sanji himself jumped down. "Listen up. The winner's the one that brings back more kilos of meat."

"Don't you mean tons?" And Zoro was cocky as always.

"Save your bragging for when we line up what's edible." Sanji told him.

Zoro snorted. "My thoughts exactly."

Usopp and Nami were crying as swordsman and cook departed in the opposite direction.

"Every single one of them." Nami mumbled. "Why do they all have to be this way?"

"I know exactly how you feel. Don't cry, I'm by your side." Usopp said that even though he was also crying.

"Well, how did you plan on spending the time before the Log sets?" They were suddenly reminded that they have, as he himself had put it, booked Vergil in advance.

In a matter of seconds the two felt safer and let out a sigh of relief.

Vergil allowed himself a small grin at their slightly calmer state, truth be told he did feel like going to the island but this was better. This island wasn't the only thing they had to worry about, Baroque Works, though Miss All-Sunday said they didn't need to send anyone he doubted they would just leave it to the chance.

He sat down and leaned against the mast, like this he could make sure there were no brave and stupid birds rushing in toward Nami or Usopp and that no animal was approaching the ship from the shore.

* * *

_**And that's it. I think I've got the timeline right, newspapers mentioned in the beginning of Drum Island Arc arrived in the afternoon, they are morning newspapers so they are covering events of the previous day. By that logic they are one day old already, one night passes and they are two days old when the events of Little Garden unfold. Nami's sickness takes five days to kill and Kureha said Nami would die in two days which leaves three days. Take away one night they most likely spent in the castle. One night Nami was shown waking up and that leaves one night. Night between leaving Little Garden and Nami's sickness getting stronger. Well I think I got it right but if I didn't… well let's just roll with it.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Battle Of Giants**_


	99. Battle Of Giants

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**almost stupid – I made a reference to Devil May Cry, I figured since Vergil is often mistaken for DMC Vergil why not humor it and make a reference when I could, furthermore it's a bit of a homage to the franchise that is not only my all time favorite but also served as large influence on the base of what I created with Vergil and the Demon World.**_

_**Naroku – Though it is a spoiler I will confirm it, yes, he will carry Nami up the mountain.**_

_**Sagicknight – Thanks, yeah.**_

_**Naomi – No problem. And yes, he will have a few instances in which he'll get jealous.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks. Yeah, I guess it will make some difference later on in the arc.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you. Well the first part, you'll see in this chapter, the second part, Drum Island stuff, well soon enough.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 99 – Battle Of Giants**_

* * *

Vergil allowed himself a small grin at their slightly calmer state, truth be told he did feel like going to the island but this was better. This island wasn't the only thing they had to worry about, Baroque Works, though Miss All-Sunday said they didn't need to send anyone he doubted they would just leave it to the chance.

He sat down and leaned against the mast, like this he could make sure there were no brave and stupid birds rushing in toward Nami or Usopp and that no animal was approaching the ship from the shore.

Nami suddenly remembered something. "Wait a second." She abruptly stood up and went to her room.

"What is it? N-N-N-Nami?!" Usopp quickly followed her.

What he found once he entered the girl's room was Nami tossing books down as she searched for a particular book they had in their small library.

"Not this one. Not this one either." She muttered and she sounded rather annoyed over that fact.

"Hey! Hey, hey! Nami Nami! What on earth are you looking for?" Usopp exclaimed.

"I remember reading about it in one of these books."

"About what?"

"Little Garden."

* * *

Luffy and Carue with Vivi on his back were running through the jungle and the rubber man had quite good observation skills as he spotted something strange in the river.

"What's wrong?" Vivi asked as Carue returned to Luffy.

"Hey look! Check this thing out!"Luffy stepped into the river and pointed at an ammonite. "It looks like a squid with a shell." He picked the animal that clearly wasn't pleased with being disrupted. "A Shell Squid."

Vivi took a closer look at it. "It looks just like an ammonite."

"It's a Shell Squid." Luffy decided.

What they heard next was damn loud stomping.

* * *

Sanji was walking through the forest with quite a strange feeling. "I feel like I'm being watched." Though he said that he still looked confident and relaxed. "Ah well, must be imagining things."

Unfortunately, like with the giant bird he was wrong. He had a tyrannosaurus following him and the only thing that finally alerted Sanji of its presence was its droll dripping right onto Sanji's head.

Sanji flicked it off and glared at the supposedly extinct animal that went to swallow him. Fortunately the blond cook casually jumped out of the way.

"Oh, screwing with me, eh?"

Tyrannosaurus raised its head and roared thus giving Sanji an opportunity to strike.

"**Collier Shoot**!" And the tyrannosaurus gained a kick right onto its neck, one that made it fall onto its back.

* * *

Zoro was having similar situation at hand as he was facing a triceratops ready to charge at him.

"What the hell is this? Can you eat it?" And the swordsman was anything but fazed by it.

* * *

On the Going Merry Nami was still searching for the book while Usopp went out to join Vergil.

"Let's see… Which one was it?" She took another book and began flipping through the pages. "It seems like I just read it recently." She tossed the book down. "What did I do with it?"

One could only watch with horror at the way these books were treated. The horror, the pain, the pages that were in some shape or form damaged upon the collision with the floor and Nami still wondered what she did with the book she was looking for…

She took yet another promising looking book that honestly prayed it would be the book she was looking for, the poor book would scream for her to gently toss her after seeing all the suffering her brethren went through, that is if it could scream.

* * *

Luffy and Vivi continued their adventure in Little Garden with just as much enthusiasm as before.

"Eh? Why is there a Sea King walking on land?" Luffy asked as he saw the diplodocus munching on some leaves.

"A DINOSAUR!" Not quite precise but good enough explanation came from Vivi.

"A DINOSAUR?!" Though they both shouted Luffy's shout was filled with awe excitement and overall eagerness while Vivi was surprised and kinda scared.

"Then… This must be one of the Prehistoric Islands!"

"Eh?"

"This island is still back in the Age of the Dinosaurs!" She simplified it yet Luffy just blinked a couple of times.

"Because of the difficulty of navigating the islands of the Grand Line, the different islands seldom mingle with each other. Each island has been left to develop in its own unique way. Therefore there are islands that contain civilizations that have advanced beyond compare… And there are islands that have remained isolated for tens of thousands of years. Retaining their original state!" And instead of explaining things to Luffy he was blissfully oblivious to the basic understanding of what she tried to explain.

His mind worked in simple manner. There will be an adventure on this island. There were dinosaurs here. Dinosaurs were cool. Thus the island was cool.

"The unpredictable climates of the Grand Line make this possible! This island really is still in the Age of the Dinosaurs!" And a pair of arms stretched toward the dinosaurs' neck.

"AWESOME!" Luffy shot forward and clung to the ancient beast's neck.

"Luffy!" Vivi finally realized just what the straw hat wearing pirate did. "DON'T CLIMB IT!"

* * *

Usopp and Vergil were standing behind the railing.

"Say, if some monster attacks… You can deal with it, right?" Usopp felt a bit uncertain.

"I'm a form of a monster, remember. Being a demon and all. So yeah, I doubt any monster we can come across on this island can match the monstrosity of a released demon." Vergil simply commented. "You can relax, whatever monster there is on this island it'll have to go through me first."

Usopp nodded feeling slightly safer, Vergil was powerful, much more powerful than him and Nami combined. The sniper clearly remembered his first real impression of the demon, the battle against Black Cat pirates, Vergil proved to be capable of killing, taking complete control over the situation and being able to risk and still remain calm and composed. Nevertheless, he also did what he could to make sure that the crew was fine, like how he stopped that stone hammer and helping Zoro. Usopp still wondered at times, especially after finding out that Vergil was some sort of a big name in the Demon World, just why would such demon follow a human?

"Vergil! Usopp!" Nami joining them stopped the sniper's train of thoughts.

"What? What's up?" Usopp asked while Vergil looked at Nami. "Did you find the book?"

The look on her face, the worry, that was all the answer they needed and her nod confirmed it.

* * *

Further into the depths of the jungle the hunting contest was still on.

The tyrannosaur that attacked Sanji and was afterwards kicked in the neck stood up and though it was standing on shaky legs it wasn't ready to give up. It roared loudly and reinforced its pride and will to keep going.

"What a rude bastard you are." Sanji commented.

Both fighters rushed toward one another and just as the tyrannosaur went to shut its jaw and bite Sanji the cook jumped up and as he dropped down he dropped an axe kick onto the carnivore's head thus pretty much burying it into the ground.

* * *

Just like Sanji, Zoro also engaged in combat against a dinosaur.

"A fellow **Three Sword Style** fighter?" The green haired swordsman noticed, he was clearly referring to the three horns that were the main offense of the triceratops that was ready to lunge at him.

It was over before it even began, Zoro unsheathed his swords, took his stance and rushed toward the triceratops, a three slashes later and he sheathed the swords back in as the dinosaur fell down dead.

* * *

Dinosaurs weren't the only creatures living on this island… Large human like creature was stomping through the forest… When it stepped onto the ground the small quakes were initiated and the loud noise of the footsteps only spoke of the size of the creature. As it walked the trees shook and when they dared to stand in the way of the creature they were effortlessly moved out of the way…

Now that creature was walking toward a certain trio…

* * *

On Going Merry Nami finally found her voice again and began explaining.

"This is terrible! This island is…" She never got to finish.

"This island is…?" Usopp urged her, unaware of the sudden guest they had.

"Get inside. Quickly…!" Vergil hissed but it was too late, both Nami and Usopp were frozen in fear as the giant towered over Merry.

There was no getting inside now. Both of them quickly hid behind Vergil and screamed.

Sanji miraculously heard Nami's scream as he sat on the tyrannosaur. "What? I thought I heard Nami-san calling me…"

'To the people who live here… the island is just like a little garden. 'Little Garden' that is what we shall call this place. –Expedition Leader, Louis Arnote' That was what Nami was looking for…

"Vergil… Do something…" Both Nami and Usopp were crying as they clung onto the back of Vergil's shirt as if their lives depended on it.

"Gabababababa!" The giant laughed. He was dressed in a Viking costume consisting of red overall with golden button straps, fur linings, a leather strap around his right shoulder and another as a belt. He also wore yellow pants with black stripes and bur lining at the bottom, yellow shoes and red helmet with two horns. His dirty blond beard was shaped like an axe's blade.

"Well?" The giant leaned his face down so now the trio was right in front of him.

"What ab-" Vergil tried to defy him but both of his comrades slammed their hands over his mouth.

"I-I'm sorry." Nami apologized. "C-Could you say that again?"

"I asked if you had any sake." Giant said.

Usopp frantically nodded and Nami took a small step back.

"We might have a little…" She carefully answered on the question.

"Oh! You've got some?" And the giant grinned happily at her answer.

"W-We haven't drunk much of it lately, we sometimes need it for cooking and things. But if you'd like some, you can have it all!" Nami assured him.

Giant suddenly screamed thus making Nami scream as well as she and Usopp once again hid behind Vergil.

"Damn…" Vergil muttered under his breath, this was certainly not a good situation to be in. They were still on the ship and this giant was big enough to easily destroy it…

The cause of giant's scream was yet another reason why Vergil didn't find the situation to be so good for them. A dinosaur had actually bit the giant.

"Dino-" Usopp couldn't complete the word due to the shock he had experienced.

"A dinosaur…" Nami finished it for him.

What happened next showed them just how strong the giant was as he turned around and with his axe sliced the head clean off dinosaur's neck.

Usopp and Nami cried and screamed and Vergil greeted his teeth.

"I, and I alone, am Elbaf's mightiest warrior! Brogy! Gababababa!" Brogy laughed as he held the head up high.

Vergil took the opportunity of Brogy's celebration to grab Nami's hand. "Nami… get closer…" He whispered and Nami raised her head so she could hear him.

"Listen, we'll use the sake as an excuse. In the bedroom where we sleep, in the highest drawer of the closer I have the jacket I wore back when we were on your island…" He stopped for a moment for her to nod. "Underneath it is a small box, no matter what don't open it, just make sure you can bring it to me and hand it to me without him noticing."

Nami nodded but as she realized that Vergil had a plan that involved fighting the giant she felt terrified of how the battle could end, almost entirely guided by impulse Nami moved her hand, down at his waist and then up all the way to his chest where she stopped. Vergil glanced at the hand that gripped tightly at the fabric of his shirt and placed his hand on hers.

"If you can bring that to me I can take him down if needed. I won't fight unless there is no other choice but without it I doubt I can take him down without endangering you two." He softly whispered to her.

"How is a box going to help you?" Usopp whimpered.

"Trust me on this." He said. "And let me handle this. Whatever happens we can't stay on Merry, for the sake of the ship."

Brogy lowered the dinosaur's head and turned his attention back to the trio. "Now I've got some meat. Join me, as my guests."

"I see. Thank you for your hospitality, just wait for a few minutes until we bring the sake and we'll join you." Vergil casually told the giant.

"Gababababa! Sure!" Brogy agreed to that, after all that's why he was there.

"Nami, fetch the key to the storage from the bedroom, would you?"

Nami realized what he was playing at but she still didn't like the idea. He was agreeing to go with the giant so that Merry wouldn't get damaged and he was letting her go to the men's room so she could get the box. "G-Got it." She ran off.

"W-Where should I-I go?" Usopp asked.

"You'll go and get the sake." Vergil instructed.

Nami ran up to them and handed the key to men's room to Usopp and then, when Vergil seemingly relaxed his posture, Nami took the opportunity to slip the small box into the white haired male's hand. 'Trigger' was ready to be pulled…

* * *

While Vergil, Nami and Usopp had their first encounter with giants others were pretty much enjoying their time and Luffy was clearly having a blast.

"What a great view! This would be a great place to eat my lunch." Because eating lunch on the head of a dinosaur that is also eating is more or less once in a lifetime experience.

Vivi and Carue didn't exactly share his enthusiasm as they watched from the safety of the ground. "How can you be so carefree?"

Luffy ignored or simply didn't hear her as he looked around and spotted a couple of volcanoes. "So there really are volcanoes here. And there's a huge holey mountain over there!" He grinned.

"It's dangerous up there! Come down here this instant!" Vivi yelled at him.

"Huh?"

"Even though it's docile now, it's still a dinosaur!"

"It's okay, he doesn't mind! More importantly, there's a big hollow mountain over there! Sure is some strange terrain!" Luffy was still completely carefree.

"The terrain doesn't matter! Just get back down here!"

And her words were ignored. Luffy hung down to the dinosaur's eye as he held onto the straw hat so it wouldn't fall. "Hey, sorry to bother you. But could you take me over there?" Luffy pouted when the dinosaur gave him the same treatment he himself was giving to Vivi at the moment. Blissful ignorance. "Hey. Even if you can't understand what I'm saying, come on, please take me." Luffy went back to sit on its head and pointed to the hollow mountain. "There. Over there."

And the dinosaur simply went to bite more leaves.

Luffy wrapped his arms around its neck. "Not there…" Abruptly the dinosaur's head was turned to the direction in which Luffy wanted to go. "Over there!"

The dinosaur roared and Vivi and Carue cried out.

"DON'T DO THAT!" Vivi shouted.

Dinosaur cried and the entire area shook as the footsteps echoed.

"Hey, sorry… I was just…" Luffy apologized.

Vivi and Carue screamed as large foot stepped right next to them. Luffy on the other hand shouted in awe as he saw multiple dinosaur heads over the head of the one he was sitting on. "AWESOME!"

"Luffy-san! I told you it was dangerous! Now come down here right now!" Vivi tried to get him to listen.

"Hey now, these dinos are taller! I bet I can see better from up there!" Luffy exclaimed.

"That's not the point!" Vivi snapped.

Luffy stretched his arm and grabbed onto the head of one of the tallest dinosaur. Once he landed on it he took another look at the holey mountain. "As I Thought! I can see those holes much better from here.

One of the dinosaurs suddenly trued to eat Luffy who jumped up and successfully landed onto its head… an act that successfully gained the attention of the other dinosaurs that joined in on trying to eat him.

"Watch out!" Vivi warned him.

Luffy simply jumped from one head to another while laughing even though six dinosaurs were trying to eat him. He jumped onto one of the heads and then went to slide down the neck of that particular animal. "Vivi! You gotta try this! It's fun!" Princess and her spot-billed duck were downright speechless…

Luffy slid down all the way own the neck and the back of the dinosaur and went up to the air, seeing as he would fall he quickly shot his arm forward to catch onto the tallest one of them all. As his arm retracted he had to wave his body a bit to evade the attempts of the dinosaurs to eat him.

"The view is much better from here!" He finally stopped and was once again concentrated on the view.

Vivi didn't know whether to feel frustrated or scared for the rubber captain, finally thekarma played it's part and the large dinosaur made Luffy go airborne once again but as the laughing pirate fell back down it opened its mouth and Luffy was eaten… And he actually stopped laughing…

Carue quacked loudly out of fear as Vivi face faulted. "He did not just get eaten!"

Luffy was sitting on the dinosaur's tongue as he looked around. "Where am I?" He didn't have time to get the answers as the dinosaur swallowed.

When travelling with the Straw Hat pirates there is one thing a person in question learns rather quickly. There is no end to surprises. Want an adventure on a prehistoric island? Check. Want herbivore dinosaurs to try to eat you even though that would make them omnivores? Check. Want to get eaten by one of them? Check. Want that dinosaur to luckily for you get killed by a giant slicing its head off with a sword just before you go down to the stomach? Check.

And that is exactly how the events that transpired in front of Vivi's eyes in the last couple of minutes could be summed up.

And Luffy fell right into the hand of the giant as the dinosaurs ran away.

"Gegyagyagyagya! I was watching you! You were playing with the Long Necks in the jungle. What a lively little human! It's been a long time since I've had a guest." This giant was just as large as Brogy, he was also dressed like a Viking, though he was shirtless and his helmet went over his eyes. Furthermore, he was shirtless and had a dark cloak. His beard was black and it reached down to his waist.

"Damn, you're HUGE!" Luffy exclaimed. "Are you a human?"

"You're asking is I'm human? Gegyagyagyagyagya! I, and I alone, am Elbaf's mightiest warrior, Dorry! Gegyagyagyagya!" That sentence sounded quite familiar for some reason…

Carue was already down for the count and Vivi dropped to her knees. "I-It's a Giant! I've never seen one… I've only heard about them in stories…"

Luffy grinned. "I'm Luffy! A pirate!"

"Gegyagyagyagya! A pirate? That's great! Gegyagyagyagya!" Well this one seemed to like laughing.

"Carue, wake up! Let's run away before it's too late!" She just had to jinx it.

Luffy of course pointed toward her and Carue. "Ah, see those guys over there? That's Vivi and Carue. Say 'hi' guys!"

"Luffy-san, why did you say that?" Vivi hissed and Carue agreed wholeheartedly.

"Gegyagyagyagyagya! Hey you guys, let me show you my place. Gegyagyagyagyagya!"

* * *

Breath of a giant, due to their size, could easily match the wind when they wanted it to and the fire that was being strengthened by Brogy's blowing was the proof of that.

"This looks delicious!" Brogy commented as he watched over five large pieces of dinosaur meat that were being prepared on the fire.

"Vergil… There are skulls in that cave…" Usopp hissed at Vergil. The trio was sitting on one of the logs near Brogy but far enough for them to whisper and be sure that he couldn't hear them.

"There's nothing I can do about them." Vergil nonchalantly replied.

"I know, I know. But… We could end up like that as well…" Nami was taking Usopp's side in this case.

"Sooner or later he's probably gonna eat us, too." Usopp added.

"Come on, we have to go! It's not like we are going to wait to get eaten."

"Mmm. Mmm. Tasty dinosaur meat! Roasted in a red hot fire and just like that, eat it!" Brogy sang.

"We have to go!" Nami hissed at Vergil and the white haired male finally seemed willing to relent.

Sudden pain shot through Vergil's body, his blood seemed to burn and he felt it… The effect of 'Trigger' being a cambion he was far more affected by it. He took it believing he would have to fight, at this moment he doubted he would even take out Dark Edge, so 'Trigger' which was in his pocket was forcing its effect upon him even if it was still in the box…

"Go ahead. You two run I'll join you as soon as I make sure he's not going to follow you." He said thus surprising the two.

"We can't leave you." Usopp wanted to yell at him but he didn't, not with the giant right there.

"Go. Now." The second word sounded kinda different, his voice was harsher… Neither Nami nor Usopp knew what was going on but the look in his eyes, in his completely yellow eyes scared them for a moment. Usopp remembered how Mihawk called this, half-awakened demon… And Vergil never, never tapped into that casually.

"What's wrong?" Nami asked.

"Go."

Usopp felt fear, not the kind of fear he often felt, but something he wasn't used to, he felt afraid not for but of Vergil, perhaps even more than he was afraid of the giant. Normally Vergil wasn't someone any of them needed to be afraid of, but this didn't look normal. For a single moment Vergil's eyes flashed red, blood red! He grabbed Nami's arm and pulled her.

* * *

"Usopp! What was that for?!" Nami snapped when they made some distance.

"Vergil…! I think something's wrong." He gasped for breath.

"I can see that but running away like that… Wait did we just run away from Vergil?!" Well she now had another reason to snap.

"Remember back when we were at Baratie?" She nodded. "Well after Zoro fought Hawk Eye Mihawk and we thought he was killed Vergil's eyes were like that. And then they were like that when he said he'd leave nothing to bury from Krim. If I had to guess his eyes were like that during his fight with Krim once they were in the building."

"Wait, during those times Vergil was angry, maybe even furious." Nami realized.

"And Mihawk called it something like half-awakened demon." Usopp added.

Nami began piecing it together. Half-awakened demon… Where did she hear something familiar…? From Krim? And then it hit her, she heard it from none other than Vergil.

'_I can tell you that I have seen battles turning completely to the favor of the losing side by one demon fully awakening.'_

"Do you remember Vergil talking about awakening demon? And how it could turn the tide of the battle?" She asked and Usopp tried to remember but kinda failed. "It doesn't matter. Well if you call that half-awakened, then awakened would also have some physical change and he did use words 'certain form'."

"But Vergil doesn't go around activating that half-awakened demon thing." Usopp argued.

"It's not Vergil. It's that box he asked me to get him. That thing is doing something to him." Nami got it right, completely right.

But, before they could try coming up with a solution they head a growl of an animal known as saber tooth tiger…

* * *

Vergil was taking deep breaths as he tried to force the 'Trigger' into going back to slumber. "_Concentrate… It's like _**Demon Release**_… It depends on my decision, I hold the right to activate and deactivate it… Don't close your eyes…_" Those words, 'Don't close your eyes' those words were what kept him going again and again and now seemed like they would work again.

His eyes flashed a couple of times before finally returning to the usual.

"Hey, Brogy. What do you plan to do with us?" Vergil suddenly asked.

"Hm? Where are your friends?" Brogy saw that Usopp and Nami were no longer there.

"That depends on your answer." Vergil stated.

"Gababababa! It's been such a long time since I had guests." Those words were the answer to everything.

"I see. We apologize. I'm going to go and get my nakama back so we can eat together." Vergil promised and took off.

Giant laughed and returned to watching over the dinosaur meat that was soon to be ready.

* * *

Nami and Usopp were running away from the saber tooth tiger for quite some time now and all the screaming actually brought them another carnivore. A dinosaur one this time, so in a matter of seconds two humans and one saber tooth tiger were running away together.

"Vergil! Save us!" They both screamed as loudly as they could.

Suddenly the stomping behind them stopped and the running trio halted to see the beheaded dinosaur.

"Piss off you damn cat…" Vergil jumped down from one of the branches with Dark Edge in his hand. The saber tooth tiger ran away as soon as it looked into Vergil's eyes. Nami looked as Vergil sighed and Dark Edge disappeared.

"W-What did you do?" Usopp had to ask.

The head wasn't cut in a clear cut, rather it was cut by combination of a few slices.

"**Hyper Drive**. I can fire three continuous sword slashes with that and they are faster than the regular **Drive**." Vergil explained. "Sorry about before. This is why I didn't want to use the content of that box unless as a last resort. As you probably noticed I can't completely control the demon part of me with it this close to me. On the other hand if I had to fight Brogy I couldn't do it without 'Trigger'." He apologized.

Neither Nami nor Usopp paid much mind to 'demon part' segment of his apology, they simply went and hugged him as they cried. Fear really was something that these two knew how to express…

"Let's go back to Brogy, he's not going to do anything to us, well he is going to share his food with us but if that's the bad thing then I don't know what a good thing is." Vergil dropped the bombshell and his nakama felt even more terrified now that they knew they would have to go back.

"Before you start panicking think about it. We aren't even as big as the horns he's wearing on his helmet, how much do you think the three of us will fill him up?" He tried to reason with them.

"Well it's not like one tangerine will fill me up but I still like eating it once in a while." Nami argued.

"I won't argue with that but I don't think that guy is evil. If he wanted to eat us he would have tried to do so by now." Vergil sighed. "At least give him a chance, not being human doesn't directly make him dangerous to humans." His voice was completely normal now, there was nothing strained or harsh in it, in fact he sounded somewhat gentle…

* * *

Therefore, in the end, they relented and now they were all with Brogy who lowered a large chunk of meat on the leaf.

"Gabababababa! Okay, let's eat! Dinosaur meat is really good!" Brogy told them and Vergil approached the meat with Dark Edge, he proceeded to cut off three pieces and handed both Nami and Usopp a piece.

"T-Thank you." They both muttered but were still not so sure about whether or not they should eat.

Vergil bit into it and looked quite surprised. "Amazing. We have to hunt one or two of these so others can try it as well." He commented.

"See! It's so GOOD, this dinosaur meat! Gebabababa!" Brogy took a large bite of his own chunk of meat.

"This does smell so good…" Even Usopp had to agree and he finally took a small bite.

Nami had different thoughts in her mind. "Brogy-san, may I ask you one little question?"

"Hm? What's up little girl?" He didn't sound hostile at all.

"D-Do you know how long it takes for a log to set on this island?" Nami asked.

"One year." At that the eyes of all three of the Straw Hat pirates widened. "So just have fun!"

This was no longer about having fun, they simply didn't have a year, they had to go to Alabasta.

* * *

On the other side of the island Dorry and Luffy were laughing together as they also ate the dinosaur meat or in Dorry's case Sanji's food.

"This is great, Giant old man!" Luffy complimented.

"That little Pirate Lunchbox wasn't too bad, either. Though it was a bit small! Gegyagyagyagyagya!" Dorry returned the favor.

"You bet! That was a special lunch made by my pirate ship's cook! If you said it was bad, I'd kick your ass." Luffy said that quite casually.

Dorry suddenly stopped laughing. "Kick my ass?" He leaned a bit forward making Carue spill his drink and Vivi look a bit more scared, however he began slapping his knee as he once again laughed. "What a funny little man!"

"They are so friendly with one another." Vivi couldn't help but notice that.

"Anyway, old man, why are you living alone out here? Don't you have a village or something?" Luffy asked.

Dorry once again became serious, perhaps for the first time for real. "Hm? Yeah, I have a village. Elbaf, the Village of Warriors. Somewhere out on the Grand Line. But, our village has laws."

"Laws?" Luffy repeated.

"For example: To settle a fight, the opponents must leave the village… and accept the judgment of our God Elbaf. Elbaf grants divine protection unto the rightful victor. That rightful victor is allowed to live." Dorry explained.

"Your God Elbaf?" Luffy seemed to get it.

"Well, I started a feud. And to this day, another man and I have used this island as our dueling ground. The rightful victor shall triumph and survive. Gegyagyagya! But it's been 100 years and we still haven't settled it! Gegyagyagyagya!" Dorry laughed.

Luffy was simply amazed and surprised. "You guys have been fighting for 100 years?!"

"Surprised? It's nothing to be surprised about. We live three times longer than you little pipsqueaks. Gegyagyagya!"

"Even if you live three times as long. Fighting for 100 years? Shouldn't you have gotten tired of it? Is there still a reason to just keep fighting? You could die, right?!" Vivi finally joined in on the conversation but the opinion of the little human girl seemed funny to Dorry.

* * *

Finally two pirates who were left out of the dinosaur meat as much as you can eat parties were the ones competing in hunting contest.

"With this, I'll definitely beat Zoro." Sanji was completely sure of himself. "This victor of this match is the one that brings back the most kilos of meat. And that's going to be me!"

On the opposite side of the road Zoro was having similar thoughts. "The guy that brings back the most tons of meat wins. I've got this won!"

And then, they met up.

"Zoro?"

"Sanji."

They both smirked confidently and as one declared. "I WIN!"

"Hm?"

Once again like one. "YOU LOST!"

They quickly proceeded to line the dinosaurs next to one another and Sanji's was indeed longer.

"Mine's bigger!" He immediately reasoned.

"What? This battle was about who could bring back more tons of MEAT! I obviously brought more back so I won!" Zoro argued.

"Ha! It only matters how much you can cook with. With that pile of bones, you couldn't get five grams of usable meat!" Sanji said.

"That thing's all tendons, you can't even eat the meat!"

"I can't help that I had to face this measly 'food'. Next time I'll bring back one so big it'll leave you speechless."

"Yeah? Well I'll bring back one so big you won't even be able to try to match it!" Once Zoro declared that a volcano erupted.

"Alright. The next time that volcano erupts it will be the finishing gong. Get whatever you can carry to the Going Merry before then." Sanji decided.

"Fine by me." And Zoro had nothing to complain about.

* * *

"Wow!" Luffy exclaimed when he saw the volcano erupting. "That's a HUGE eruption!"

"Time to go." Dorry said as he stood up.

"Hm?" Luffy gasped when he saw Dorry's eyes shining brightly.

* * *

"What's that?" The other group could also see the eruptions and Nami was the first one to ask about it.

"A volcanic eruption." Usopp pointed out.

Brogy threw the unfinished piece of meat into the flames and stood up.

"_He just got a distant look in his eyes_…" Usopp was amazed as he looked at the giant's determined eyes.

Vergil also noticed and he couldn't help but feel his respect for the giant rise tremendously.

"Sorry about this. I must be going." Brogy apologized.

"Eh? Go?" Nami repeated.

"Yeah. That's the signal for our 100 year-long battle." Brogy explained briefly.

"Battle?"

"Against who? Where? For what reason?"

Nami and Usopp both asked.

"The reason? I FORGOT! Gabababababa!"

Usopp gulped as he looked at Brogy.

"I forget when we decided. The eruption of the center mountain signals the start of our battle." Dorry stated.

* * *

"But that's…! To hate someone so much that you could fight to death for 100 years! What reason could you possibly be fighting about?!" Vivi demanded a reasonable answer to that.

"Don't interrupt!" Luffy placed his arm in front of her. "That's not what it's about."

They all saw Brogy approaching.

"That's right. It's about HONOR! The reason! I FORGOT YEARS AGO!"

They ran toward one another and the battle cries echoed through the skies as weapons and shields clashed causing grand shockwaves that could be felt throughout the entire island and even further on the ocean.

Luffy suddenly fell down speechless and breathless.

"What's wrong?" Vivi asked.

"Incredible! They're so HUGE!" And it wasn't just size… It was their very pride, their honor, their battle, everything about them was perfect for being described as 'huge'.

* * *

_**And that's it.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Dirty Trick In A Sacred Battle**_


	100. Dirty Trick In A Sacred Battle

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**blazeinferno – Thank you for the review, I appreciate the support. You'll see soon.**_

_**KP360 – Thank you for the review. Yeah, there are large demons, remember Liho from flashback, the demon that fought Grom, well he was about twenty feet tall and that's not the tallest demon either.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**20**__**th**__** Cboys fan – Thank you very much, yeah, I chose Usopp because he is one of the most prominent Straw Hats when it comes to observation, even before Haki. Furthermore, I plan to flesh out the relationships between canon characters and my own.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 100 – Dirty Trick In A Sacred Battle**_

* * *

Deeper in the forest another carnivore dinosaur came across a small building that was seemingly made out of wax. Of course not knowing what it was the dinosaur did the only thing it could think of, bit into it.

That proved to be a mistake as teeth immediately broke down, the jaws of a dinosaur that was said to be one of the most powerful jaws ever was not strong enough to bite into this wax.

"Hey. Outta my way, ya big lizard." Mr. 5 said as he and his partner, Miss Valentine approached the house.

"Leave this to me. Kyahahahaha!" She jumped up and attacked. "10,000 Kilo Press!" It took her only one blow to get the dinosaur knocked out cold and the massive cloud of dust engulfed the area of the impact.

The duo entered the wax house and found none other than Mr. 3 and Miss Golden Week inside, but they weren't alone.

Two demons accompanied them. The male had multiple knives strapped onto his waist and an assault rifle strapped to his back, the fact that he carried weapons seemed a bit unusual but the demon looked quite content. He was lean and clearly not too muscular, his blond hair reached just below his shoulders and he was dressed in military forest green combat suit. This man was codenamed Mr. -1.

Next to him was a female carrying bayonet as her primary weapon. She had black hair so short it could easily pass as male haircut, which when compared to her partner's hair length seemed quite ironic. Her outfit consisted of a sleeveless pink shirt with white dots over it, simple skirt and sandals. The female demon in question was Miss Midnight.

"Mr. 5, huh?" Mr. 3 casually sipped at his tea.

"That's a nice little power you got there. An instant hideout in the jungle. But as you know, this is still our assignment. We want you to keep out of it." Mr. 5 stated.

"There will be no more blunders." Miss Valentine assured.

"Blunders? Not so. You two are simply so weak, Mr. 5, Miss Valentine." Mr. 3 bluntly told them exactly what he thought and they could only glare angrily at him. "Don't look so angry. Take a look at this wanted poster…" he handed them a worn out poster of Brogy and Dorry. "I would like to thank the two of you for giving me the opportunity to come to this island."

Mr. 5 took the wanted poster. "Blue Ogre Dorry and Red Ogre Brogy of the Giant Warrior Pirates."

"I've heard legends of them. This wanted poster is a 100 years old, isn't it?" Miss Valentine added.

"Yes, but they are alive here on this very island. At that time, they were worth 100 million beri each. With the two of them, that's 200 million beri." Mr. 3 stated.

"A 200 million beri bounty? But you'd be fighting giants!" Mr. 5 pointed out the obvious problem.

"A superior criminal uses his superior intellect to commit his crimes. You four need only follow my orders. With a suitable plan, any mountain can be flattened."

"Whatever happens along the way happens, we are here for Black Thunder." Mr. -1 offered Mr. 3 a paper. "This is his wanted poster in the Demon World."

Mr. 3 looked at the paper, it looked similar to wanted posters here in the Human World. Wanted above the picture a picture on this particular one depicted Vergil in the midst of the battle and looking quite relaxed as well, the white haired male didn't have a single scratch and he looked like he was leaving only destruction behind him. Underneath the picture were basic information, hair color, eye color, birth date, elements used and such. Finally underneath the info there was

'Black Thunder  
Leonidas Vergil  
Dead or alive  
Reward:  
33,520,000,000 stater'

"Stater?" Mr. 3 read out loud but the number was so impressive it didn't really matter.

"Demon World currency, one stater equals one beri. The bounty you see is the highest bounty in the entire history of the Demon World. I heard rumors that he is extremely weakened and the fact that these two survived proves it. So, I believe that we can capture him." Miss Night explained and Mr. 3's eyes were threatening to pop out. He had no idea what this demon did but if they handed him to the demons they would get over 33 billion beri!

* * *

Dorry and Brogy let out loud battle cries as they clashed their respective weapons. They glared at one another as force of their clashes created strong winds.

Brogy pushed Dorry a bit back but the giant quickly retaliated by attempting to stab Brogy.

Brogy jumped up and the sword was impaled into a mountain. The stuck sword proved to be potentially fatal as Brogy proceeded to slam his axe down from above.

Dorry didn't falter for a single moment and actually used his helmet to block and both giants fell down to the ground.

* * *

Usopp gripped at the sides of his head as he cried fearfully. "He took it on the helmet! If he'd missed by even a little, it'd mean certain death!"

"That's how it goes when two fighters are evenly matched, one slip or moment of hesitation and it's done, you'll die." Vergil stated.

Two giants stood up and Brogy immediately swung his axe towards Dorry's neck, but all he took was a few strands of the beard as Dorry stepped back and went for a quick counter with his sword. Brogy managed to block it and tried to punch Dorry with his axe still in his hand. From the current distance the only thing Dorry could do was protect himself with a shield.

They closed in on one another and tried to get an upper hand but just as Vergil said they were equally matched and neither one was hesitating let alone slipping.

"What a battle… Every attack is aimed… for a fatal blow to a vital spot!" Usopp exclaimed as he watched the giants who were catching their breath with pure awe.

"And those two have been trying to kill each other like this for 100 years?" Nami hardly even tried to understand it but the way Usopp stood there, frozen and only capable of watching as the blades clashed and sliced the trees.

"Usopp?"

"Let him watch, he needs this." Vergil smiled at her.

"Wow." Usopp could only find enough voice to say that.

_'The reason? I forgot! Gabababababa!'_

Usopp realized it… This fight… "They don't have a reason… And yet they still fight like this…"

Weapons clashed.

"What a pointless fight this is." Nami blatantly stated her opinion on this.

"Dumbass! This is a true man's fight!" Usopp berated her.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Nami asked.

"It's like they've each raised a Warrior's flag to their chest. And that flag is even more important to them than their lives. They will never allow it to be taken down. That's why they've fought for the past hundred years." As Usopp said that two giants clashed yet again. "Don't you see? This isn't a battle of anger. It's a duel for their Warrior honor!"

Nami looked like she gave it all a millisecond of thoughts. "Whatever." She raised her hands up to the level of her shoulders as she shrugged. "Why would I care about something stupid like that? Come on, we should go." She said and began walking away.

"I'll watch a little longer." Usopp was determined to find his own flag. "This is definitely it! The 'Brave Warrior of the Sea' that I want to become! This is the kind of proud, honorable Warrior I want to be!"

Nami sat down and made a statement that brought Usopp back from the amazement. "So? You want to become a giant?"

He ran up to her. "NO!" Was a definitive and clear answer. "Were you even listening to a word I said?!"

"Aren't you supposed to be watching them?" Nami reminded him and Usopp turned back to look at the battle.

"If those Warriors have a village, I really wanna see it someday!" He decided and walked a bit closer to the battle.

Nami sighed and looked at Vergil before tapping the place next to her.

"Hm?"

"Come here." She smiled at him.

Vergil sat down and Nami noticed that he was watching the battle with mild interest.

"Are you also amazed by this?" She asked.

"Not really. Usopp does have a point, this is a battle for honor and they are both worthy of respect but this kind of battle is not the kind of battle I prefer." He made a small pause. "I do love fighting, it's in my nature and that's how I've been raised. But battle brings forth murder and there is not a single murder that is inevitable."

Now this was something that Nami could get.

"I despise battles without a reason and with intention to kill… Though I do care about my pride and honor I will not kill just because of that."

"But you said Usopp needs this." Nami pointed out.

"And he does. He is still naïve. Usopp who never left the security of his village… Usopp needs this so he can strive toward something, his dream isn't specific, the definition of what he's trying to accomplish is more or less personal opinion so he needs to set it for himself, his own definition of brave warrior." Vergil explained as the battle raged in front of them.

"What about you? What were you like before this?" Nami inquired.

One word she never expected to hear from him in that moment was the exact same word he chose. "Afraid."

Nami's eyes widened.

"Afraid to form a personal contact with a human." He explained.

"Why?"

"It's a long story. Though it was unconscious act and though it was unintentional I still killed a human long ago. And she was, at the time, one person I loved the most." Nami's eyes widened when he said that. "I don't feel like talking about it now, but if you do want to listen, I'll tell you when we are done with all this Crocodile stuff." He promised and Nami nodded and moved closer to him before leaning down to rest her head on his shoulder.

* * *

Miss Valentine lowered her weight and flew up into the air. "Kyahahaha! I can see clearly from here!"

"They'll see you, Miss Valentine! Hurry up and come down!" Mr. 5 told her.

"I'm fine Mr. 5. They're completely absorbed in their little fight. They won't notice me at all." She was completely sure of that.

"Let's keep it that way! Get down here now!"

"Sure, sure." She finally relented and dropped down.

"Hey, just make sure you've got this straight. This is our big 200 million beri job."

"Of course. Although I'm not that excited to be following Mr. 3's orders." She admitted.

Mr. 5 began walking toward their goal. "Yeah, let's go."

* * *

Vergil closed his eyes and was about to fully relax when he felt two presences, demon.

"Tch. We've got company." He cursed and Nami immediately sat up straight.

"Company?" She asked.

"Demons. Two of them." Vergil said and jumped to his feet before running off. "Stay there! I'll deal with them and come back!" He exclaimed, it was Baroque Works, there was no doubt about it, there was no reason for anyone to come here if it's not to get them. So he decided, he would not let them interfere with the giants' battle.

* * *

The battle was finally nearing its end as Brogy's axe shot up to the sky.

The giants fell down to the ground with a loud thug echoing after them, they were breathless, tired and once again without victor.

"We both… Long for our home, don't we? Dorry." Brogy was the first to speak as he sat up.

Dorry followed his example and sat up as well. "That's why after I take you down, I'm returning to Elbaf. Brogy." He declared and as soon as the axe fell down they were both back on their feet.

"Aaarrghh!" They both let out a battle cry and the shields were slammed into the faces of two giants.

"73,466 battles." Brogy counted.

"73,466 draws." Dorry finished.

They both fell down and the battle was over, for now… The island fell into the silence and the axe knocked the sword down t the ground.

"Gegyagyagyagya! / Gabababababa!"Dorry and Brogy began laughing loudly.

"Gababababa! Guess what, Dorry! I just got some sake from two little visitors!" Brogy exclaimed happily.

"NICE! I haven't had a drink in so long! Gimme some too!" Dorry demanded. "Gegyagyagyagya!"

"Gababababa!" Brogy joined him in the laughter. Though they fought these two were without a doubt friends and now their laughs echoed thorough out the island.

* * *

The laughs of the giants could be heard across the entire island so of course Zoro and Sanji heard it as well.

"What the hell kind of sound was that? First there's that weird earthquake, and now this? Could there be things even stranger than the dinosaurs in this jungle?" Zoro thought out loud. "Well, if I catch whatever that was, I'm sure to beat that dorky cook." And he was quite confident as usually.

* * *

Sanji was wondering what produced those sounds as well. "Was that a bird? Regardless, it sounded like a rather scrawny, tasteless thing. Even if I said I'd bring back something big, I'm more concerned with its quality. That one was big, but it couldn't have been very appetizing." Sanji smirked. "That idiot doesn't understand these kinds of things at all."

* * *

Vergil rushed through the forest guided by the energy two demons were letting out, finally he reached a small, very small clearing.

"You didn't even bother to hide. What are you trying to accomplish with this?" Vergil asked as soon as he reached the clearing.

"We had to lure you out." Miss Midnight said.

"That sums it up. You fell into our trap, as you were running towards here the sake you gave to giant was spiked and an explosion was planted into one of the barrels." Mr. -1 decided not to beat around the bushes and get right to the point.

Vergil's eyes widened but the he took a deep breath. "Tch, I fell for a damn trap like a stupid brat, eh?" He cursed and then glared at the duo. "You do understand that I'm not going to let this slide, right? My nakama might end up being in danger because of you bastards so I'll make a quick work out of you." Lightning circled around him and the other two prepared their respective weapons.

* * *

And he was too late just like they said.

Dorry was holding two barrels of sake. "Gegyagyagyagya! So then, the little midgets over there are your nakama? There's a guy with a long nose and a woman."

"Usopp and Nami! What's with that? They said they didn't want to get off the ship! Looks like they wanted to have an adventure after all!" Luffy grinned at Vivi.

"That means I got this sake here from you guys?" Dorry was quite happy with the prospect of drinking again after such a long time.

Pterodactyl screeched in the sky and Vivi turned to Dorry.

"By the way, Dorry-san… Does it really take a whole year for the Log to set?" She had to ask again.

"You guys didn't notice all those puny human bones over there? Most humans that land here usually die before their Logs set. Some become dinosaur food, some succumb to the heat… and some try to attack us, but they all die." He had a sort of a regretful look on his face. "It seems that spending a year on this island is too much for humans."

Vivi clenched her fists, not due to fear for her own life but due to the fear for her own country. "What now? Even if I can survive here for a year, who knows what will happen to my country in that time!" She covered her face with her hands.

Luffy looked at the sky. "You're right about that. A year's way too long. Don't you know any better way, old man?"

Dorry lowered a barrel and sighed. "There is a single Eternal Pose here. But, it points to my homeland, Elbaf. The winner of our battle will claim that Eternal Pose. How about it? Wanna try take it from us?" Dorry suggested but Luffy's face looked quite blank.

"That's no good. We don't want to go there. All we want to do is go to the next island." He said the last part to Vivi. "Right?"

"Yes. If we lose our way to Alabasta, there will be no reason to continue."

"Hear that?" Luffy asked.

"Well then, why not set out and try to find the right way yourselves? If luck is with you, you'll make it." Dorry suggested.

Luffy was expressionless for a few moments as he processed the idea. Finally, as soon as he processed it he reacted properly. "Shishishishi! You could be right! Shishishishi! We just might make it! Shishishi!"

"Gegyagyagyagya! That reminds me, a long time ago some guy left before his Log set." Dorry remembered.

"And what happened to him?" Luffy asked.

"How the hell should I know?" And with that Dorry and Luffy laughed again.

"He must've made it to the next island!" Luffy decided.

Carue was having a hard timewhen it came to remaining serious and the two pirates weren't helping his case, what did stop him from laughing was the angry shaking form of Vivi.

"_What's so funny?_" She glared at Luffy as the duo kept laughing loudly. "_How can they think in such a way?!_"

* * *

Brogy was sitting with Usopp and Nami while he fixed his axe.

"A Brave Warrior of the Sea?" It seemed like Usopp shared his ideas with Elbaf warrior. "What the hell is that?"

"It's you guys! Someday I wanna become like you!" Usopp declared.

"Hmm? You wanna become a giant?" Brogy just unintentionally gave Nami the right to tease the sniper.

And tease she did. "See?!"

"No I don't!" He defended his idea and pressed his fist against his chest. "Like an Elbaf warrior, I want to live my life full of pride and honor!"

"Brogy grinned and then began laughing. "Gebababababa! I see. Well, since we live so much longer than you scrawny runts."We think carefully about how we want to die… After all, riches, material wealth , as well as one's life will all disappear some day. But, to a Warrior of Elbaf, to die with your honor untarnished… That is a glorious way to die. In the land of Elbaf, that honor is a treasure that lasts forever."

Usopp's eyes sparkled with awe as he heard that. "Honor is treasure?" He was pretty much breathless. "That's wonderful!" He took a moment and then went to declare. "I've decided! From now on I shall call you my Master!"

"Eh?"

* * *

On the other side the trap was finally set off and right in Dorry's stomach.

Luffy, Vivi and Carue's eyes widened as they saw smoke coming from the giant's mouth and that very giant, that previously fought an amazing battle fell down.

"Giant old man! What the hell happened? Why'd the beer explode? That beer was from our ship, wasn't it?" Luffy had no answer to the questions that plugged his mind.

"It exploded from inside his stomach! Did that other giant set this up…?" That was the first and quite logical question Vivi asked.

But Luffy felt anger at her ignorance, he glared and jumped right down in front of startled Vivi.

"YOU! Weren't you watching?! They've fought for 100 years, and you think they'll do something like this?!" Luffy yelled at her.

They didn't notice Dorry gripping the handle of his sword.

"Then, who could have possibly…?" Vivi didn't even get to finish. Dorry was on his knees and ready to end their lives.

"It was you…" Dorry breathed out and they knew, the giant wouldn't just calm down easil.

* * *

_**And that's it. Anyway if there is a reviewer here, capable of making some fashionably acceptable clothing combinations please, do help. I will never, for the life of mine be capable of understanding fashion.**_

_**Also as a celebration here are two questions (unfortunately due to being capable of contacting you only via PM this is reserved only for those with accounts):**_

_**Which original character in this story am I referencing via bayonet?  
What kind of significance does number 3352 have to Vergil's character?**_

_**Answer one of these correctly and you'll get an answer to any question about anything in this story via PM.  
Answer both questions and you can choose the original arc after Alabasta that I'm going to do and you can actually make suggestions for it once I give you a list of specific number of options. As I'll only do one filler arc after Alabasta only the first one to answer both questions correctly will be able to take this right to choose, others will simply be able to add a suggestion**_

_**The time limit is until I post chapter 102.**_

_**Finally feel free to tell me an overall favorites of the story, like fights, relationships, arcs, whatever comes to your mind. Tell me more of what you like and what you'd like later on so I can go ahead and improve because when all is said and done these stories are written as a form of entertainment for the readers.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Brogy Wails In Victory**_


	101. Brogy Wails In Victory

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**KP360 – Thanks for the review, glad you like them. I have a certain plan for the two of them but I don't plan on revealing it just yet. Anyway do respond to that PM, not doing so kinda takes away the point of you answering on the questions.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you for the review and for congratulations. Crocodile is still the only boss but there is a certain number of demons left that can be easily figured out by looking at Miss Midnight's codename.**_

_**20th Cboys fan – Thank you.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 101 – Brogy Wails In Victory**_

* * *

"Then, who could have possibly…?" Vivi didn't even get to finish. Dorry was on his knees and ready to end their lives.

"It was you…" Dorry breathed out and they knew, the giant wouldn't just calm down easily. "It wasn't Brogy." He was having hard time to even breath yet he still looked determined. "We are honorable Warriors of Elbaf. The only ones to suspect are… you two."

Carue was already running away and Vivi had the same idea.

"We have to escape! He won't listen to anything we say!" She was right…

"Running won't work." Luffy said and handed his hat to Vivi. "Take this and hide."

"You can't mean… You're going to fight him?" She was astonished.

Dorry's breathing was uneven as Luffy prepared to fight. "Sorry about this, Old Man. But I'm going to have to shut you up for a bit." In normal circumstances this wouldn't even be a contest. But Luffy was not an average human and Dorry had already taken a large explosion on the inside and that evened out the odds.

"Both of you, stop! Please!" Vivi pleaded and turned to Dorry. "Dorry-san, please listen to me! We truly don't know anything about why the sake exploded! Please don't be rash!" But her words held no meaning, the only remaining option to Dorry at the moment was Brogy and there was no way he would do something like this. "You have to calm down! Don't you realize you have severe internal injuries?!"

Dorry watched Luffy and only Luffy. This boy looked so honest, proud of being a pirate and just everything about him screamed that he had nothing do with dirty tricks, that's what Dorry would realize if only he stopped for a moment. Still, he didn't. He began raising his sword. "You impudent little… You think… you can get away with this?!" He raised his sword and then slammed it down with intention to kill Luffy.

Luffy quickly reacted and jumped out of the way but intention and a feeling Dorry was having, the feeling of being wrong that tugged at his heart contradicted, though the blade hit close to where Luffy was it in the end wouldn't directly get him even if he stayed still.

Dorry coughed up blood and Luffy jumped onto the sword and began running up to close the distance. He reached the guard and jumped toward Dorry. "**Gomu Gomu no**…" He prepared to throw a punch but Dorry slammed him down to the ground with his shield.

Luffy crashed into the ground but immediately went to stretch his arms toward the jungle. Dorry stopped for a moment and then attempted to cut Luffy in half once again, his blade crashed against the ground just a moment after Luffy grabbed the tree and went flying.

The giant coughed up even more blood and leaned forward as his knees bent a bit, he was losing strength, rapidly…

"**Gomu Gomu no**…" Luffy still held onto the tree as he gained even more distance. Dorry glared at him angrily. "_Sorry_." Luffy apologized. "**Rocket**!" He slammed right into Dorry's stomach forcing the giant to start falling, the blade fell to the ground with a loud thud and it looked like it was over but Dorry's eyes opened, red with anger and resolve. He forced himself to stop his fall and actually stomped on Luffy making Vivi gasp.

Still Dorry was at his limit, blood stained his teeth and long beard as he held his stomach and gasped for air.

"LUFFY-SAN!" Vivi screamed.

Dorry looked at where Luffy was. "The Devil Fruit… you have its power? Disgusting little thing…" Dorry fell down, unconscious and Luffy, though buried was still alive.

Rubber man panted as he sat up and looked at Dorry's fallen form.

"Luffy-san! Are you alright?" Vivi ran up to him.

"Old Man…?" He didn't care about being stomped, or even accused, he still wanted to know if Dorry was still alright.

"I think… he's alive." Vivi assured him. "If you hadn't done that, he wouldn't have calmed down."

Luffy placed the straw hat back onto his head. "I'm pissed!"

"Eh?"

"That sake… Just like he said… The other Giant didn't do it. And there's no way in hell any one of my nakama would ever do something like this." Luffy stated what became obvious.

"Then… who…?" Vivi asked.

"There's someone else. On this island." Luffy said.

* * *

"A battle is something decided by the spirit of its contestants. At this very moment, they are running around confused… due to an unexplained 'Bomb Service' from an unseen enemy." Mr. 3 poured tea into cups and Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine took theirs. "We begin with our first target, Blue Ogre Dorry. I knew full well that the bomb would not kill him. The explosion inside his stomach, however, will have inflicted considerable damage. We need merely await their next duel." Mr. 3 leaned forward. "As for that demon, now that he knows what happened he'll rush the battle to go and try to save his friends. That is when he'll fall for the traps again and again and eventually die. So in the meantime, the four of us can enjoy our tea."

"So you are using one giant to take out the other, huh? And the demon will rush into his own death." Mr. 5 summed it up.

Mr. 3 chuckled. "Very good."

"That's quite a roundabout way of doing things." Mr. 5 stated once he took a sip of his tea.

"Those known as Warriors are, after all, not unlike wild boars. If you refrain from attacking them head-on… they are quite easy to conquer. Therefore, even though we lack their strength, we can even the odds by using our intelligence." Mr. 3 stated and then noticed that Miss Goldenweek was staring at her cup of tea silently and without moving. He sweat dropped and sighed as he stood up. "Can you not get it yourself, Miss Goldenweek?" He handed the cup of tea that was barely three feet away from the girl to her.

"Anyway, how are you going to deal with the rest of the Straw Hat Pirates?" Mr. 5 questioned.

"Straw Hats?" His three shaped hair morphed into a question mark before he realized who they are and his hair switched into the shape of an exclamation mark. "Oh, you mean the little pests that uncovered the Boss' secret." Seeing as Unluckies never reached their destination they didn't have portraits of the crew and were left with only wanted posters for Luffy and Vergil plus the already obtained picture of Vivi. "Well, I believe a divide and conquer strategy will be adequate. That being my Survive Set of course. My motto is 'Great Resourceful Crimes'. He chuckled briefly but malevolently. "There are so many ways to topple your opponent without lifting a finger."

"Mr. 3. Seconds." Miss Goldenweek requested.

"Hey, me too." And so did Mr. 5.

"You! Did you even take time to taste it?!" And he was furious at the fact that they simply drank it as if it was water and thus they failed to savor the blissfulness that tea offered to the senses.

* * *

Vergil leaned forward ready to attack, he knew he had to deal with this quickly, there was no telling when one the giant would drink the sake and Nami and Usopp could end up being in danger, he didn't stay long enough to see that Dorry was the one to receive the sake.

Miss Midnight pulled the trigger of her bayonet and bullet flew straight toward Vergil's heart.

Vergil acted on impulse and shot a bolt of lightning to meet the bullet. The lighting that could deal with smaller projectiles, the darkness that could shield him and broadsword that could block, Vergil was not someone used to resorting to the evasive moves. Speed, strength, reflexes, stamina, he had them all and his defense was decent as well, but with power that he was used to have the instinct to dodge was so dull he was actually prone to having slow reactions at times when dodging would be the only option.

Now that dull instinct cost him.

Bullet was blasted into smithereens but it was a trap… It was a bullet filled out by compressed **Light Flash**. The flash of light forced him to close his eyes and left him slightly more open than usually.

Two gunshots echoed but Vergil remained rooted to where he stood, he prepared **Lightning Soul **to defend himself but it was surprisingly not triggered.

Finally, he regained his sight and realized what happened, Mr. -1 and Miss Midnight didn't fire at him, but to his sides believing that he would blindly lounge either to his left or to his right. For once, the dull instinct for evading paid off.

"We should have shot at him." Mr. -1 looked displeased.

"Kinda too late now, don't you think?" Vergil smirked at him.

"Doesn't matter. His vision still isn't completely clear." Miss Midnight assured her partner.

"The two of you had your turn, so how about we start getting serious?" It wasn't a suggestion, Vergil already dashed toward them.

Mr. -1 narrowed his eyes and a large chunk of earth burst up to stop Vergil's advance. Lightning engulfed Vergil's fist and he shattered the rocks and quickly jumped over the remains but as his feet left the ground Mr. -1 threw a knife at him.

This time Vergil concentrated onto the weapon, they were Demon Forged blades and he could somewhat hear them, there was one thing about weapons of the demons… None of them could catch Vergil by surprise, he heard them, their core, their souls, he could understand the purpose of the Demon Forged and Devil Arms without wasting time to figure it out. That was his specific cambion power, the power to hear them, the souls of the items made by demon essence.

He **Air Hiked **to evade the blade and took a deep breath. "**Lightning Breath**." The stream of lightning hit the ground where Mr. -1 and Miss Midnight stood but the two already jumped in the opposite sides.

Miss Midnight smirked. "Try dodging this." She fired at him and Vergil **Demon Slid** out of the way but the barrage of bullets continued and he was forced to use **Air Hike** again.

"You're done for! **Earth Breath**!" Mr. -1 used the earth element variation of **Breath**. Dangerous thing about this one were the chunks of rocks that added to the impact. Vergil gritted his teeth and countered it with his own **Darkness Breath**. He was at slight loss though, earth based elements had most raw power behind them.

"**Light Breath**!"

Vergil's eyes widened and he heard the ray of light approach. Quickly he released his **Breath** and dropped down causing earth and light to collide briefly before earth got reflected back towards Vergil who was already falling down without much options when it came to dodging.

"**Devil Arms: Dark Edge**." The blade appeared and Vergil quickly slashed forward three times thus countering the **Breath** with **Hyper Drive**. It didn't stop the attack but it gave him enough time to make lightning burst at his feet and push him out of the way.

White haired male finally landed but the two kept him on his toes as rounds of bullets began ricocheting.

"**Discharge**!" Lightning destroyed all the bullets but once again light flashed. "Don't think I'll fall into the same trap twice." Vergil smirked and used the blinding light to a bit of an advantage, the girl could see him despite how bright the light was but her partner couldn't.

With Dark Edge still in his hands Vergil dashed forward and sent a weak Drive at the demon in front of him. Mr. -1 blocked it with small knives and Vergil closed in. He went in for a slash and Mr. -1 smirked behind his arms as he went to counter the broadsword.

Vergil's smirk made his eyes widen. Dark Edge disappeared and he slashed into the empty air Vergil leaned in closer and as lightning engulfed his fist he slammed it into Mr. -1's guts that was surprisingly shielded with a small but sturdy coating made out of light. Vergil pushed forward and added more power to the punch thus sending the man into nearby tree.

"Mr. -1!" Miss Midnight cried out as man coughed up blood. She instantly **Demon Flashed** in front of him and aimed her bayonet at Vergil.

"I've got to say this, the two of you have quite good teamwork. I'm impressed. If you had a bit more power behind it I think this could go either way." Vergil complimented them.

"Well…" Mr. -1 pushed himself up to his feet. "Though we are enemies now it's an honor to hear such words from Black Thunder." His demeanor was different then during the conversation with Mr. 3 and other agents. Both he and Miss Midnight looked different.

"Hm? To be honest that's not something I often hear. Especially from my enemies." Vergil said, these demons, they couldn't be much older than twenty. If he had to guess, the male was probably around twenty years old, the girl was probably around nineteen. Therefore, they should not have an opinion about him that would make them say something like that.

"And this is an honor too, to have you use your Devil Arm, to have you take this battle seriously." Miss Midnight added thus furthering Vergil's confusion.

But… In front of the eyes of two demons the images of an army marching forward and large eruption of darkness halting their advancements flashed.

* * *

Unfortunately the volcano erupted…

"The mountain… That means…" Vivi realized and Dorry steered just a little bit.

* * *

Zoro wasn't watching where he was going and was instead looking at the skies. "This ain't good. Time's up." And then he stepped on something, he looked down and saw a baby dinosaur that had tears in its eyes. "Sorry-" He sounded and really was apologetic but then the small baby glared at him and went to bite Zoro's foot.

Zoro yelped as he began trying to kick it off. "Let go! I said I was sorry!" It's not going to cut it and now the big mommy was here to make his situation even more miserable. "I don't ave time to play around!"

* * *

Sanji on the other hand was watching where he was going. "The bell says 'Time's up'. And not one bit of food? What a joke. Jeez." Like how Zoro didn't notice the baby dinosaur due to looking up Sanji didn't notice a saber tooth tiger following him due to looking down.

* * *

Brogy, Usopp and Nami turned to look at the eruptions of the volcano. "There's the signal." Brogy said and stood up. "It seems to be quite excited today."

"You're going?" Usopp asked. "Your wounds from the last battle haven't-"

"So what? The other guy's got the same problem." Usopp could only watch as Brogy laughed. "Gabababababa! Making excuses in a merciless battle to the death would tarnish my name! Gababababa!"

* * *

Dorry had the same ideals… Thus it was obvious that he would start getting up.

"Hey! Wait Old Man! You're going?" Luffy asked though he knew the answer.

"You can't do this, Dorry-san! You've got to lie down! If you push yourself too hard, you'll die!" Vivi spoke the truth but this wasn't about life, this was about pride that transcended everything.

"I am the Warrior Dorry. And I will-" He was cut off when he had to cough up blood. "-battle in the name of Elbaf!"

There was nothing they could do to stop him…

* * *

Mr. 3 poured the cup and brought it to his lips as he smirked. He savored the aroma and then the taste of the tea as he listened to the eruptions… The time has come for another battle…

* * *

Brogy looked forward to the battle and Usopp watched the expression on his face and more importantly the eyes that never wavered.

* * *

Dorry pushed himself up to his feet but he was exhausted and every move he made was putting a strain on him as cold sweat trailed down his body. There was no going back now. And to make sure nothing could stop him Dorry went and gripped at a part of the mountain.

"He can't be…" Vivi whispered.

The rocks began raising as Dorry put all of his strength into lifting them.

"Wow! He unearthed that huge rock!" Luffy exclaimed.

Vivi however understood exactly what Dorry was trying to do. "Luffy-san!" She tried to warn him but it was too late.

As massive shadow engulfed the area around Luffy the rubber man looked up feeling rather confused.

The rock was lowered back to the ground and in the process trapped Luffy underneath it. "Hey! What's the big deal, Old Man?! Get this rock off of me! Hey! Old Man! Hey!" Luffy's attempts to get Dorry to free him were as useless as continuously beating the ground with his hands.

"I can't stop now…" Dorry spoke up thus stopping Luffy. "This may be a 100 year-old story…" He slowly took a few steps toward his fallen blade. "But once the battle has begun…running away from it means… to run away from the name of a Warrior!" He reached down and grabbed his sword. "And if I am no longer a Warrior. Then I am no longer myself." He looked at Luffy and Vivi, his reasoning was back and he saw the truth. These pirates… They had nothing to do with the bomb.

"I'm sorry for doubting you. The God of War. Elbaf has passed his judgment. I've lost his favor. That is all." With that he began walking off into his last battle, as he was he had no chance…

Luffy felt angrier than ever. "Gods! Favor! Having it or losing it! That's got nothing to do with this! Are you going off to die just because your God says so?! Your duel was sabotaged!" That made Dorry stop for a moment. "A sabotaged duel isn't a duel! You know I'm right!"

"Silence…!" The grip on his sword strengthened. "How could you impudent humans who have lived but ten or twenty years… hear the Divine Words of Elbaf?"

"Who cares about that?!" Luffy began beating the rock but it didn't do anything to it. "Hey! Get this off me! Hey! Old Man! Giant Old Man!" Hey Old Man! Come back here, you jerk! I won't let you go like that!" He yelled but all they could do was look at the man's back.

* * *

Brogy was also ready to leave and Usopp was ready to cheer for him.

"Alright, Master Brogy! Knock 'em dead!" Oh the irony of the words…

"Gababababababa!" Not only did Brogy laugh but Usopp laughed in the very same manner.

Brogy placed the axe over his shoulder. "You got that right, Usopp! He's going down for sure this time!"

"Yeah! Go for it! Warrior of Elbaf!" Brogy laughed as Usopp continued cheering for him. "Go forth and duel! You're superior! You're awesome! You're strong! You're large! You're BIG! You're HUGE-" And then Nami added her own piece of mind.

"They sure take this pointless fight seriously."

"Don't call it pointless, jerk! Brogy is the Brave Warrior of the Sea I want to become! How can you say something like that?!" Usopp stomped his foot onto the ground as he berated her.

Nami of course didn't really care as she stood up. "Anyways, let's get back to the ship." She looked at the Log Pose. "It takes a whole year for the Log to set. What a pain. Let's wait for the others on the ship and think of a plan. Furthermore, Vergil said there are demons here so it's safer to go now."

"Hold it! Hold it right there! I am completely useless against dinosaurs! And now there are even demons here! Theredore, it is impossible for us to make it through the jungle!" Usopp declared.

"What happened to all the 'Brave Warrior' talk just now?" Nami inquired.

Usopp smirked and folded his arms. "I was merely speaking of my intentions. I want to become a man who lives with pride!"

"No choice then. Luffy and Vivi should be at the other giant's place. Guess we'll head over there for now. And I'm worried about Vergil, he should be able to deal with whatever is thrown at him by now…" Nami thought.

"Listen, Nami. Even if the day should come when I have lost everything… and am facing my moment of death on a desert island, I will take pride in the life I have lived and proclaim: 'I am the Brave Warrior of the Sea, Usopp!'" And he dropped down to the ground.

"Sure sure." Nami grabbed his bag and began pulling him. "Maybe you should hurry up and become a more reliable warrior, then."

Seeing as she was effortlessly pulling him it wasn't completely clear whether Nami was stronger than she looked or Usopp really had a long way to go.

"Uh… yeah." He agreed.

* * *

Two giants finally met up for their final battle.

"Gababababa! Dorry! After so long, that sake must have been exceptional!" Yeah, really made him burst with overflowing energy.

"Yeah. I had the taste of God." Dorry refused to tell what happened, after all making up excuses would tarnish his pride and honor.

"Gababababa! Now that's exaggerating it! Here I go!" Brogy swung his axe down at Dorry.

"Gegyagyagyagya!" Dorry countered with his sword however he was mainly on defensive as he blocked another swing with his shield.

"What's wrong, Dorry?" Brogy kept pressuring him. "You're barely keeping up!"

"Heh, I'm the same as always!" He isn't and they both know it.

The weapons clash and the shields slam together as two giants stand proudly.

* * *

Luffy was still pounding at the rock but his position made it impossible for him to set himself free. "This isn't happening! Hey!" He bellowed and then slammed his fist onto the ground as he furiously glared forward. "I thought I had found an inspiring Warrior…"

"Luffy-san." That's all Vivi could say. "_Why does he care so much about a giant he only just met? He doesn't seem like the kind of villain who deserves a bounty on his head…"_ She was yet to find out just who the people on this crew were and who the captain was.

"Who was it?! Who messed up the giants' duel?!" Luffy demanded an answer.

Vivi finally realized the absence of certain someone. "Come to think of it. Carue is missing…"

* * *

Carue wasn't in the best of situation, he was running up until now and had just stopped to take a bit of his drink.

"Oh my. Isn't this the clumsy bird that the Princess always has with her?" Miss Valentine's voice made him spill his drink and quack loudly.

"Yeah." Mr. 5 confirmed it and Carue quacked once again when he recognized them.

Slowly the spot-billed duck tried to get away but the universe just wouldn't have it that way.

"Hold it right there. Meeting you here was extraordinarily good luck. There's something we'd like you to do." Mr. 5 stopped him with words alone.

"Qua-"

"That's right." Miss Valentine smiled.

* * *

Zoro pulled the dinosaur mother that previously tried to attack him for stepping onto her baby. Though the act wasn't the kindest one such was the law of the nature…

But perhaps the universe had a bit of karma to deal because of now orphaned dinosaur.

"Man… I'm so lost. I definitely remember seeing this tree before." He tapped the tree next to him. "Wasn't it 'left at the tree with ivy around it'?"

It seemed like he got somewhat lucky as he saw Nami leaning against one of trees with her arms folded.

"Oh, it's Nami! Good timing." He seemed relieved to see her. "Hey, I kinda got lost somehow. Couldn't think of where to go…" He began pulling the dinosaur along as he walked up to Nami. "By the way, what're you doing out here?" Strangely enough, the orange haired girl wasn't responding, in fact it didn't look like she was breathing at all. The smile on Nami's face was also quite eerie. "Hey… What's wrong?"

Two sets of eyes ominously shone not too far away from him.

* * *

Nami was screaming… She was running… And she was in no shape or form calmly standing in front of Zoro with an eerie smile on her face. Furthermore, Usopp was with her as well.

"DINOSAUR!" She screamed.

"Dinosaur! Dinosaur! Dinosaur! Dinosaur! Dinosaur!" Usopp chanted again and again as the speed of his running made him look like a blur.

"You're running too fast!" Nami berated him but he was already far away. She stopped to catch her breath and failed to notice two sets of eyes passing her. "That jerk…" She muttered but then noticed none other than Luffy… who was supposed to be under the massive rock… "Thank goodness! Why are you here?" She approached and saw that Luffy was smirking.

Nami noticed that Luffy was strange, he wasn't moving, he wasn't responding and he just didn't act normally.

It was too late though as white mass engulfed her and all she could do was scream.

The scream reached Usopp and he abruptly stopped. A drop of sweat slid down his face as he looked back. "Nami?"

She was nowhere to be seen and the only things Usopp could hear were animals screeching around him. His legs began trembling as he frantically looked around. "Nami! Nami! Nami? Nami?!" When he didn't get a response he began crying. "Oh crap!"

With the speed that would put demons to shame Usopp began sprinting through the jungle in random directions and leaving behind a considerable amount of dust. "NAMI!" And when she didn't respond he began calling for someone else. "Luffy! Luffy! Luffy! Luffy! Luffy!" Finally he tripped as he reached a clearing, bounced off of a large rock and then slammed into another one right in front of Luffy and Vivi, furthermore his nose kinda looked bent for a few moments before it finally straightened as he jumped to his feet and dashed to Luffy.

"Emergency! Nami got eaten by a dinosaur!"

"REALLY?!" And Luffy screamed.

Usopp gripped at the sides of his head as he tried to panic a bit less then he already was. "We ran into the jungle together to escape from a dinosaur when all of a sudden she was gone!" He screamed. "What have I done?! I let our nakama die!" And then lots of screams were made by Luffy and Usopp as they wailed over their lost navigator.

"W-Wait, now… calm down. You guys!" They finally turned to look at Vivi. "You said that she just suddenly disappeared. So you didn't actually see what happened to her, right?"

"Moron! How could I have seen what happened?! I was too scared! If not a dinosaur, then it was some other wild beast! Or those demons Vergil went off to take care of! What else could it have been?!" Usopp yelled.

"Demons? Wait then it's most likely certain that Baroque Works followed us to this island. And between the two of you, Nami-san was the only one being targeted." Truthfully she just fell into a trap that was set the moment she stopped to take a breath, Usopp who never actually stopped running didn't allow such opportunity to be presented for the enemies.

"Eh?! Baroque Works is HERE on THIS ISLAND?! And they've got demons on their side! But then, how come they didn't target me?"

Luffy's eyes were shadowed and he looked pissed, really pissed. First they sabotaged the duel of the giants and now they were after his nakama, there was no way he would let this slide.

"It's probably because you're not on Baroque Works' Death List." Technically he was simply running too much.

"I see."

"And that sake might have been intended for us, as well." Vivi guessed and Luffy's eyes widened, if that was true then they were to blame as well.

"Sake? What about the sake?" Usopp was not exactly up to date with what was happening on this side.

"Brogy gave some of your sake to Dorry. But when Dorry drank it, the sake exploded in his stomach." Viv explained.

"WHAT?! The sake exploded in his stomach?! And he went to duel in that condition?!" Usopp exclaimed.

"I tried to stop him. But he put this damn rock on me!" Luffy said.

Dorry and Brogy exchanged a few clashes before Dorry evaded Brogy's slash.

"No way! For a hundred years, those two have been fighting evenly at full strength!" Usopp exclaimed.

Brogy laughed as Dorry raised his sword and tried to cut him, but the axe clashed against the sword and Brogy managed to push Dorry back.

"Gababababa!" Borgy laughed as Dorry smirked at him.

"Their battle must be the most honorable battle in the world!" Usopp was fierce about this and Luffy agreed. "How dare someone mess with their fight!"

Vivi and Luffy could only look, powerless to do anything to help the giants and powerless to calm down Usopp. For there was nothing that could be said to calm him down.

* * *

Brogy assaulted again and again, he pushed Dorry back and clearly had the upper hand.

"Gabababa! What's wrong?" He kept advancing and Dorry kept backing away but still continued blocking.

Mr. 3 and Miss Goldenweek were nearby and the girl was eating cookies. "They're still fighting." She pointed out but otherwise didn't seem interested in anything.

"Hm. That Blue Ogre Dorry is quite the stubborn one… Hehe! Perhaps I should lend some assistance." The top of Mr. 3's hair ignited.

Dorry blocked the axe with his shield but he still took a step back.

White mass slid across the ground and right under the Blue Ogre's foot thus making him slip and start falling.

"_It's been_…" Mr. 3 was laughing his ass off. "…_a long century of battle_." Axe came down and blood gushed out of the fresh wound.

Luffy, Usopp and Vivi could only watch the massive stream of blood.

Dorry fell to his knees and for the last time looked toward the sky as his vision faded and his sword clattered on the ground as his body fell forward.

Brogy took deep breaths… It was over…

'The God of War, Elbaf has passed his judgment. I've lost his favor. That is all.' Dorry's words echoed in Luffy's mind as he gritted his teeth. He slammed his head against the ground as he desperately tried to set himself free.

"Luffy! / Luffy-san!" Usopp and Vivi were quite surprised and baffled at his sudden reaction.

"WHO WAS IT?! SHOW YOURSELF!" Luffy screamed and his words echoed throughout the island.

Miss Goldenweek stopped biting her cookie. "Mr. 3, I think I heard something."

Mr. 3 laughed. "How strange! Perhaps it was the cry of some pitiful loser off in the jungle!"

She wasn't the only one who heard it Vergil whose battle was halted at the moment heard it as well.

"Luffy… It's too late." He realized that the battle of giants has ended, one of the giants was now dead and his Captain demanded the enemy to show up. He greeted his teeth and clenched his fists but then stopped doing so as he turned to Mr. -1 and Miss Midnight.

* * *

Brogy's breathing was uneven and he even seemed to be close to tears. "73 thousand… 467 battles…" He took a few deep breaths. "73 thousand… 466 draws…" he raised his head and the tears were falling down his face long ago. "1 victory…!" He dropped the axe and the shield, it was over and there was no happiness in this victory… What remained was grief and nothing else…

A rather annoying laughter caught Brogy's attention. "Tears of joy at your victory? It must be nice being such a simpleton. In any case, I guess I'll congratulate you."

This of course angered Brogy. "Tears of joy? What the hell would you know about this?! Who the hell are you?!" He demanded fiercely.

"I am Mr. 3. Forgive me for my use of a codename. I am merely a humble sculptor." He pointed toward the girl that was still having a picnic. "And this is my assistant, a realist painter, Miss Goldenweek. Furthermore, you are now within my control."

Brogy looked down and saw that his feet were stuck up to the ankle is some sort of extremely hardened wax. "What is this?!" He strained to set himself free but for all the effort and strength he used he couldn't even budge let alone free himself. All the while the girl munched on her cookies and simply observed.

* * *

_**And that's it. You can still answer on the questions from the previous chapter.**_

* * *

_**Which original character in this story am I referencing via bayonet?**__**  
**__**What kind of significance does number 3352 have to Vergil's character?**_

_**The rewards if I can call them like that are same.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Tears Of Regret And Anger**_


	102. Tears Of Regret And Anger

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**aabbii567o – Sorry, it's a bit of a misunderstanding, there will be a single filler arc after third movie. Afterwards I'll go on with going though the canon again.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you, I'm happy to hear that you liked it.**_

_**Guest – Thank you.**_

_**KP360 – Thank you for the review, and you are right, there is going to be quite a bit of an impact due to them.**_

_**20th Cboys fan. – Thank you very much, the next chapter and the one afterwards will end Little Garden so then the Drum Island begins.**_

_**Sagicknight- Thank you.**_

_**Guest – Thank you very much.**_

_**Guest – Yeah, we are still so far away from the Enies Lobby. As for Zoan, I do have something similar in mind. Finally the question about whether there are demons who ate the Devil Fruit. No. I'll go into deeper detail later down the road so for now this is the answer you'll get. **_

* * *

_**Chapter 102 – Tears Of Regret And Anger**_

* * *

Luffy was still attempting to set himself free and though being rubber saved him it was probably partials responsible for keeping him underneath the rubble.

"Okay, Luffy! I dunno who they are, but I'll go take 'em out myself!" Even though Usopp declared that and sounded serious about his intention he was still standing on quite shaky legs.

"I'm coming too!" Vivi's decision made him feel much better.

"Yeah! It'd be great if you came too! I'll feel safer!" He did sound a bit more scared now that departing back into the jungle seemed closer.

"That won't be necessary!" The trio turned toward the owner of the voice and Luffy's eyes widened, these were the two that Vergil went to beat up.

"It's you guys!" He exclaimed.

They smirked and Vivi's eyes widened… They had Carue and the duck was unconscious and injured.

Mr. 5 threw Carue to the ground and Vivi immediately ran up to it. "You can have it back. We don't need it anymore."

"Kyahahaha!" Miss Valentine laughed.

"Carue!" Vivi knelt down next to his head.

"Why you… Hey, who are they?" Usopp asked Luffy.

"They're from the last town we were at! The ones Vergil went to beat!" Luffy explained.

Vivi angrily glared at the duo. "How could you?! Carue has nothing to do with this!"

"You're right. That bird has absolutely nothing to do with this. But, due to what his First Mate can do we considered that man with the Straw Hat to be a serious threat. So we thought of making the bird cry out to lure the Princess it's always with into the jungle. But the thing was just too stubborn." Mr. 5 explained the reasons behind Carue's injuries.

* * *

-Flashback-

* * *

Carue was terrified to the point of being unable to utter a single quack.

"Now. Call for your master." Mr. 5 instructed.

"Kyahaha! Just one big scream. Then we'll let you go." Miss Valentine added.

Though he was crying Carue shook his head, no matter what he would not cry out. Just like how he stood in front of Vivi back when Vergil seemed like a threat to her… Just like back then even if he couldn't help her he at the very least wouldn't make things harder for her.

"Hm? Have it your way! We'll make you scream!" Mr. 5 threatened.

"Just call the Princess." Miss Valentine tried to talk him into it.

They weren't like that demon, they would hurt him, he was aware of that but he still refused.

"You'd better…" Mr. 5 pulled his hand out of his pocket and began beating Carue up. "…CALL HER NOW!"

Though he took the beating Carue still refused to utter a whimper let alone a quack loud enough for Vivi to hear him.

"Open your beak, you damn bird!"

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

Vivi's eyes widened with rage as he finished the story.

"But now that we're here… It appears that Straw Hat is already incapacitated. So we don't need the bird anymore." He was almost taunting her.

"Carue…" Vivi slowly raised his head a bit.

"Quack…" It was weak and slow but he responded.

"Kyahahahaha! Such a foolish bird…" Miss Valentine dared to laugh at him.

A vein popped on Vivi's forehead as she greeted her teeth. "You…"

Usopp slammed his foot down onto the ground as he pointed accusingly at the duo. "So it was you who put the bomb in our sake!"

"Huh…? Oh yeah. Who the hell is that? Another nakama of those two?" Mr. 5 asked.

"He obviously is one. Let's eliminate him too." Miss Valentine suggested.

Usopp grew furious. "You're the ones who sabotaged the giants' duel!"

Luffy tried even harder to free himself. "I'm gonna beat the shit outta them!"

Vivi pulled out her peacock slashers. "You're the ones who'll be eliminated!" She began spinning them and rushed toward Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine.

"Oh? Going to take us on yourself, Miss Wednesday?" Mr. 5 mocked her, after all their previous encounter wouldn't end well for Vivi if Vergil didn't show up and the demon in question wasn't anywhere near to help.

"Think you'll stand a chance against two Officer Agents?" Miss Valentine added.

"**Peacock Slasher**!"

"Take this!" Usopp joined her and prepared his slingshot. "**Sure Kill Gunpowder Star**!" Explosion engulfed the Baroque Works agents. "Got 'em!"

Not quite true… Miss Valentine jumped right into the air. "Kyahahaha! Wow, what a blast!"

Usopp's eyes widened as he realized that his attack didn't work.

"Nose Fancy Cannon!" Mr. 5 flicked his booger at Usopp and the sniper took an explosion that made him stumble back.

"Kyahaha! Poor little guy…" Though she said that Miss Valentine didn't sound sorry at all.

"USOPP!" Luffy screamed.

"**10,000 Kilo Press**!" Similar to how Vergil made a quick work out of them before they were now making a quick work out of Usopp and Vivi.

Mr. 5 simply stepped a bit to the side and tripped Vivi causing the girl to double over and start falling. "Just calm down!" He grabbed her by her neck before she hit the ground. He proceeded to chuckle confidently. "You can get fired up all you want, but we aren't going to kill you yet."

Vivi placed her hands on Mr. 5's forearm.

"This is just a rehearsal, as Mr. 3 put it…"

"Mr. 3? The man who ate the Doru Doru no mi… (Wax Wax fruit) He's on this island…?" Vivi asked.

"That's right. He has the ability to create wax from his body which he can control at will. A Candleman." Mr. 5 confirmed it.

"A Candleman?" Luffy repeated. But then, he made a clear declaration no matter what power that man had… "I will… never forgive you!"

* * *

Brogy surprisingly fell down as wax emerged from Mr. 3's forearm. The man laughed as wax trapped Brogy and pinned him to the ground, it shackled his wrists, shoulders, neck, waist and legs and even went around one of the horns on his helmet to make sure he couldn't escape.

"You devil! What is this?" Brogy demanded.

"Hm? 'What' you say? Well, before the end of the day… You are all to become my next great work of art." Mr. 3 said.

* * *

Vivi let out a small scream as Miss Valentine bent her hand back.

"Kyahahaha. Settle down now. Did you honestly believe you could escape from Baroque Works?" Miss Valentine taunted her and Vivi could only look at Carue, Usopp and Luffy, all three of them had taken explosions from Mr. 5 and they didn't look that well.

"And so much for the 30 million beri bounty man." She added.

Mr. 5 smirked. "I'm real happy I get the chance to pay you back for what your First Mate did to me in Whiskey Peak. I can't wait to tell him how I killed you when Mr. -1 and Miss midnight capture him."

"Mr. -1? Miss Midnight?" This was the first time Vivi heard about them and she was the one who infiltrated the organization.

"These kinds of delicate situations aren't things pirates should go sticking their noses into. We've already caught your swordsman partner and that other woman." Mr. 5's words made Luffy clench his fist.

"You caught Zoro?" He asked.

"Huh?"

"Then… You're gonna get cut up." Luffy firmly stated.

"Still talking, huh? Mybe I'll give you a little **Kick Bomb** to the face then." Mr. 5 threatened.

"Like that'll hurt me." Luffy raised his head a bit to look at Mr. 5 and grinned. "I'll kick your ass." He proceeded to spit at Mr. 5's shoe and that triggered angry reaction from the agent.

"How foolish." Miss Valentine commented.

Mr. 5 kicked Luffy right in the face and Vivi gasped.

"LUFFY-SAN!" She screamed.

"Go to hell!" Mr. 5 yelled and started kicking Luffy again and again. Each kick was followed by an explosion that engulfed the entire area.

Once it was over Luffy clenched his fist and it dropped down.

"Heh, asshole." It looked like Mr. 5 was finally satisfied.

"Luffy-san! Luffy-san! Luffy-san!" Vivi called out to him while her captor held her back and laughed.

"Let's go, Miss Valentine!" Mr. 5 was already on his way back to where Mr. 3 was.

"Luffy-san! Usopp-san! Carue!" Vivi desperately called their names but none of them responded.

* * *

Brogy desperately tried to break free from the wax and his attempts seemed awfully amusing to Mr. 3.

"You fiend!" Brogy cursed at him.

"Oh, stop, stop. Once my **Candle Jacket** has solidified it's practically as hard as steel." To that revelation Brogy looked at the wax around his wrist. "The unlimited strength of a Giant…" Mr. 3 created a small wax version of Brogy's head. "…means nothing once it's been restrained. We used our heads, so we didn't have to strain ourselves fighting you face to face." He smirked at Brogy. "You let your victory go to your head. Red Ogre Brogy."

Brogy narrowed his eyes as he glared at the small human.

"Oh don't stare at me like that. I'm just overcome with fear." Now he was plain taunting the giant. "It felt good, didn't it? That long, long duel finally coming to an end. You fought honorably for an entire century, am I correct? Is not the taste of this victory exceptional? Even though… there may have been some outside assistance this time. Am I wrong?"

Brogy's eyes widened as realization hit him harder than any blow he received in the past. "You cur! Can it be…?!"

"Mahahahahaha! But in the end, the true victor is I! Did you know? The bounties once placed on your heads, 200 million beri for the two of you, are still in effect." Mr. 3 revealed his reasons for the interference.

"You devil!" Brogy growled.

"I feel like I've discovered buried treasure." Mr. 3 laughed, after all no matter how much he taunted Brogy, or how much anger the giant felt there was no way he'd set himself free.

"So that was you plan! Mr. 3!" Vivi exclaimed, she had heard most of what the man said.

Miss Valentine pulled her arm back a bit more making Vivi struggle against her. "We brought her."

"The traitor of our organization." Mr. 5 added.

"You were rather slow about it. I've been waiting for too long." Mr. 3 complained about their effectiveness.

"Your methods are too dirty, Mr. 3! To think you would actually put a bomb in Dorry-san's sake!" She revealed the entire picture to Brogy.

"Tch."

"What? The sake?! The sake… that I gave him?

* * *

-Flashback-

* * *

"Gababababa! Guess what, Dorry! I just got some sake from two little visitors!" Brogy exclaimed happily.

"NICE! I haven't had a drink in so long! Gimme some too!" Dorry demanded. "Gegyagyagyagya!"

"Gababababa!" Brogy joined him in the laughter.

* * *

"Gababababa! Dorry! After so long, that sake must have been exceptional!" Yeah, really made him burst with overflowing energy.

"Yeah. I had the taste of God." Dorry refused to tell what happened, after all making up excuses would tarnish his pride and honor.

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

"_Is that what you meant…? Dorry…!_" Everything made sense now… Just everything…

"So the young lady actually figured out my little trick. Nevertheless, there is nothing she can do to stop me now. **Candle Lock**!" His hair ignited and wax closed around Vivi's ankles like a candle. The balance she had was disrupted and she fell down to the ground unable to move.

"Mr. 5. Bring the swordsman and the girl to me." He instructed and smirked. "I'm starting." Mr. 3's hair burst into flames signaling that he was about to use something powerful and he seemed extremely concentrated as he spread his arms and let out a loud scream. "Super Big Candle Set!" He yelled as extreme amounts of wax erupted from his hands.

Vivi and Brogy's eyes widened as a mountain of wax began forming. There was a high plateau with another one, smaller in a radius on top of it and then another smaller one of top of that one. It ended with a pillar in the middle of it and a sliced pumpkin shaped candle set with smiling face on top of the pillar. The candles lit into flames signaling the end of procedure.

"So this is Mr. 3's power…" Vivi realized.

"What's he doing?" Brogy asked.

"Here they are." Mr. 5 pushed Zoro and Nami who had both their ankles and wrists binded onto the ground.

Nami grunted and Zoro opened his eyes.

"How disappointing." Mr. 5 stepped onto the back of Zoro's head. "To think that I was defeated by one measly idiot of this low class bunch. It's so embarrassing I'm ashamed of myself."

Mr. 3 turned to him. "Hm. That only happened because you are weak."

"Eh? What was that?" Mr. 5 acted like he didn't hear it right.

"Nothing at all." For the first time Mr. 3 showed his lack of actual fighting capabilities through his words. "Hurry up and place them on the **Candle Set**."

"Set?" Nami repeated, looked up and gasped as she saw what set was. "What is that thing?"

"Nami-san. Mr. Bushido." Vivi didn't know what else to say.

"Vivi! Weren't you with Luffy?" Nami asked.

Vivi looked down, ashamed of herself. "Yes… but…"

"If you mean Straw Hat, I finished him off." Mr. 5 broke down the news and Zoro glanced at him. "It was an easy job."

"You?" Zoro smirked.

"Keep lying to yourself when Vergil and Luffy get here all of you are done for." Nami stated.

"I wouldn't bet on that demon of yours. He's got another two demons that are clearly out of his league to worry about. Don't worry though, you'll probably get to see his corpse before you die. Kyahahaha!" Miss Valentine taunted.

"Watch your tongue. Vergil will electrify it." Nami smirked. "There's no way my demon will lose to the likes of you." It never crossed her mind just what her words implied.

* * *

It looked like Mr. -1 and Miss Midnight were finally ready to fight again.

"Let's bring this battle a bit closer to its end." Vergil rolled his shoulders and Dark Edge emerged in his hand. "**Hyper Drive**." And he started.

Both Mr. -1 and Miss Midnight jumped to the opposite sides but the slashes went forward and cut the tree in their way thus making it fall. Miss Midnight's eyes widened however when she realized that tree created enough dust to obscure her vision and halt the teamwork she had with Mr. -1.

A shadow of a large blade was the first thing she somewhat clearly saw as she was forced to block it with the blade of her bayonet. Vergil pulled the sword just an inch back after the first clash and slammed it back against the bayonet's blade thus forcing the weapon out of Miss Midnight's hands.

"**Earth Spike**!" Mr. -1 caused a rather sharp spike to erupt from below Vergil but the white haired male surprising pushed forward and slammed his fist into Miss Midnight's guts. He managed to evade the spike by a mere millimeters, so the course of his actions was quite surprising to two duo.

Miss Midnight's eyes widened in fear and she stood up before running away, there was no way she could deal with Vergil, not at her level.

"Damn it… She ran off, again." Mr. -1 complained.

"Well, not much you can do about that, eh?" Vergil questioned though he remained open minded, the girl seemed like she wouldn't abandon her comrade if the small battle they had up until now was anything to go by.

Mr. -1 shrugged and raised his fists. "Looks like I've got to do this on my own."

"Well, come on then." Vergil challenged.

Less than ten seconds into the battle Mr. -1 knew he couldn't do it on his own.

An attempt to trap Vergil in a rock made orb was apparently not a good idea as the white haired male blasted the damn thing into smithereens one second later with a rather powerful burst of lightning. Furthermore the rubble shot off into various directions and one of the rocks actually hit Mr. -1, his only saving grace was the fact that he was an earth demon, as such he had more resistance to blunt forces than most other demon.

Still Mr. -1 was slowly accomplishing his goal, he led Vergil further into the jungle and so far he's been doing an amazing job even though he was not having a favorable fight at the moment.

Mr, -1 pulled back and Vergil followed after him finally the demon who has been running halted and Vergil stopped along with him. Baroque Works' abruptly turned around and ground enclosed round his fist.

"Looks like you're outclassed when you are alone." Vergil pointed out as he blocked the incoming punch and planted his knee into the demon's chest.

Vergil failed to notice that they were nearing closer to the area where Mr. 3 was going preparing his new form of art…

* * *

While Vergil was fighting Mr. -1 and Miss Midnight the remaining Baroque Works agents stuck Zoro, Nami and Vivi into the lowest plateau of the set. Mr. 3 laughed as pumpkin like candle set began spinning. "Welcome, everyone! To my Service Set!" He bowed down to them mockingly.

Zoro however looked quite casual. "So this is what it feels like, huh? To be a candle on a cake."

"What's that thing spinning around up there?" Nami glanced up and then down to her legs, nothing she did could break her free. "I can't move my legs at all."

"Why the hell would he let us move? He's our enemy, you know." Zoro unsheathed Wado and tried to cut the wax but all he did was make a small scratch on it. "Tch! Too hard. And in this stance, I can't use any of my strength."

As he said that wax began falling down on them and Brogy and it kinda looked almost like snow was falling. "Something's coming down!" Vivi exclaimed.

"Hahahahaha! Enjoy the taste of the Candle Service!" Nami's eyes widened at that, she realized what this would do. "The wax falling down from above will turn your bodies into wax figures. There is something that even my artistic skills cannot create: The perfect human statue. Just as the name implies, you will soon become wax figures that contain souls. Hahaha. For the sake of my art… You will die." Mr. 3 explained.

"Like hell I will! Why the hell do we have to be you're 'art'?!" nami yelled as Zoro and Vivi looked at Brogy. "Brogy-san! Don't just lay there! Do something or you'll become a wax figure too!" She tried to shake the giant into action.

"Man, those are some big-ass humans…" Zoro commented.

"Heh. It's no use begging him. He has only just realized that without noticing his opponent's injuries he killed Dorry, the friend he had been fighting with for the past 100 years… with his own two hands!" Mr. 3 continued making mockery of the entire situation. "And the fool even wept tears of joy at his victory! Or perhaps you were lamenting the loss of your dear friend? Ahahaha! Well, nothing can be done to help him now, you fool! Ahahahaha!"

Zoro glared angrily at the candle man, this man dared to make a mockery out of someone's death. The swordsman didn't know the entire story but his moral was enough to cause anger over the words this man spoke.

"I knew." Borgy suddenly spoke up making Mr. 3 halt his laughter. "I knew something was wrong." He clenched his fist as the images of the battle flashed in his mind. "From the moment we began our fight… I knew Dorry was hiding something."

Mr. 3 smirked. "Hm? You say you noticed? Hahah! Such a liar! If so, then why did you continue the battle?! I saw how hard you fought. I didn't see a single shred of sympathy!"

Nami and Vivi could only look at the giant that greeted his teeth.

"How could a CHILD who doesn't understand the significance of the word 'duel' possibly understand the reason for my tears?! What the hell would you know? A Warrior conceals his injury and continues to fight. And you would DARE insult him?!" Brogy roared.

His words fueled the anger inside of Zoro who simply narrowed his eyes just a bit more.

"HOW CAN YOU SHOW SYMPATHY TO A WARRIOR WHO WISHES FOR A DUEL?!" Brogy roared and for the first time Mr. 3 backed away. This giant was out or their blood. "And now… I understand how this happened. And now that I do, I'll finish this with my own two hands!"

Mr. 3's eyes widened as his supposedly as hard as steel wax shattered due to Brogy's strength.

"As a courtesy to my best friend, Dorry!" Brogy declared and brought himself up to his knees.

Mr. 3 began screaming but simple mucus made bomb exploded upon colliding with Brogy.

"Brogy-san!" Nami exclaimed.

The giant was still conscious but the blast made him open and vulnerable to another attack. Finally, four bombs later he fell down to the ground.

"Brogy-san!" Nami and Vivi exclaimed.

"What an irritable monster." Mr. 5 spat.

Mr. 3 fixed his sunglasses. "Heh, I underestimated that crazy giant's strength." He admitted.

* * *

Luffy regained his consciousness but he still couldn't get himself out. "Usopp… Usopp… Can you… forgive them?"

"No way. I can't forgive them." The sniper coughed but he meant what he said, there was no way he could forgive them.

Carue, with tears in his eyes began stabbing his beak into the ground in front of Luffy.

"You're… angry too…" Luffy realized.

"Quack!" Carue confirmed it not only with his quack that sounded off into the distance but also with his eyes.

Luffy grinned. "Okay, let's go get 'em! We'll kick their asses!" He declared and once he declared something there was nothing that could stop him from going through with it.

* * *

"Brogy-san!" Vivi called out to the barely conscious giant.

"Kyahahahaha! What a fool." Miss Valentine said.

Brogy tried to find strength to stand up once again but Mr. 3 quickly made things even forse for him

"It seems I will have to restrain him properly. **Doru Doru Arts: Candle Sword**!" Four swords descended upon Brogy's hands and feet and Nami looked away as the blades impaled and pinned the giant to the ground.

Brogy let out a bloodcurdling scream as blood pooled around his wounds.

"Hahahahahaha! Now you will be completely unable to move! Ahahahahah!" Mr. 3 continued laughing like a madman.

Zoro glared at the candleman and Vivi growled to herself. "What cruel torture…!"

"Quickly now, my Candle Service! Turn them into my very own wax figures!" Mr. 3 began laughing yet again as the half pumpkin began spinning much faster thus making the process quicker.

Nami coughed into her palm as she gripped at her chest. "My chest hurts. The wax vapor is going into my lungs… If it continues, my body's gonna become a wax figure from the inside out!"

Zoro calmly stood there and Vivi tried to cover her mouth and slow down the process.

"That's it! That's it! Show me all the pain you can muster! A desperate face of pain and anguish is the kind of art I value the most!" Well that certainly was a form of sick and twisted art. "Harden with that look of despair!"

"What kind of art is that, you sick, know-haired freak? How dare you do that to Brogy-san!" Nami was cut off with another fit of coughing. "You're gonna get what you deserve! You hear me?!"

"Hahahahah! Yell as much as you like!"

Brogy was thinking over everything that happened as anger and regret gripped at his heart. "_100 years_…" Images of the last fair and square battle flashed. "_Day after day… Fight after fight… We dueled with the honor born into us from Elbaf, the Village of Warriors. And yet… Why did it end like this?! Oh God of War, Elbaf! Is this the judgment you have proclaimed?! Elbaf!_" He was crying. "_WHY DID YOU DO THIS?! WHY WILL I NOT DIE IN BATTLE?!_"

Mr. 3 noticed the look of anguish and tears on Brogy's face and with annoyingly thrilled expression on his face he laughed as he pointed at the giant. "What a superb expression! Exquisite! That bitter, mournful, agonized expression is the highest form of art!"

"_ELBAF!_" Brogy screamed in his mind.

Nami suddenly realized that she was stiff and the wax was already covering big part of her body. "Oh no! I can't move my hands! I don't want to die like this! Can't we do something?"

"My body is already hardening! What can we do?!" Vivi was also starting to panic.

Zoro looked at Brogy.

"Zoro, think of something!" Nami demanded but before the green haired swordsman could declare his idea sudden shot of lightning burst out of the jungle and Mr. -1 skidded across the ground all the way to Mr. 3. "He really is a monster…" Mr. -1 hissed.

"Lightning, that's…!" Zoro realized and they all turned to the forest.

"Vergil!" Nami happily exclaimed as she saw the white haired demon.

* * *

_**And that's it. Also an explanation for why this chapter is late is needed I suppose. You see I had the entire Little Garden written out in this chapter and then, as I was adding the last bits and pieces to it bam the power went off and took my entire chapter along with it, thus the frustration caused this chapter to reach only this part of the battle. So yeah, as you can see from the title of the next chapter, chapter 103 will have the entire Little Garden action in all its glory.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Battle Of Little Garden**_


	103. Battle Of Little Garden

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Guest – Sorry for the wait and thanks for the review.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you, I'm glad you liked the chapter.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks, yeah I guess you are right about that. Not exactly the best chapter.**_

_**AeronSky – Are you seriously trying to tell me that you read through almost 450k words just with the pairing being the only thing that kept you reading? On one hand I'm honored that you like the pairing to the point of doing so but on the other hand I don't really know how to take that. Anyway no. I'll admit that I've been moving the scene a bit sooner as my plans went on, originally I planned on getting them together after the time skip then at the end of the Demon World saga, now I'm taking Strong World into consideration but I will tell you that romance as in getting together will not come any time soon.**_

_**Sagicknight – Yeah, he sure is going to be.**_

_**Tanuuki Cloud – Wow what can I say. Thank you very much. Looks like the typing-typing no mi has been affected by some sea stone for the last few weeks. Don't worry about being a ghost reader, I'm glad you are enjoying this and though I along with many other writers do enjoy seeing a review I'm simply glad to know that people are enjoying this, in the end that's why we do this. Also I'm really happy to hear you like Vergil and the way I'm writing the story and developing it. Also congratulations on guessing it right. Well Alice is somewhat fitting, I suppose it can work until I actually sit down and draw Xenia, as for Vergil well his face is right in that left corner, the cover so yeah. Anyway thank you so much for the support and I'll try my best to keep up with good work.**_

_**Guest – Sorry for the wait and it's here now.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 103 - Battle Of Little Garden**_

* * *

"Zoro, think of something!" Nami demanded but before the green haired swordsman could declare his idea sudden shot of lightning burst out of the jungle and Mr. -1 skidded across the ground all the way to Mr. 3.

"He really is a monster…" Mr. -1 hissed.

"Lightning, that's…!" Zoro realized and they all turned to the forest.

"Vergil!" Nami happily exclaimed as she saw the white haired demon. Vergil looked at her, Zoro and Vivi then at Brogy and Dorry and finally at Baroque Works agents.

"What in the world is that?" The white haired male muttered to himself.

"Vergil! Hurry and destroy this pillar! We're becoming wax figures!" Nami's words were all he needed. These people interfered with the giants' duel, they endangered his nakama by doing so and now they were trying to make wax figures out of them. Black Thunder was out for blood and the way lightning surged around him and his eyes flashed with pure anger as he glared at the Baroque Works agents was enough to prove it.

"Got it. Give me two minutes and I'll obliterate it." Vergil promised and rolled his shoulders and neck as he took a step forward.

"Tch. You couldn't take care of one measly pirate." Mr. 5 berated and Mr. -1 growled at that.

"Not that you had any better luck against that monster." Mr. -1 defended himself when his eyes widened and he turned his attention to Vergil.

Not even Zoro who was on the crew more or less from the start had seen Vergil bursting out this much power. Lightning engulfed him, passed through the ground around him and caused a few cracks to appear. The small bits of rubble began trembling on the ground as Vergil's eyes shone brightly, the pure yellow eyes tore through the souls of his enemies.

"Well, we're screwed." Mr. -1 realized.

"Yeah. You are." Vergil's voice was eerie calm as he said that as the intensity of lightning turned to barely a few sparks.

"Don't get too cocky. **Nose Fancy Double Cannon**!" Mr. 5 flicked two balls of dried mucus not at Vergil but at Zoro, Vivi and Nami.

"Idiot don't provoke him even further!" Mr. -1 yelled.

Dark Edge materialized and Vergil slashed into nothing. "**Drive**!" The black slash collided with the mucus and exploded before it could even reach the wax.

"What were you trying to do to my ar-" Mr. 3 was interrupted a blink of an eye that's how long it took for Vergil to **Demon Flash** right in front of Mr. 5.

Mr. 5 saw the golden eyes, the demon was looking right at him and the clock was ticking as his heart pounded against his chest.

"I told you I'd kill you if you interfered again." The last words he heard. It was quick, Vergil had that much humanity to him to grant a quick end. Dark Edge penetrated through the Baroque Work's agent's chest.

"Mr. 5…?" Miss Valentine muttered as her comrades looked utterly speechless, they barely sensed him move.

"He killed Mr. 5…" Vivi muttered in disbelief.

"This is a fight, not a game." Zoro simply stated.

"He didn't even blink. Are you saying that you are completely fine with having someone that willing to kill on the same ship?" Vivi questioned them.

"There is not a single murder that is inevitable." Nami surprised them both with that. "That's what Vergil said. I don't agree with what he did, but I will not let anyone call him cold hearted murderer. He was provoked by that man attacking us."

"But still… to kill like that." Vivi muttered as Vergil pulled out the Dark Edge and Mr. 5's body fell down as a pool of blood formed beneath him.

"Just try interfering." Vergil stated, his words were clearly directed at remaining opponents that felt the chill run down their spines.

In a simple **Air Hike** Vergil was in front of his nakama on the wax. Without a single word he walked in between Nami and Zoro and went closer to the upper layers of the candle set.

Nami watched his back, he was tense, much more than usually. Killing like this, even he wasn't unaffected by it.

Vergil stabbed the Dark Edge into the wax almost all the way up to the guard. Zoro couldn't dent it. Granted the blade was powered up by lightning but still it looked too easy. Well the white haired male was also pissed off.

Lightning surged around Vergil's right arm and then around his body as his eyes shone bright yellow. He **Air Hiked** above the pumpkin-like candle set.

"**Mjollnir… Thunder**!" Just like back in Arlong Park he slammed the fist down and it crashed through the layers of wax, the initial damage was done by force of the technique, the top layers of the set all the way to the lowest one were torn into pieces by Vergil's attack and the wax that could fall around was destroyed by the stray lightning bolts.

Zoro smirked while Nami and Vivi watched with mouth open wide. The destruction caused by this very technique topped any other technique Vergil had at his disposal, it had extreme damage output at the area directly affected by the strike and the overall impact of it placed the danger it posed over both **Hell Reaper** and **Breath** attacks.

And the Dark Edge, it served as protection for his nakama as it acted like a lightning rod for any electricity that may get lost like the resident green haired swordsman.

"That's my demon." Nami smiled at Vergil who landed on the remaining wax layer.

"Your demon?" Vergil of course had to hear that as he pulled the Dark Edge out of the wax and made it disappear.

"Got anything against that?" Though the blush adored her face Nami still somewhat confirmed her words.

Vergil couldn't help but smirk as he shook his head lightly. "Nope." He proceeded step in front of the trio.

"Lightning could melt the wax but it'll hurt you no matter what I try." Vergil muttered as he glared at the wax. "Let me deal with them and then we'll try to find a good way to end this." He suggested.

"Hogging all the fun, eh?" Zoro smirked at him.

"You got your fun at Whiskey Peak." Vergil smirked as well as he pointed out the previous events.

"And you still got the better part of the action." Zoro countered and the two females looked somewhat amused at them.

"That battle was downright lame." Their small exchange was stopped by Vergil quickly turning around and backhanded the wax arrow away. "Figured I let my guard down?" He questioned as Mr. 3 paled.

"**Earth Breath**!"Mr. -1 took the chance and in the position Vergil was in there was no way he could afford dodging.

"Damn… **Darkness Breath**." The streams of energy collided and seemed to be more or less equal with Vergil powering his own up enough to get an upper hand.

The darkness slowly closed in on Mr. -1 but a turning point was already made…

A gunshot echoed through the area as Vergil's eyes widened and two Breaths caused an explosion that didn't hit either of the two demons but Vivi still gasped. Zoro's eyes widened in horror. And Nami fell utterly silent before… "VERGIL!"

Vergil's body fell face first onto the wax barely three feet away from the navigator and the swordsman and he wasn't moving.

"Hey… Vergil…" Zoro called but he gained no response.

"Vergil-san?" Vivi realized exactly what happened, the gunshot they heard… the bullet hit the target and now a puddle began coloring the wax in blood.

"Good job, Miss Midnight." Mr. -1 complimented as he jumped onto the wax and began walking toward Vergil.

Nami turned her head to one of the nearby trees and there the woman holding the bayonet was. "You…" Nami growled. "Unforgivable…"

"I doubt you are in a position to act out of anger, little girl." Miss Midnight stated.

Mr. -1 walked up to Vergil and Zoro lashed out with Wado, though the position he was in took away most of the power behind the slice.

A sudden cough made them all look at Vergil. "Paralysis against a lightning demon? Are you kidding me?" Much to Nami's delight the white haired male began pushing himself up, he was alive and from what it looked like didn't receive a fatal wound.

"It's not just paralysis, I'm sure you understand that by now." Mr. -1 said and pulled out a knife, he proceeded to lunge his knife at Vergil who somehow pushed himself to the left and onto his back.

"I get it, if the bullet doesn't hit anything vital it will still cause paralysis." Dark Edge appeared in his hand and he blocked a stab aimed to his heart. "Finally the bullet releases a form of sedative, and I have to admit it's working damn quickly as well." He greeted his teeth and before Mr. -1 could further use his Demon Forged blade's specialty he slammed it down onto the belt that held the knives, right on the right side of Mr. -1's hip, the belt shattered and blood gushed out of Mr. -1's wound. However, the wound wasn't Vergil's aim, the blades shattered, he cut right into the spot that was the core of this particular Demon Forged.

"You… When did you get time to find it?!" Mr. -1 demanded but the moment of surprise cost him as Vergil used the momentum of the large weapon to pull himself up to his feet and knee Mr. -1 right into the stomach.

"Don't lower your guard against me." Vergil warned and proceeded push the man off the wax.

Miss Midnight was aiming for Vergil's head the entire time so the demon quickly spun around and sent a **Drive** to slice off the branch she was on.

The three humans that remained didn't look too eager to engage in combat against him and he took a moment to catch his breath, without anyone sniping him.

"How are you alive? That hit you, didn't it?" Vivi, though happy with the fact that Vergil was still alive had to ask.

"I manage to angle my body just in time. I couldn't dodge it in that state but I could still move enough for it to miss anything vital like heart or lungs." Vergil explained and blinked a few times. "Damn, it really does work fast. Zoro can you lend me one of your katana?"

"Sure." With that Vergil received Yubashiri.

"You might want to close your eyes." Vergil warned and waited for Vivi and Nami to close their eyes, he looked at Zoro who looked quite curious and just decided that this was the best he could hope for. He angled the tip of the katana with his wound much to Zoro's surprise. There was no hesitation, he stabbed through his own chest with the Yubashiri and pushed the bullet straight out of his body. Furthermore, he pretty much yanked the blade out with a small barely audible grunt. In a swift swipe of sword, he cleaned the blood off Yubashiri's blade. "Thanks. This'll slow down the sedative."

Hearing Vergil's words Nami was the first one to open her eyes and the sight that greeted her was blood flowing much quicker. "Idiot! What did you do that for?!" She snapped.

"It'll be fine. I had worse." He brushed it off.

"How can you have worse?! You have a bullet hole in your body!" She was having none of his laid back attitude when it came to this.

"Nami I'm feeling tired as it is so do me a favor and fuss over this when the battle is over." He requested and Nami folded her arms as she fumed.

Zoro seemed motivated by Vergil's crazy action and pulled out Yubashiri and Sandai Kitetsu.

"Zoro, what are you-? You're not going to!" Nami fully realized just where this was going.

"Yeah." Zoro confirmed it.

"Cutting your feet off?! Stop joking around!" The navigator snapped at him. "Vergil talk some sense into this moron!" Nami demanded. And then she realized that she was pretty much asking the pot to call the kettle black.

Before Vergil could even try saying anything Zoro beat him to it. "It's not a joke. It's the only way we'll get out of here. You understand it right, Vergil? Even as we speak you are fighting against the sedative, even though you got the bullet out soon enough you'll lose consciousness." Zoro made his point and Nami looked at Vergil.

"Well, it is true that I don't have much time. Normally this sedative would knock a demon out in a matter of minute, but it's less effective on me so I have more time." Vergil said and Zoro locked his eyes with the first mate.

"Because of what you are." It was a statement, one that surprised not only Vergil but also Nami and Vivi.

Vergil thought back to the time he revealed the fact that he is a Cambion to Luffy and realized that Zoro must have heard Luffy's shout. "Yeah. Seriously though, how would you even fight without your feet, making an injury is one thing, but hacking off a part of the body needed for fighting, that's not exactly the best idea." Vergil pointed out.

"Neither one of those is a good idea!" Nami snapped, the initial confusion over Zoro's statement was replaced with anger.

"I'd figure something out eventually." Zoro brushed it off.

"Look, sometimes you need to use the muscle known as brain. See those five idiots? I've got my back turned to them, they can easily attack and I can't dodge because it might hit one of you. And they are just standing there catching their breath when one well thought-out attack could easily end this." Vergil pointed out.

"That's even more reason to cut my feet off and help you." Zoro persisted.

Vergil grew slightly annoyed. "Damn you, Xenia… Taking all the patience for yourself…" He cursed under his breath making the trio in front of him give him a confused set of looks.

* * *

-Demon World-

* * *

Xenia felt a small shiver run down her spine as she sipped on her tea.

"Vergil is frustrated, again." She announced getting Igaram's attention.

"What do you mean?" He asked honestly not knowing how Xenia felt that.

"He's cursing me for taking all the patience in our family for myself. Considering all the times I needed it because of him, I believe it to be a fair deal. Hey, Verge! I took your share of patience but ended up using more than that on you." Though she said that Xenia didn't stop the fond smile that appeared on her face.

* * *

-Human World-

* * *

Vergil shuddered, for some reason he felt like Xenia reversed the situation and placed the blame on him. How could she do it while being dead remained a mystery to him. He shrugged it off and turned back to Zoro.

"Just leave this to me. Sooner or later Luffy and others should join the battle as well." He assured the green haired swordsman. "And on top of that, I still didn't use every trick up my sleeve." Vergil pulled out the box with 'Trigger' and Nami's eyes widened.

"You're going to use it?!" She gasped.

"No choice. As Zoro said I don't have much time, this will neutralize the sedative and end the battle quickly. It's a power up, when using **Demon Release** the user's overall capabilities, speed, power, defense, strength, everything is multiplied by at least five times." His words shocked them, Vergil was already powerful and the thought of him actually getting at least five times stronger was kinda scary. "And this, 'Trigger', can force the body into **Demon Release** state, something that I currently can't do on my own due to that damned seal."

Mr. -1 finally regained his composure and realized exactly what was in Vergil's hand as the box was open and the darkness began forming around Vergil.

"Quickly! Stop him!" He yelled.

"It's no use. We don't have enough time." Miss Midnight sighed, it was all over now that Vergil would transform.

"**Demon**…" Vergil's eyes became pure blood red and his voice sounded deeper and disembodied, he hadn't even transformed but the change was apparent and frightening.

Suddenly Luffy, Usopp and Carue barged in leaving nothing but broken trees in their path. The trio let out a battle cry and flew across the battle ground, unintentionally.

"I'M GONNA KICK YOUR ASSES!" Luffy's yell could be heard and the darkness around Vergil disappeared as he closed the box.

"What?" Mr. 3 asked.

"Looks like I don't need to do this after all." Vergil grinned but his voice was still disembodied.

"Wait, did you…?" Vivi didn't dare to utter the last word.

"No, not completely, I'll turn back to normal in a minute or so." Vergil explained.

"Normal? Did anything wrong happen?" Nami asked feeling a bit scared for him.

Vergil turned around a grinned, his teeth were sharp, like those of a predator, his eyes were completely red and his scar became darker and it looked like it was a fresh wound and not who knows how old scar.

"Not that much of a nice sight, eh? Trust me, when compared to actual form I was going to transform into this is quite a relaxing sight." He… didn't open his mouth when he talked… Damn, that voice, it sounded like he was everywhere, like it wasn't coming only from him and damn it all to hell if Nami didn't feel a shiver run down her spine at that.

Nami frowned, she was stuck in wax, captured and partly turned into a wax figure and she actually felt good kind of shivers run down her spin because of his voice. Slowly she placed her hand on his chest, further away from the blood stain of course, thus surprising the male. His body, even through the fabric of the shirt she could feel how cold it had become.

"What are you doing?" He sounded genuinely curious and Nami felt a deep rumble coming from his chest as he said that. "Nami?"

The navigator realized what she had done and quickly pulled her hand back as blush adored her face.

Her saving grace was the fact that the newly arrived trio stood up determined to beat the hell out of their enemies. "Let's do it, Usopp!" Luffy yelled.

"RIGHT!"

"Bird!"

"QUACK!"

"Luffy! Usopp!" Nami was really happy to see them.

"Carue!" Vivi was also quite relieved at seeing not only her duck but the two pirates alive.

"Master Brogy! We're here to avenge your suffering!" Usopp declared.

"Usopp…" Brogy was honestly touched by that.

"Just beat these guys to a pulp until they're full of holes, then send 'em flying!" Nami turned her attention to saying that, it was the straw that would save her from the situation she jumped into.

"Yeah. That's what I plan on doing!" Luffy cracked his knuckles. "They ruined the Giants' duel!"

"Oh, it's you. The man with the highest bounty in East Blue? The Marine Headquarters seems to have lowered its standards." Mr. 3 tried to get to Luffy.

"Whoa! What a weird hair!" And he did get to Luffy, just not in the way her was hoping to.

"That's none of your business!" In fact Mr. 3 was the one who got infuriated.

"It's a 3! A 3 and it's on FIRE!"

"Shut up!"

"Quit the small talk Luffy. We've got a fight to deal with here." Vergil said and Luffy looked at him.

"Whoa! Vergil what happened?!" The rubber male was excited as he stretched his arms and jumped up to the plateau to get a closer look. "Since when were your eyes red?! And your teeth are sharp!"

"Can we leave that for later?" Vergil's eyebrow twitched a bit.

"And you aren't opening your mouth! How are you talking?!" Yep, Luffy was excited and not many could blame him. This was the very first time the rubber boy saw something like this.

"Luffy… The battle! Focus!" Disembodied shout sounded quite scary, well awesome in Luffy's case and Zoro didn't exactly care but to others yeah, scary was the right word.

"Shishishi! Right!" And the battle had reached its final stage as all the fighters finally arrived.

* * *

_**Well that's it. I'm really late but I completely lost motivation to write over a period of ten or so days, I finally came back with my Legend of Korra story chapter which by the way if you are familiar with the show do check it out I'd appreciate that. Still I apologize for taking this long to update.**_

_**Also, I know I promised full fight but don't know, I kinda lost motivation for writing any further, I can't say I'm that motivated to write at the moment, hopefully the quality of the writing is making up for the length but I won't blame you if you are not satisfied by this.**_

_**Well this Author Note is getting a bit longer than usually but there are a few more things I'd like to tell you.**_

_**You see a bit prior to the complete writer block I decided to start my very own story on Wattpad, you can either search for DMC4Life or story going by the name of CODE – 535334 (Spark). It's a story set in 46th century, yeah, that's right. So the society needs to go back to our energy resources which are created via technologic process and as it usually goes every society had a bit of an 'underground layer' so to speak. I'm not exactly good at describing it but I hope you'll check it out.**_

_**I'll be frank, throughout that story I plan on incorporating different shout outs to Vergil and everything I created here so in case you like my writing and seeing as you have went through this many chapters I hope you do I would greatly appreciate it if you would give me a pat on the back and offer me some encouragement.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Instinct**_


	104. Instinct

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**KP360 – Thanks for the review. I'm glad you liked the fight scene though I can't exactly say it's the best one I've written, guess I made it a bit better than it actually was by adding a sudden kill. I know, it's counterproductive I suppose I'll try taking a bit of time to relax.  
Vergil: Trust me Gian, this writer of mine isn't any better. She's been playing either Devil May Cry or Xenoverse (damn Xenoverse 2 hype got her as well) more or less nonstop.  
What are you doing here?!  
V: Communicating with a fellow OC.**_

_**AeronSky – So? I never denied loving the franchise or the fact that it influenced me to a certain extent.**_

_**almost stupid – Well… Sorry? No, that won't do… Can I just say soon? Still, thank you. **_

_**Guest – Thanks for the review, trust me, I can't wait either. **_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you for the review, I guess I made a bit of a surprise there.**_

_**Sagicknight – Yeah, he certainly did. Thanks for the review.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review. I'm glad to hear that.**_

_**Guest – Yeah, now that you mention it it is kinda funny. In fact I think it's one of the first times Vergil got annoyed at Luffy, maybe even the very first time when it was just an annoyance.**_

_**Guest – Wow. I… I'm not sure what to say. Thank you very much. It's an honor to hear such words and I'm really happy because of them as well. Yeah, we are still far from catching up, but I will try to do my best and see this through. Once again thank you for amazing words of encouragement, I needed some but you certainly gave me way more than I could have hoped for.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 104 - Instinct**_

* * *

"Luffy… The battle! Focus!" Disembodied shout sounded quite scary, well awesome in Luffy's case and Zoro didn't exactly care but to others yeah, scary was the right word.

"Shishishi! Right!" And the battle had reached its final stage as all the fighters finally arrived.

Vergil took a deep breath to calm down and concentrated on the enemies. "So? Are you still willing to fight?"

"Maybe we should back out." Miss Valentine suggested.

"I agree for once." Miss Midnight said as she warily eyes the captain and the first mate.

"Superior mind will overcome brute strength. I will add Straw Hat Luffy and Black Thunder Vergil to my wax figure collection, personally." Mr. 3 decided.

"Preparations are complete! I've got you covered, Luffy, Vergil!" Usopp declared as he and Carue hid in the safety of the trees, in fact the two were there from the moment Luffy went to Vergil.

"Good to know!" Vergil replied, his voice was finally back to normal as were his teeth and eyes.

"You are opening your mouth to speak again." Luffy pouted.

"Come on, give me a break here." Vergil sighed.

"I think it's time to begin! **Candle Lock**!" Mr. 3 made a long stream of wax go toward Luffy and Vergil.

"And what were we doing up until now? **Lightning Blast**!" Vergil fired a total of four consecutive lightning balls from his mouth to melt the wax before it could reach them.

"What the hell is that?!" Usopp cried out and Carue quacked.

Luffy jumped down from the remaining candle set and Vergil followed him, after what he did to Mr. 5 he doubted any of the remaining ones would dare to attack his nakama.

Usopp let out a scream while Carue quacked loudly and Vergil immediately understood why, it looked like Mr. -1 and Miss Midnight decided on their first target.

"How about you pick someone of your own kind?" Vergil **Demon Flashed** to where Usopp and Carue were.

"Vergil…!" Usopp cried out happily.

"Make a plan to free the others, I guess some heat would work." Vergil instructed him and dots connected in Usopp's mind.

"I have just a thing that'll do." He assured the white haired male.

"Good."

"**Candle Lock**!" The battle started with that battle cry from none other than Mr. 3.

Stream of wax went toward Luffy who had already seen it so catching him off guard wasn't exactly possible. Still even though the rubber man dodged his right arm was still caught in it.

"Hm?" Luffy looked at the hammer like wax and grinned. "I've got a hummer now."

Mr. 3's eyes widened when he saw Luffy's arm flying toward him.

"**Gomu Gomu no**…"

"**Candle Wall**!" A wall of wax emerged to protect him.

"**Hammer**!" The wax enhanced punch broke right through the wall, shattered and allowed Luffy's fist to connect with Mr. 3's face. To say that the man went flying and lost consciousness for the moment was an understatement that wasn't as humiliating as the reality was.

At the same time another battle was being decided. Vergil glared at two demons as he stood in between them and Usopp.

"Don't think I'll let you get away with what you did to Mr. 5!" Miss Valentine yelled at Vergil who seemingly ignored her.

"I guess you want me to make a first move." Vergil guessed.

"Hey! Don't ignore me!" Miss Valentine snapped as she dropped toward Vergil. "**10000 Kilo Press**!"

"I'm not." Her eyes widened when Vergil looked up and fired a simple **Lightning Blast** right at her thus electrifying her, knocking her out but not killing her. Two down, two to go and one to decide what to do.

Unfortunately that one finally decided what to do.

"**Colors Trap: Bullfight Red**!" Vergil's eyes widened when he saw a red mark on his shirt.

"What the…?"

"**Gomu Gomu no Pistol**!" Luffy tried to attack Mr. -1 but his fist went right into Vergil's chest and the white haired male who already received a bullet through his chest didn't take that well.

"Vergil!" Both Luffy and Nami shouted. Zoro greeted his teeth and the rest of the currently present had their jaws wide open.

"Like a bull charging a red mantle. You will now only attack that **Bullfight Red** mark. Too bad for you." Miss Goldenweek promptly told Luffy the reason why he attacked Vergil.

"Why you!" Luffy growled.

"It's the paint…" Nami realized. "Smear the paint off!" She yelled at Vergil but he simply smirked.

"There's not really a need for that… That painter girl really is annoyance if her ability goes beyond this though." Vergil smirked and Luffy looked a bit puzzled. "Go ahead and attack again. I can take care of it." He skidded to a stop in front of Miss Goldenweek.

But was there really a point in that? If he dodged the attack would still go after him and no matter what land on the red mark.

Luffy decided to trust Vergil on this one, his first mate knew what he was doing, right? "**Gomu Gomu no Pistol**!" As the rubber fist closed in Vergil ducked and leapt to the side, in the process he managed to take off his shirt. The fist collided with the shirt, went forward and straight into Miss Goldenweek's guts.

Vivi felt relief wash over her, it was nearly over. Zoro and Nami simply smirked and grinned respectively.

And with that only Mr. -1 and Miss Midnight were left.

Usopp had finished preparing a rope and handed one end of it to Carue. "Listen, we've got your back now run around that wax." He instructed the spot billed duck.

"Quack!" Carue quacked and that probably meant something along the line 'Got it.' Due to the fact that the duck began running right away.

"Vergil you can light the rope, right? Once Carue gets it ready?" Usopp asked.

"Sure." Vergil nodded. "Can you deal with those rifles?"

Usopp looked at him quite seriously. Taking care of the rifles, there was one way, to shoot into the barrels. "I can. Just distract them."

"When they aim at me, I'm going to put my life into your hands. Use it however you want until those weapons are done for." Vergil declared, there was no hesitation behind his words, he was completely certain that his decision was good. Then he turned to Luffy. "They're still waiting for me, buying time I suppose. I don't know what the deal is but let me handle this. I think I know them from somewhere."

"Sure." Luffy agreed to it and sat down to wait.

"What are they playing at?" Miss Midnight wondered.

"Thunder probably wants to deal with us on his own. He did do a similar kind of thing back then so this isn't that surprising." Mr. -1 decided.

"So we can forget about the others?" She questioned.

"Yeah. He isn't someone who works in a team." Mr. -1 said, he felt completely sure that his words were true.

"Let's end this. I'm getting a bit tired." Vergil took a few steps forward and then **Demon Flashed**, right into a trap. The ground where he stepped morphed and captured his feet up until the knees.

"Damn it…" Vergil hissed as he tried to break free from the binds that held his feet glued to the ground but nothing he did worked.

A small spark indicated his intention to power up and break through it but it was useless as the spark disappeared right away.

"Looks like he's finally down for the count." Mr. -1 decided as he aimed at Vergil's head.

"This is the chance. Let's end this." Miss Midnight aimed at the white haired male's heart.

Four balls were fired and Vergil broke free with a simple **Air Hike** making the eyes of Mr. -1 and Miss Midnight widen as they saw Usopp hiding in the trees. The sniper of the Straw Hats had fired four **Gunpowder Stars**, two of which collided with the bullets while the remaining two entered the barrels.

"That brat… calculated the trajectory of our bullets, the position of the barrels of our weapons and actually shot right into the same barrels while Thunder stood in his way…" Mr. -1 was honestly impressed.

"Exactly. You are no match for us, Baroque Works." And Vergil **Demon Flashed** right in between the two demons and grabbed the knife of the bayonet and the barrel of the rifle. An extremely tight grip later the weapons were shattered. "**Discharge**." Lightning erupted around him and electrified the demons.

The former Despot turned around toward Usopp who had a large grin on his face. "Well done Usopp. That was amazing." Vergil praised and he certainly had a good reason to do so. The pride seemed to radiate from Usopp after he heard those words.

"Well, I am the brave warrior of the sea after all. You can rest assured when I'm on the battle field!" The sniper boasted his ego and Vergil simply grinned a bit.

"Shishishishi! That's my crew's sniper!" Luffy slapped Usopp on the back a few times and he looked extremely happy as well.

"Don't think this is over." Miss Midnight slowly pushed herself to her feet.

"We are getting started." Mr. -1 added.

"I'm done. You are starting to bore me." Vergil appeared in front of them and electrocuted both of them into near unconsciousness. "That's paralysis, not that bullet you had before. It's over, you can barely feel your bodies, it might disappear in a few hours but in that state neither of you can fight." He warned and turned around to get to Usopp and Luffy.

Carue had finished wrapping the rope. "Quack!"

"That's it Carue!" Usopp complimented him.

Mr. 3 hoped he would come back to the battle and find the image of Straw Hat Pirates defeated or at the very least nearly defeated. The image he however received was clear and understandable painting of him being alone in this battle.

"Looks like he's back." Vergil pointed out making Mr. 3 scream and run for his life.

"Wait! Let's go bird!" Luffy yelled as he and Carue who had finished his part of the job ran after Mr. 3.

"Looks like it's nearly over." Vergil grinned at the trio that was soon to be freed.

"About time." Zoro smirked at him.

Usopp ran with his end of the rope closer to the wax and set it down.

"Now! Vergil!" Usopp exclaimed. Vergil shot a spark toward the rope just in time because Miss Midnight created a massive ball of light and made it explode in front of him thus temporarily blinding him.

* * *

Luffy and Carue were running through the forest trying to find Mr. 3.

"BIRD!"

"Qua-quack!"

"Don't ever forgive him!" They leapt over a branch on the ground. "Anyone who ruins a battle isn't a man!"

Suddenly they heard laughter, one that sounded like there were more people laughing.

"So you made it? Welcome to my **Doru Doru Mansion**." There were dozens of Mr. 3 wax statues and there was little to no way of knowing which one was the right one.

"What the hell?" Luffy had to wonder.

"Now then, can you tell where I am, I wonder? Hahahaha!" Mr. 3 laughed while Carue looked from one copy to another without a clue as to which one was the real one.

"You were unwise to follow me. I am part of Baroque Works' most intelligent combo. A power idiot who moves by instinct such as yourself cannot hope to defeat me. I am Mr. 3 and I carry out my assignments to the letter. Please step right on in."

Luffy looked focused while Carue looked a bit afraid.

"But if you happen to turn your back on me… Your heart…" Mr. 3 had a knife in his hand. "…will be pierced through in that very instant."

* * *

Vergil rubbed his eyes as he tried to regain his eye sight, the efforts were, unfortunately completely in vain. Miss Midnight rushed toward him while Mr. -1 prepared to attack as well.

Usopp's eyes widened. "Vergil!"

And then from the flames that were ignited by the combined efforts of Carue, Usopp and small spark Vergil shot, came the helping hand.

Nami, who was notably down to her skirt and a black bra, and Vivi were the first one to emerge and they quickly sprung into action. Vivi's slasher was somewhat blocked by Miss Midnight but the exhausted female demon could do nothing but take a staff right to her face and then one more to send her flying away.

"That's for shooting Vergil." Nami stated in quite a deadly tone.

Mr. -1 halted just for a moment and that cost him as yet another pirate came out of the flames.

Zoro, with all three of his swords drawn dashed across the battle ground. "**Burning… Demon Slice**!"

Zoro sheathed his katana. "Katana ain't too bad when they're on fire."

"Zoro!" Nami exclaimed.

"Congratulations on getting yourself a victory over a demon." Vergil smirked.

"Heh, it's not that special. This one was already exhausted." Zoro smirked back

* * *

Deeper in the forest Mr. 3 still laughed while Luffy carefully observed, like an animal he had his eyes on only one target.

"**Gomu Gomu no Stamp**!" His foot connected and with the face of the real one.

"How did… you know… I- I was…?" And he lost consciousness.

"Instinct." Was the only thing Luffy had as an explanation.

* * *

Brogy sat up and looked at the humans and one demon in front of him. He then looked at his fallen friend.

"Master…" Usopp muttered.

"Only one enemy remains." Brogy concluded.

He was wrong when it came to conclusion of who the enemy was, but the fact that they still had one enemy left was true.

Mr. -1 was still barely clinging to his consciousness.

Mr. -1 looked at Miss Midnight, his eyes pleaded for the female to regain consciousness. "_Wake up… You have to run… Please!_" It was their fault. They would kill them… A single word passed through Mr. -1's mind. "_NO!_" His eyes became pure golden…

The ground exploded due to the sudden burst of energy as dust engulfed the area.

"What happened?" Vivi asked.

"He used the **Demon Release**." Vergil looked completely focused on Mr. -1, the look in his eyes showed that this was not going to be a walk in the park.

Dust began settling down and then they saw it. The humans that were present at the moment saw the transformed demon for the very first time in their lives.

Nami and Vivi covered their mouths in sheer horror and Usopp let out a loudest scream he could muster, which was loud. Zoro and Vergil greeted their teeth as Zoro took his signature stance.

The monstrosity in front of them was almost seven meters tall. The head that looked way too much like that of a stag beetle, the seemingly stone arms and legs that had spikes going from fingers to elbows and knees respectively in a single vertical line. Furthermore, the arms ended with something similar to pincers. Upper body was covered with dark grey layers of some sort of armor, similar to that of a beetle as the rest of the body had somewhat of a light grey shade to it. Overall the only thing missing for Mr. -1 to look somewhat more like an overgrown demon version of a stag beetle were the wings.

"His first time eh?" Vergil realized.

"How do you know?" Zoro asked curiously.

"Does that even matter?! How will we beat that thing?!" Nami snapped at them as Brogy stood up.

"For example it's not as defined as it should be if he had voluntarily entered that state." Vergil stated.

"I don't care! We'll die!" Nami yelled at him.

"You all…" Mr. -1's voice boomed as his form began falling apart and massive amount of power began forming.

Vergil's eyes widened and he rushed forward. "Idiot! You'll kill everyone with that!"

"So?! You'll kill us all anyway!" The disembodied scream echoed as a shockwave followed forced Vergil to halt.

A moment of carelessness was enough, numerous spikes erupted from behind him and he managed to barely jump out of the way with a few minor cuts on the left side of his abdomen and a somewhat deeper cut just above his left elbow. The ground underneath his right foot, the one that stepped on the ground first sank in the small rupture Mr. -1 created and he lost his balance just enough for a boulder to make a clean hit and send him to the ground.

"Damn it…" Vergil cursed, it was too late. The large shadow appeared and everyone looked up. A large rock was hovering above them, if it fell down it would destroy not only the clearing they were on but everything in a hundred meter radius around it due to the impact and everything that followed with it. The rock itself had about twenty meter radius and it was enhanced by demon powers so it was clearly going to be deadly.

"The moment I…" Mr. -1 regained his human like form. "Lose consciousness and trust me, it's a matter of moments… This will fall down and kill every single one of us." Mr. -1 looked down and Vergil knew it, this wasn't the act of a crazy man, this was the act greatly influenced by the desperation that previously caused Mr. -1 to transform for the very first time.

"Aaaaaaahhhhhh! Someone do something! We're going to die!" Usopp began running in small circles repeating the words 'we'll die' again and again.

Nami had tears in her eyes and was about to scream but the fact that Vergil got up and pulled out the box that contained 'Trigger' made her halt.

The box was opened and the content began taking its effect. Once again it began. The forced transformation.

"Aargh!" Vergil let out a cry as darkness began forming around his body. The feeling of his very own blood boiling in his veins, he felt his teeth grow and his bones change their shape as his organs moved just a bit. His skin being replaced by the shell of the demon, the transformation which forced his human blood and demon blood to merge even if it was just until the transformation faded. And then everything stopped, the pain, the life itself, everything shattered for a single moment. Shattered, reconstructed and final burst of pain exploded.

"Vergil!" Nami ran toward him but Zoro quickly grabbed her arm.

"Wait." Zoro firmly ordered as he watched, even through the darkness he could somewhat make out the shape of Vergil's body, it looked like something was coming out of his body. What was that? The **Demon Release**… They saw what it did to Mr. -1, the transformation finally made things clear to them. Demons in folk tales were monstrous creatures, with horns, wings, towering over buildings and what not, and Mr. -1's form as well as the shadow of Vergil's form proved the tales to be true. The origin of those tales was not a way to make demons look like monsters so children would fear them more, those tales were tales of the encounters with transformed demons.

Why did he stop Nami? He didn't really know, but he had a strange feeling that he should. That darkness could explode like earth did when Mr. -1 transformed.

The impending doom of the large rock that was about to fall onto them was forgotten, the white haired male knew what he was doing. Zoro clenched his other fist and finally let go of Nami.

Brogy watched the rock that would start falling any moment now, the moment Mr. -1 lost consciousness. He glanced at the darkness raging around Vergil, he had seen it before, the **Demon Release** and he could feel the power behind this one. As darkness began growing even more powerful the ground began shaking slightly, in the barely conscious state Vergil had no control over the environment damage his transformation would cause. And it went even further. The trees began cracking as large pieces of ground began levitating due to the sheer power Vergil was letting out.

Usopp was crying as he hid behind Zoro and peaked at the darkness that covered their first mate. "Vergil! Hurry!" He cried out pleading for a miracle.

Vivi swallowed the lump that was stuck in her throat, this was it, they'd die if this failed. Her people, her county, her father, Igaram, she would fail them all.

And Nami, Nami could only take a few steps closer to the darkness, she could only watch. She believed in him, he could do it, he saved her from Krim, he would save her from this too. Vergil would not let them die. And she smiled. "You don't know what you are dealing with, Baroque Works." She gave the unconscious group her signature grin as Mr. -1 lost remaining shreds of his consciousness.

Vergil let out a disembodied battle cry and the darkness exploded thus creating a shockwave that destroyed everything in a three-meter radius, still the cambion remained in the air as darkness engulfed his form yet again. This time he was charging up and lightning merged into the black mass around him.

Suddenly, from the darkness an enormous **Breath** that looked like **Darkness Breath** at first shot out toward the even larger falling rock, it had about a third of the rock's radius but upon impact it spread and engulfed it. The rock stopped and it began desiderating.

"What in the…?" Zoro was more or less speechless.

"Hey!" Luffy ran out to the clearing with Carue hiding behind him, if the rubber man planned on saying anything he was too shocked to do so. "WOW! AWESOME!" Luffy marveled at the large blast with stars in his eyes.

"That's… a black lightning…" Nami realized. "Black Thunder… so that's why." The **Breath** had both the darkness and lightning infused within it but Nami was wrong, the fusion was incomplete, glued together and not merged in one.

"Amazing." Even Brogy had to compliment the force behind the **Breath**.

Vergil kept going and the rock rapidly decreased until **Breath** no longer needed to spread to engulf it. In a matter of moments it was gone and the **Breath** cut through the cloud as Vergil stopped powering it up and it slowly vanished.

No one present knew how he moved through the air but as soon as he stopped on the ground the darkness disappeared and they could clearly see him, nothing was different, he looked like a human, the transformation reverted in a matter of second.

He didn't feel anything but pain, he barely felt Nami's arms around him.

"Vergil?" She sounded afraid, and that snapped him out of it. The first thing he felt was warmth of blood on his left arm, small streams of blood on his hand and forearm…

* * *

_**And that's it. I hope you are satisfied with this.**_

* * *

**_Well here is a bit of a question. I'm ending Little Garden in the next chapter and though I had a highly detailed story up until now I'm wondering how would you feel if I lowered the details for the sake of quicker going through the material and overall making sure I didn't stop the story because of the time needed to get it rewritten word to word at times._**

**_The important scenes would obviously remain as would the fight scenes and any other character development I believe still needs to be wrote down, over all I'd simply cut down on some scenes and focus more on Vergil. Like the episode when Luffy stormed off due to that cactus, I'd not do all of that if Vergil doesn't end up going with them or I'd write down some tidbits of it, and the flashbacks for example, I'd add scenes but not entire flashbacks. So yeah, how would you feel about that? Tell me in the reviews or via PM and I'll see what I'll do when we start off Drum Island._**

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Straight Ahead**_


	105. Straight Ahead

**_Answers on reviews:_**

* * *

**_20th Cboys fan – Thank you, I'm glad you think so._**

**_The Storm Master 567 – Thanks for the review. I'm happy you liked it. Yeah, Vergil's demon form will be revealed but the previous chapter just didn't feel like the right moment. Soon though, I can tell you that. I hope I didn't disappoint with this chapter._**

**_KP360 – Thank you, I'm happy to hear that. Well technically every demon can use it. Does every demon know how to? No. It's a process I plan on explaining once Vergil actually goes into full on battle in that form. Well after that to be precise. And no, they don't need Trigger for that, Trigger can make any demon transform under any circumstance, however once the ability is mastered it can be used freely, which does not take away the risks but that's topic for another day. Thank you for the opinion on what I should do, it was helpful._**

**_Guest – Thank you._**

**_blazeinferno – Thank you for the review, glad you liked it. Soon, you'll get to see it soon._**

**_Sagicknight – Thanks for the review. Yeah, the combination of darkness and lightning known as Wicked Lightning Mode that and something else as well but that was main reason._**

**_almost stupid – So can I apologize again? I suppose it wouldn't work. I believe I'm going to be able to ride on that hype train with the scene I have in mind, of course once that chapter comes out I hope for the verdict._**

**_Guest – Thank you for the review and opinion it was helpful._**

**_This chapter just didn't want to get itself started for some time so I went and did what I usually do in these cases. Butchered it. The details of my horrific crime against this chapter's writing process shall remained described in those two words. Still I shall bow down as low as I possibly could and apologize for the wait. _**

* * *

**_Chapter 105 – Straight Ahead_**

* * *

When darkness disappeared everyone expected to see a demonic form that Vergil had taken, yet nothing was different, there weren't any aftereffects of the transformation, like eyes or sharp teeth. He looked just like he usually did.

Nami rushed toward him when she saw his slowly stumbling forward. Vergil began falling and the only thing that stopped his fall was Nami getting to him just in time. It didn't look to her like he even felt her wrapping her arms around him as his forehead rested against her left shoulder. Nor did he look like he felt it when they fell to their knees due to Nami simply not being fast enough.

"Is he alright?" Usopp asked slowly as he approached.

"How is he Nami?" Zoro and Luffy were already near the two and Luffy was strangely silent.

Vivi did get closer but she wasn't nearly as close as the others.

"He's cold and his breathing is bit uneven…" Nami told them, finally she checked the white haired male's heartbeat. "His heart is barely beating!" She was downright panicking.

"Vergil!" She cried out, afraid for his life and she wasn't the only one.

He took a deep breath. "Are you alright?" Vergil sounded even more afraid.

"I'm fine! We all are!" Nami exclaimed as if knowing that he needed to be assured as strongly as possible.

"Really?" His eyes finally opened and he saw that the blood he felt was his, that Nami was fine, that his nakama were all fine. The image of Irene's last moment was gone, he hadn't hurt any of them.

"Of course. You wouldn't hurt any of us." Luffy was the one who said that as he grinned at Vergil.

"Luffy's right." Nami muttered as she hugged the white haired male.

Vergil smiled as he relaxed in Nami's arms. His eyes fell on something similar to a black stone, it had a shape similar to a shark teeth, only smaller. Well, he'd take it later. For now he knew that at the very least this time, he did not hurt those he loved.

* * *

Wax hideout wasn't exactly an usual thing on this island. In fact it was so out of place that Sanji, who went out to search for Nami and Vivi, well the others too but mainly for the females, had to check it out.

So there he was, inside of the wax hideout.

What was he doing now?

Sipping on the tea.

"For afternoon tea, Earl Grey is indeed the best." And then he realized what mistake he was making. "Aah! Hold on! I shouldn't be sitting here drinking tea all stylish-like! Nami-san and the others might be awaiting my rescue!"

He stood up and planned on getting back to his initial plan. "What a fix. But I wonder why there's such a freakin' comfy place here in the jungle?"

He was on his way out but as luck would have it he wouldn't proceed back into the jungle right away.

'Purupurupurupuru'

Den Den Mushi was ringing from the picnic basket.

"What the…?" Sanji walked up to it and picked it up as it continued ringing.

'Gacha'

He picked up the line and sat back down. "Hey, thanks for calling. This is the Shitty Restaurant. You wanna make an order?"

A few moments of silence passed before the voice that gave away the danger of the man on the other side finally spoke. "Cut the bullshit. Idiot. Your report's late."

"Ah? Report? And might I inquire as to who is calling?"

"It's me. Mr. 0."

Sanji's eyes narrowed this was the man pulling the strings…

* * *

Rainbows, apparently a rather big ones can be made by making giants like Brogy cry. Imagine about a dozen of them, crying in a circle, just imagine about a dozen rainbows in the sky.

And currently Brogy was downright crying his heart out, which not only made a rainbow but a few waterfalls as well, not to mention the noise. Needless to say Vergil, who was suffering from the effects of transforming did not in any way shape or form appreciate that, at all.

"Hey! Check it out! Back there! It's a rainbow! A rainbow!" Luffy exclaimed.

"He's even hearty when he cries!" Nami tried to deal with the noise by covering her ears.

"Tell me about it…" Vergil who was sitting next to her groaned.

"it's like being under a waterfall." Zoro pointed out.

And Usopp shared Brogy's sentiment. "I understand… Master Brogy…"

Amidst all the crying an arm moved and eyes opened. Assumed to be dead Dorry had regained consciousness.

The large blade was stabbed into the ground and used by Dorry so he could sit up thus making everyone's eyes pop out.

"Dorry… You… how…?" Brogy asked the question that was on everyone's mind.

"I guess I was unconscious." Dorry figured.

"Makes sense." Vergil muttered to himself and then glanced at two demon. Mr. -1 and Miss Midnight. His eyes widened a friction as he realized who they were.

* * *

Back at Mr. 3's wax hideout Sanji was silently thinking over the situation.

"_Mr. 0? If I recall, didn't Vivi-chan say that was the name of the enemy's Boss? Then the man on the other side of this Den Den Mushi is… One of the Shichibukai!_"

"It's been days since I gave you your orders. What the hell's going on?" Crocodile broke the silence.

"_Mr. 3. That must be the owner of this Den Den Mushi. I see I get it now. This is the lair of the enemy. And this guy named Mr. 3 pursued Vivi-chan to this island to take her life. Tsk. Damn. I really shouldn't have been out hunting! They'd all better be okay_." Sanji was growing frustrated over his decision, his crew might have needed him and he wasn't there.

"What's with the silence? I asked you a question. Have you eliminated Princess Vivi and those Straw Hat Pirates?" Once again the silence was broken.

"Yeah, mission accomplished. I got rid of the bastards that discovered your secret. So there's no need to pursue them anymore." Sanji quickly responded.

"I see. Good work. Use the Eternal Pose brought by Mr. -1. It's pointed towards Alabasta Kingdom. You, Miss Goldenweek, Mr. -1 and Miss Midnight are to return to Alabasta. The time has come. We will now commence the most crucial part of our plan. Await detailed instructions upon reaching Alabasta." Crocodile instructed.

Everything was about to go down well. But then the loud boom echoed making Sanji jump to his feet and look out through the window.

"Hey, what's going on?" Crocodile questioned.

Sanji couldn't answer at the moment. After all who could when they saw massive black torrent colliding with an even larger rock for the first time.

"_Is that Vergil? The one making that black torrent?_" It had to be Vergil, there was no one else who Sanji knew would take their side and be capable of using something like that.

"What was that?" Crocodile repeated the question as the torrent obliterated the rock, it was over.

"Uh… Ah… It was nothing… sir. One of those Straw Hats was still alive. But it's under control, I finished him off. Rest assured."

"Alive? You told me you completed your assignment. Isn't that what you said?" The Boss sounded somewhat pissed.

"Well, yes… I thought I did complete it, yeah. But this bastard was a lot stronger than I expected." Sanji made up an excuse.

"In other words, you gave me a false report." He was pissed.

"Well, yeah… If you wanna put it that way. But this time, I'm quite sure I've finished him off. No need for you to send anyone else over here, OK?" The blonde hoped that the answer would be positive.

"Whatever. In any case, you're to head straight for Alabasta." Crocodile stated.

"I'm ending the transmission here. It'd be annoying if the Marines got the wind of this. I will reestablish communication the same way you have been receiving orders until now. Unluckies are dead though, so there will be a slight change. That is all. Godspeed, Mr. 3." And the conversation was done.

"The line's been cut off. Oh well." Sanji said to himself and looked around, the only logical place for hiding an Eternal Pose would be the basket from before so he went and opened it again. "Bingo." There it was.

* * *

The group had finally recovered from the shock of realizing that Dorry was alive.

"It was probably… because of your weapon." Even though he was alive Dorry was still quite wounded, as such, he was having a hard time speaking.

"Weapon…?" Usopp repeated. "Of course! After 100 years of being used in the Giants' warfare. Even weapons from Elbaf wouldn't be able to cut anymore!" He let out a sight of relief. "There's no reason. It's a miracle.

Brogy was hugging Dorry. "Gabababababa!"

"Hey, Brogy. You're hurting my wound."

"I'm so glad you're alive, my dear friend. Gababababa!"

"Gegyagyagyagya!" Dorry laughed as well.

"No miracle here, it's no wonder. It's stranger that those weapons are still intact after taking a beating for the last hundred years. And that goes for their owners, too." Zoro added his two cents.

"Today is truly a wonderful day! I thank our God, Elbaf."

"Oh, Brogy. You sure seem happy you got the chance to slice me up and knock me unconscious." Of course, Dorry knew the reason behind Brogy thanking Elbaf but he couldn't waste the opportunity to jab at his best friend.

"Idiot! Don't talk about it like that!" And he slammed his palm against Dorry's shoulder.

The giant let out a few grunts as he touched his wound. "Don't hit my wound! Gegyagyagya!"

"Gabababa!" The laugh was interrupted by a punch to the chin.

What transpired next was exchange of punches and laughs.

They were yet to notice that Miss Midnight regained consciousness and was now witnessing that very scene.

* * *

-Flashback-

* * *

The power of Black Thunder, back then they could only watch from the distance. Zarah was eleven years old at the time and Eden, her childhood friend was only one year older so naturally they had no way of getting closer to Vergil.

The closest they ever got to him was after one particular battle.

Both her and Eden were both terrified and amazed in that night. The battle raged for hours, starting at the dawn and ending only in the morning. An army against a single demon… New Despot of the Special Combat District, Black Thunder Leonidas Vergil.

Lightning danced in the field of electricity that was made on the battle ground. It lit up the night. Though the enemies were of a lower rank their numbers were overwhelming and in addition to that Black Thunder seemed to take his sweet time as long as none of the enemies made it past him.

Thus in the morning Zarah and Eden saw him for the very first time. Dressed in his Despot uniform without a single scratch though he did have a few blood stains on his jacket, needless to say the blood wasn't his. The emotionless expression on his face, the cold yellow eyes that were clearly the eyes of a killer. Knowing that he was barely fifteen years old was adding to the terror.

"That's him! Zarah that's him! Black Thunder!" Eden didn't hide the fact that despite the opinion some had on the new Despot he was amazed by Vergil. Therefore, when said Despot was this close he had to express his excitement as quietly as possible.

The monster, the Harbinger of Death as some preferred to call him behind his back stopped, just a few steps away from the alley her and Eden were watching from.

"You sure took your sweet time." The demon that said it was part of the elites of the Combat District, Goran.

If Vergil said anything Zarah certainly didn't hear it all she could see was Edan running out to the street from the alley and toward two demons.

"Uh… De… Despot." Eden stuttered.

"What is it?" Despot sounded passive, almost cold but he didn't look like he'd harm Eden.

"Uh… I was… wondering… Um… I don't have anything in particular…" Eden admitted.

"Tch. Run home before I lose my patience." Goran was the one to say that.

"Goran. Silence." The authority in Black Thunder's voice was exceptional, he knew exactly what position he held, how he compared to Goran and he showed it. "It's still early. What were you doing out in the first place?"

"We figured you'd… pass through this street… So we waited." Eden admitted. "Zarah! Come here!" He cheerfully called the girl.

Zarah wanted to punch him, she really did but she timidly walked up to the three males.

"Good morning." She bowed down as low as she could.

"Good morning." Black Thunder he may be. Cold and lacking in emotional department as well. However, that didn't mean he wouldn't reply to greetings.

"I really wanted to meet you…!" Eden finally said it.

"Check your brain. Anyone with barely functioning one would have a better person they want to meet." It wasn't exactly the response either of them expected.

"But you are-"

"Nothing but aimless fighter. Listen kid, no matter what happens never lose sight of why you are doing what you are doing. If you do it'll destroy you sooner or later." With that he walked away.

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

"You lost the sight of why you were doing this. Despite everything…" Zarah, or currently Miss Midnight, opened her eyes to find Vergil sitting near Eden.

"How…?" Eden, or rather Mr. -1 asked, he was awake and he looked at Vergil as soon as the white haired male spoke up for the first time.

"You transformed for the sake of your friend but you lost it… You let the reason go and nearly killed not only yourself but her as well."

"I didn't know what else to do."

"Why did you steal a Demon Forged of a dead demon?" Zarah could see Eden's eyes widening.

"How did you know?" The battle was over, they were simply talking.

"I killed the demon who created that Demon Forged." That and he could hear it, but Eden didn't need to know that.

"I don't know. I needed to protect Zarah and myself. Despot… Why did you leave six years ago? Why are you a pirate now?"

Vergil looked at his crew, they were having a party with Miss Goldenweek's cookies. "I have my reasons. Vergil."

"Huh?"

"Don't call me Despot. I've stopped being one long ago, my name is Vergil." The change was drastic and Eden and Zarah who saw him eight years ago could confirm it despite only seeing him briefly back then.

"I still didn't change my mind. I really wanted to meet you back then. Now I wanted something more. You recognizing me as a fellow fighter, Vergil-san." Eden admitted.

"I am impressed by your teamwork, and I honestly am even more impressed at the fact that you used **Demon Release**. But don't let it get to your head. It'll take you some time to be capable of transforming on your own free will. Most demons need at least a year or two." Vergil stated.

"What will you do with us?" Zarah asked.

"Stealing a Demon Forged is a crime, you likely wouldn't be able to go back to the Demon World but if you want to I know someone who can help you out." That made both of them sit up with quite flabbergasted looks on their faces. They wanted to go back, for so long…

"Ugh…" Eden grunted as he felt pain in his entire body.

"You just regained consciousness, take it easy." Vergil instructed. "Anyway I'll open the portal to the Demon World and take you to Zarja, the former Kagan. She can help you out. You should probably grab those humans as well, if you want to of course."

"Sure." Zarah said and went to get Miss Goldenweek and Miss Valentine.

"T-They are awake!" Usopp realized and immediately Zoro and Luffy were ready to fight.

"Easy now. I'll take them to the Demon World. They won't stand in our way any longer." Vergil calmed them down.

"Are you sure?" Nami asked.

"Yeah, trust me on this. I'll be back in about half an hour, hour at most. Of course if I have the permission to leave, Luffy." Vergil requested.

"Sure. You can go." There weren't any problems. Until Luffy realized where Vergil would go. "To the Demon World! Take me with you!" Luffy looked quite excited.

"Maybe next time. I'll just go to do some talking. It'll be boring at best." Vergil decided that it was not the right time for Luffy or anyone else to go to the Demon World. "Well, off we go." He cut off any other argument and chose to ignore Luffy's pouting.

Eden frowned and concentrated on the ground in front of him, it moved and made a human sized hole. "I want to bury him. Mr. 5." He almost sounded like he requested a permission

"It's not like anyone can stop you." Vergil said. "And what about that guy with 3 shaped hair?"

"He probably ran away already." Eden knew that Mr. 3 wouldn't quite care about them, he proved that when he ran off leaving them to the mercy of their enemies.

The portal was fully opened by the time Eden finished making a make-shift grave.

"Let's go." Vergil allowed them to pass through first and then began stepping through as well. However, plans don't always go well, right when there was no going back he felt a pair of hands wrapping around his abdomen.

"_Luffy_…" Annoyed that he didn't figure Luffy would do that and amused, that's exactly how Vergil felt at the moment.

* * *

-The Demon World-

* * *

"Wow!" Was the first thing Luffy said when he saw the area they were in. The sky, the town they arrived into, the massive building in front of them.

"I should have known you'd do something like this." Vergil grinned at him.

"Shishishi!" Luffy simply laughed as he looked around.

"I didn't think you'd bring humans along, Vergil-kun." It was a voice of a woman he knew more or less. Zarja, the former Kagan.

"Is there a problem with that?" Vergil turned around and so did everyone else. The street was empty, after all this was not the public street. Eden and Zarah immediately knelt down.

"Who is this old lady?" Luffy asked. Indeed Zarja was old, quite old to be frank.

"Show some respect…" Eden hissed at Luffy.

"So? To what do I owe this pleasure?" Zarja's attention was completely on Vergi.

"I have a request. This brat is guilty of stealing a Demon Forged, still y both have potential, it would be a waste to not have them on your side. I'm asking you to provide them with descent home." Simple and direct, that was his request.

"I take it you are pulling the 'you-owe-me' card." Zarja sighed.

"You do. I did deal with some of your problems for free. I'll forget about those if you do this." Vergil promised.

"Hm… That's generous offer. I take it I should find someone to let the boy know how to transform on his own." It was a statement.

Eden and Zarah were speechless, the way two demons chatted without a care in the world was not something they expected to see, the conversation was serious but they didn't sound like that.

Zarja finally turned to them." All right. Follow me." The order was plain and simple as the former Kagan deemed the conversations with Vergil to be done and turned around.

The woman disappeared.

Vergil turned around and saw Luffy sitting on the street.

"Bored out of your mind, eh?"

"It was boring." Luffy pouted.

"Come on, we have a bit more time I can take you to try some of the demon meat. If you want to. I promise it's better than it sounds."

Immediately Luffy's face lit up.

* * *

-The Human World-

* * *

As soon as the duo passed through the portal they were met with a new familiar face. Sanji roaming through his pocket.

"And after I went through the trouble of bringing you this thing." And the cook that as absent over the course of the battle showed them the Eternal Pose.

Jaws were dropped, with the exceptions being Luffy and Vergil's jaws. They were a bit confused as to what was going on.

"Hey! Sanji!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Well we made it back." Vergil was quite pleased with that. "So what's got you so shocked?"

"This." Sanji showed the eternal pose to them and even Luffy knew what it was.

"So that's…" Luffy realized. "It's an Eternal Pose to Alabasta!" And with that the cheers erupted from the entire crew. "We can set sail!"

"Let's go Captain!"

Vivi ran up to Sanji and hugged him. "Thank you so much, Sanji-san! For a moment I thought all was lost!"

Sanji of course blushed and had a heart shaped eye. "Y-You're welcome! It was nothing! If I'd known you'd be this happy…!"

"All right, everyone! Rice cracker party!" Luffy made cheers with Nami.

"This is bad Luffy! We can't have a rice cracker party with only this much rice crackers left!" Usopp pulled out the remaining three cookies.

"We don't have time for this, anyway! Let's go Captain! We don't have time to mess around here!" Nami exclaimed and shoved the cookies into Luffy's mouth.

Zoro began making his way to leave as well when Sanji decided to remind him of something.

"Oh yeah, you. You haven't forgotten about our Hunting Contest have you?"

"Nope. And I won, by the way. I got a rhino THIS BIG." He spread his arms to show how big it was.

"A rhino. It better be edible."

"Damn straight."

"_Hunting Contest_." Both Dorry and Brogy seemed to remember something.

"That reminds me of something." Rather than remember they were simply reminded but couldn't quite get it right.

"Well Round old man, Big old man. We're gonna get going." Luffy told them.

"I see. Well, you seem to be in a hurry." Brogy stated.

"It's too bad you can't stay but don't let us keep you. I hope your country is safe." Dorry added.

"Yes, thank you." Vivi said.

And so they began leaving.

"Later! Don't die anymore!" Luffy told them.

"Like they can die twice." Vergil grinned at him. "Later." He said to the two giants.

"Quack!"

"Someday I will do go Elbaf." Usopp promised.

"Wait 'till you see it. Mine's definitely bigger." Sanji was clearly confident but then again so was Zoro.

"Heh! Yeah, right!"

The chatter didn't die out but the two giants could still hear Usopp's declaration.

"I'm gonna be a Brave Warrior of the Sea!" Yes, these two had definitely made a clear picture of what that meant for Usopp.

* * *

Left alone the two made the decision.

"Our friends are leaving." Brogy began.

"Yeah. But we can't just let them go. That monster is still lurking in the western sea."

"Dorry, how's your wound?"

"What of it? I'm not gonna die."

They grabbed their weapons.

"My axe and your sword are about to reach their limit."

"You're sad about it?"

"I'm saddened, yes. I've fought with this axe for over a hundred years… But. For those little humans, I won't regret it."

"Then it's decided."

They stood up, ready to turn their decision into an actual act.

* * *

The crew reached Going Merry and Vergil immediately went toward the men's room.

"Where are you going?" Usopp asked.

"I'm off to get some sleep. I'm exhausted." He really did sound tired.

"Wait. Come with me." Nami stopped him and pulled at his forearm.

Though confused Vergil did end up following the navigator, which ended up leading him to her room.

"Bed is more comfortable pus I can clean your wounds here." Nami said when she noticed the expression on his face that all but spoke of his confusion.

"Maybe that's not the best idea." Vergil tried to argue.

"You're too tired to put up a fight. Get into the bed." Nami firmly told him.

"Not even a kiss and you're already making me sleep in your bed. I don't think I can follow that pace." Vergil smirked at her.

"Shut up!" The blush that would put tomato to shame adored Nami's face.

He just grinned at her and sat down on the bed. "Are you sure though. It's still not too late for me to crash on my hammock."

"Go to sleep." Nami grabbed some first aid and walked up to her bed as well. "As for that kiss…"

Vergil's eyes widened as he felt soft lips against his cheek.

Nami stuck her tongue out the moment she saw him utterly speechless. "Cat got your tongue?"

"I didn't think that phrase could get this accurate." Vergil grinned at her and surrendered as he lied down on the bed.

The moment his head connected with the pillow he began losing the fight against his exhaustion. "Good night." He mumbled as he fell asleep.

"It's still day." Nami began working on his wounds.

Ten minutes later Nami watched him for a minute or two once she was done cleaning the remaining smaller cuts. Though he was fast asleep he still turned to his side and moved his head a bit until he found the most comfortable position. Nami decided to act a bit bolder and reached out to touch his face, unlike in Cocoyashi where she stopped there she proceeded and ran her fingers through the demon's hair. It was much softer than she imagined it would be. Smiling she pulled away and began walking out of the room.

* * *

While the white haired Halfling slept the crew was setting sail, in fact they were barely a minute away from the ocean.

"It's the Giant old men! They came to see us off!" Luffy pointed at the two sides of the riverside where Dorry and Brogy stood proudly.

"For all the tiny humans that have come to this island…" Brogy began.

"…the biggest reason they could never reach the next island lies ahead." Dorry continued.

"Huh?"

"You guarded our honor with your lives." Dorry stated.

"And so we shall do the same no matter what kind of enemy there is." Brogy added.

"A friend's honor must never be tarnished no matter what the cost!" Dorry declared.

Luffy could only look at them.

"Believe in us and continue straight ahead! Whatever should appear, do not stray from your course!" It was a request, one that Luffy would go through.

"I got it!"

"What the hell?" Zoro asked.

"What did you get?" Usopp asked.

"WE GO STRAIGHT AHEAD, NO MATTER WHAT!" Luffy declared without a speck of doubt in his mind.

The Going Merry sailed passed the two giants.

"This is farewell." Brogy said as he and Dorry pulled out their weapons.

"We'll meet again." Dorry stated.

And Brogy was the one to finish. "Without a doubt."

Nami was the first to notice what was ahead of them. "Look! Up ahead!" She exclaimed as a gigantic goldfish emerged from the ocean.

The giants glared menacingly at it.

"So you've surfaces, Island Eater." Dorry greeted it

"We will have you let them pass. Upon the name of Elbaf." Brogy firmly stood by his words.

With a battle cry the two raised their weapons and red and blue auras surrounded the axe and the sword respectively.

The Straw Hats screamed as they came face to face with the creature.

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" Usopp screamed.

"What is that thing? A goldfish?" Luffy was as usual rather calm.

"A giant goldfish? W-Where have I heard of that before?" When you lied Usopp, when you lied.

"Turn the helm! Hurry, or we'll be eaten! Usopp, hurry!" Nami pleaded.

However, he chose to trust the giants that he chose to refer to as his Masters. "I-I can't! We're going straight ahead! R-Right, Luffy?"

Luffy nodded and smiled as he turned to Usopp. "You bet."

They were closing in on the large goldfish's mouth.

"Are you insane? This thing isn't like Laboon!" Nami exclaimed.

"I know. Settle down. Here, have the last rice cracker." Luffy tried to calm her down.

"I don't want it!" She still caught it. "We've got to turn the ship around! We are gonna be…!"

Carue was also panicking so when Zoro opened the doors for him to run into the fake safety of the closed walls he eagerly did so.

"Nami, give it up." Zoro said.

And then Nami did the only thing she could, she screamed for help, for one particular person. "Vergil!"

"He's sleeping you know. Let him rest." Zoro reminded her.

Too late for that.

So barely an hour of sleep, normally, since he was a part demon, that would be enough but in this case it wasn't quite. So imagine how annoyed, worried and tired Vergil was when he heard Nami screaming his name. He still jumped to his feet and ran out to the deck.

"What is it?" He asked and saw Nami having the last rice cracker in her mouth, munching on it for the sake of calming down, tears in her eyes showed that it was not helping. She only pointed to what was in front of the ship and Vergil's eyes widened. They were screwed if they didn't get something done and quickly.

"I take it Dorry and Brogy said we shouldn't change course." Vergil guessed.

"How did you know?" Nami managed to ask.

"Usopp would be panicking alongside you if they didn't." That made sense.

"Luffy! We can trust those guys, right?!" Sanji decided to question his captain now.

"Yup!"

"Seriously? Are we really going to sail right into that beast's mouth?!" Vivi couldn't believe what she was seeing.

"It's too late! We can't stop now!" Nami screamed.

"Let's trust those two for now. Watch." Vergil decided to trust the giants as he placed his right arm around Nami's shoulders.

"So, you're fully grown, Island Eater. You monstrous goldfish." It truly was gigantic and the name fit it perfectly. Dorry and Brogy were ready, this was it.

And it's not just its size that's surprising. There's also the sheer size and length of the 'islands' it shits out after it eats. Like that one giant shit they call Nanimonai Island." Well what Brogy said was kinda disturbing if there are people living on it.

"Gegyagyagyagyagya! I remember the time when we landed on one of those things thinking it was a continent!" Dorry laughed at the memories.

"The good old days of our adventures." Brogy added. "Watching them makes me remember those days."

Goldfish closed its mouth and the screams echoed.

"Only the Blood-stained Serpent can we not pierce!" Dorry raised his weapon above his head.

"Behold the strongest spears of the Giant Warrior Tribe of Elbaf!" Brogy did so as well.

Goldfish began rising up.

"STRAIGHT AHEAD! S-Straight ahead!" Usopp kept screaming.

"What are you talking about?! We've just been eaten!" Nami shrieked at him

"STRAIGHT AHEAD! STRAIGHT AHEAD!" Luffy shouted though it wasn't like they could go in any other direction.

Dorry and Brogy swung their weapons making a massive slash wave that pierced right through the goldfish.

The eyes of the crew widened in amazement and shock as the sunlight touched their skins once again. The giants have saved them.

"**WARRIOR NATION**!"

* * *

On an island somewhere in the Grand Line a form of disaster was occurring. A small village, barely having half a thousand villagers, held under occupation by a single creature.

"Marines? Just a bunch of weaklings." Creature spat as the shadow of the night hid him. In the streets the villagers could only look at the scene from their nightmare that came to life. Decapitated limbs, bodies cut in at least two pieces, blood that ad colored the streets and even the walls of the houses… Marines had failed them and the disembodied voice didn't help their case.

Creature climbed up to a hill near the village and then the nightmare began ending. It began with a large piercing wave of energy two days ago and now the end began with another one. The creature pulled back its fist and sent a powerful punch toward the center of the village. Similar to Vergil using his blade to form a **Drive** the creature used his fist to send the blast that destroyed everything in fifty meters from where the impact occurred.

The screams cured its boredom as it proceeded to destroy the entire village.

"Well then, you offered me 100,000,000 beri for every time that you need me to step in and save your worthless life. And you wanted a demonstration before we strike a deal. So? Do I pass the test? Human?" The demon asked.

Human gulped, he would have to be extremely careful. "Of course, I look forward to working with you. 'Blizzard Claw'…"

Demon smirked thus showing off the extremely sharp large fangs. Over the month he had spent in the Human World he had already received a bounty and now he would get an easy money as well. It was good to know that even after five years of imprisonment he still didn't lose his touch.

Wanted  
Dead or Alive  
'Blizzard Claw'  
Huyu  
182,000,000 beri

This conversation had taken place one week ago…

* * *

**_Little Garden Arc – Finished_**

* * *

**_And that's it. So tell me, how did you like this chapter? More precisely how well did I do with focusing more on Vergil rather than adding everything from the anime?_**

* * *

**_Trivia:_**

* * *

**_-Originally the only one of the canon four Baroque Works Agents who survived was Miss Goldenweek._**

**_-Vergil was the one who was supposed to kill both Mr. 3 and Miss Valentine._**

**_-I really did consider killing off either Dorry or Brogy._**

* * *

**_Next Arc – Drum Island Arc_**

* * *

**_Next Chapter – Nami's Sickness_**


	106. Nami's Sickness

**_Answers on reviews:_**

* * *

**_Guest – Thanks, well if I was predictable it wouldn't be good for the story._**

**_Guest – I hope this was soon enough, still a bit late though._**

**_anquan16 – Ah, it will be a few more chapters since Chopper doesn't appear right away but I'll try getting there as quickly as possible._**

**_20th CBoys fan – Thank you. Here it is._**

**_blazeinferno – Thank you for the review. I guess it looks like I messed up with the lack of that scene._**

**_Naroku – Thanks and that's fine. As long as you enjoy the story._**

**_KP360 – Thank you. I figured it would only be fair for them to be a bit more important than it looked like they would be. Hm. I won't say much about whether you're right or not but I can assure you that you'll find out soon enough. As for Vergil and Nami, yeah they are getting closer.  
V: Gian, I don't think that woman is into nursing fluff.  
You don't know that.  
V: Well you could try nursing her instead. That way you are actually avoiding the cliché.  
Hey! Go back to the chapter! Anyway I can't stop you from making a 'nursing fluff' after all I'm not the first nor the last person that used that cliché._**

**_Guest – Thanks._**

* * *

**_Arc 13 – Drum Island Arc_**

* * *

**_Chapter 106 – Nami's Sickness_**

* * *

Wounded by his very own lightning Irene hugged him, he cried out in her arms and she rested her chin against the top of his head. "You and Xenia are everything to me, if dying is what it takes to keep you safe then so be it."

"M-" He tried to call her but she cut him off.

"It's Irene. Forget that I'm your mother, forget that we are related, forget that you love me."

"But I'd love you even if you weren't mom." The words he knew would always be true.

"I'm glad. Will you say my name?" She requested.

"Irene…" He never said it before, not to her and it felt stranger than anything he ever said.

"Thanks…" More blood was spilled, there was noting that could save her.

"Please don't die." Vergil pleaded through tears.

"People die."

"Do it later. Just not now." Pleading continued.

"You are Leonidas Vergil… my son… don't forget that… I love you, Verge." The words became more of a whisper as she continued, his nickname was said with her last breath and her body went limp. Life that was slowly fading away disappeared completely, it was over, Leonidas Irene was dead.

"Mom…?" Vergil whispered, desperate for any kind of response.

"Mom…!" Still nothing and she would never respond again.

"Mom!" He cried out through tears.

* * *

Everything faded into the blinding light and the similar situation appeared. This time he was an adult but in the very same position, he killed someone he loved… With his own lightning.

"Nami…" Her name was said in a pained whisper, she was clinging to life just because he acted on instinct. All she tried to do was catch him.

* * *

Vergil's eyes snapped open as he sat up so abruptly that he fell off the hammock and right onto the floor. His breathing was rapid and he had broken out in cold sweat as his heart pounded against his chest.

Luckily he didn't wake anyone up so he managed to get up, climb up the ladder and get out of the room despite his body trembling and the feeling of weakness he currently had.

He didn't stop, not until he reached the front of the ship and then he fell down to his hands and knees right behind Merry's figurehead.

"It's not real… She's alive… Nami is alive…Nami is alive…" He repeated the last part again and again. Desperately he tried to erase the image from his dream, he failed, miserably.

"**Devil Arms: Blixtar**…" Nothing, he looked at the empty hand. Once again the weapon he desperately wanted to cling to didn't appear. For ten years he yearned to wield it again, that very weapon that had was made by his own soul. If only he had it back he'd have something to hold onto…

Vergil took a deep breath and finally stood up, he would not live for the graves. Dead would not hold him by the leash, if they did he would never be able to protect what he had left.

"I will not close my eyes."

* * *

It was a rare occasion but the entire crew was outside under the crow's nest watching the show in utter amusement. Fifteen minutes since the show began on the crow's nest not even Zoro was immune to casting a few glances and listening while he swung the weights.

The main actors of the show were theirs truly, captain 'Straw Hat' Monkey D. Luffy and first mate 'Black Thunder' Leonidas Vergil.

And the show was…

"Vergil." Luffy poked Vergil's shoulder once again.

"For the hundredth time I am not going to transform." Yeah, the rubber boy was trying to get Vergil to transform.

"Vergil." And now the captain pouted.

"I said no."

"Vergil." The pouting intensified. "I'm bored. Come on, transform."

"No."

"Vergil…"

"Come on Luffy. That other one was scary." Usopp begged for Luffy to not persuade Vergil into transforming, seeing one transformed demon was enough for the sniper.

"But I wanna see it!" Luffy firmly stood by his decision.

"Luffy I swear if I do transform I'll fly away until you quit pestering me about it." Vergil just made it worse.

"Shishishi! That's fine. You'll fly back." Vergil's eyes widened and then he smiled.

"Yeah. I'll always come back."

And then Luffy's brain fully processed the word flight and its meaning. "You can fly?!"

Back to the torture. "When I'm in my **Demon Release** I have wings, so yeah, I can fly."

"Show me!"

"_This is all that bastard's fault. I hope Zarja gave him community service for punishment_." Then he remembered just how torturous that was. "_On the other hand I take that back, no one deserves that_."

"Vergil."

"I. Will. Not. Transform." There was no way he would give in.

"Shouldn't we make Luffy-san stop? I mean if Vergil-san does transform…" Vivi dared not finish the thought. After more than fifteen minutes of this and seeing Vergil's willingness to kill first hand she was kinda worried there might be a mutiny if this kept on.

"Vergil… wouldn't do that… right?" Usopp asked.

"Of course not." Nami stated firmly.

Sanji took a deep breath. "I doubt he'd actually commit a mutiny but I doubt he has any patience left."

The only one that laughed was Zoro.

"What's so funny shitty Moss Head?!" Sanji yelled at the swordsman.

"Just watch. It'll be any moment now." Zoro smirked, the crew could be so naïve at times.

As if on cue… "Fine!" Vergil's voice boomed. "Listen up Luffy. I will not transform now, but when I do I promise I will let you ride on my back."

Yeah, the half demon was predictable. Maybe it would happen sooner or perhaps later, but without a doubt he'd give in to Luffy's requests, that's simply how it was and Zoro knew it because he was no different when it came to Luffy.

And Nami realized what Zoro meant, no what Zoro knew. It was always like that with both Zoro and Vergil. Two of their nakama that left the enemies wonder why. Why would they follow anyone? Why would 'Pirate Hunter' Roronoa Zoro, famous throughout the East Blue, follow a boy who was up until taking down Arlong unknown to the world? Why would 'Black Thunder' Leonidas Vergil, a big name in the Demon World, follow a human? Yet these two were the only ones who would give in to any of Luffy's whims.

She knew why Zoro laughed, because they were being silly. There was no way Vergil would lose patience with Luffy, annoyed, he could get, lose patience, never.

The response Luffy gives?

It's the reason why they'd give in to his wishes. "Shishi! Sure!" And the grin he has on his face is as wide as it can be.

It's not about the power, though Luffy is stronger than them it's not why they follow him. Is there something about the straw hat wearing teen that makes people follow him? Absolutely, but it's not the only reason. It's because they were lost and he found them.

* * *

The crew never found out about Vergil's brief breakdown and he intended to keep it that way. He was still on the lookout duty but his mind was at peace. Luffy's attempt to get him to transform did make him relax so Vergil was more or less content.

"Hey guys! Guess what. Someday, I'm definitely gonna visit Elbaf, the Village of Warriors!" Usopp declared, he was still quite excited over the ordeals of the previous day.

"OH YEAH!" Luffy cheered and the two quickly began singing and dancing.

"Gi, Gi, Giants! Gi, Giants! El~baf, baf! El~baf, baf! El~baf, baf! Everyone's huge! 'Cause they're Giants! Big ol' Giants! Huge pirates!" How they synchronized so perfectly on something like this was beyond Vergil's comprehension. And they even had a third singer singing along, Carue was quacking as he ran around.

"Those two sure are energetic." Next to the trio, Nami's apparent lack of energy was even more prominent.

Perhaps they were a bit too energetic because they almost fell off the railing.

Nami raised her hand and touched her forehead as she took a deep breath. "That whole ordeal really tired me out. Vivi, can you keep an eye on this for a while?" She handed the Eternal Pose to Vivi who was kneeling by her side.

"Yes." Vivi took the Eternal Pose and looked at it, she looked at 'Alabasta' that was written on it and Carue stopped next to her.

Nami looked at the Princess for a few moments before smiling. "Now you can finally go home to Alabasta." Albeit tired Nami's smile became a bit cheeky. "Well, if we don't run into anything else on the way there, of course."

Vivi returned the smile. "Yes, I must return home. Now, that's the only way to save my country."

'It can be only you, Princess. Right now, your father, the Kind has no influence over his people. There is no other way to quell this uprising except for you to directly tell the people the truth. For this reason, you must not allow death to befall you. No matter the sacrifices you must make or the people you must betray, you must remain alive! It will be painful. Princess Vivi. Have you made a resolution not to die?' Those words Igaram told her before they began their mission, before they went to infiltrate the Baroque Works… Those words still pushed her forward. She could not stop, no matter what she had to reach Alabasta as quickly as possible.

And she gripped it, the Eternal Pose, the key factor in returning home, the one thing that kept pointing back to her people.

"I will make it to Alabasta alive." Carue, Nami, Usopp and Luffy watched her silently and Vergil listened for the crow's nest.

"Don't get yourself all worked up, Vivi-chan." Sanji walked down the stairs and to the girls with a plate of snacks in his hand. "I'm here!" He pointed at himself. "How about sampling some of today's relaxation snack, petit fours? And for beverages we have coffee and tea, whichever you prefer."

Vivi smiled slightly. "Sanji-san."

Sanji grinned and then the goofy duo joined in.

"Looks gooooood!" They were drooling, blushing with eyes as wide as saucers and their tongues were sticking out. When Carue joined in with an exact replica of their expression… Well, frankly they looked kinda scary.

"Your snacks are in the kitchen!" And Sanji fearlessly faced his food crazed nakama.

The next couple of seconds were filled by the race between the hungry trio that ended up with Usopp as the victor and other three sending them different looks. Vivi just looked sort of baffled at what she just witnessed but then she smiled, Sanji was frowning and Nami had a typical 'so-predictable' kinda amused smirk on her face.

Everything seemed normal, everything but the distanced behavior of their first mate and the exhaustion Nami was fighting against. Her vision became blurry and she struggled to keep going without anyone noticing.

Sanji glanced up toward the crow's nest. Vergil was still sitting on its railing looking at the horizon. "Hey! Vergil!" Though the demon didn't show any direct sign of acknowledging Sanji's call Sanji was well aware that he did have his attention. "You should get some snacks as well."

When everything was normal Sanji didn't bother with telling Vergil or Zoro about food. They knew there was always something to eat so when they felt the need to eat, outside of the regular meals they knew where to find him. But Vergil didn't exactly eat half as much as he usually did and he was a bit grumpy in the morning prior to Luffy pestering him. Now the demon was just somewhat lost in his thoughts.

"I'm not hungry." The reply was short and direct. Sanji gave up and figured the demon would just ask for some food if he was hungry.

Events on Little Garden affected not only Usopp and Vergil but also Zoro who was behind the galley. "2603 2604 2605 2606" Zoro counted as he was swinging his large extremely weighted bar. He was frustrated, but that only fueled his motivation. "If I'd been able to cut through that wax, I wouldn't have… held everyone back."

He swung yet again. "I'm weak… I must become stronger!"

"Until I can slash thought stuff like that wax in any situation."

* * *

-Alabasta-

* * *

Sandy Island, that's where the Kingdom of Alabasta was located

"Mr. 2! Bon Kurei-sama! The Swanda is ready to depart!" Someone exclaimed.

"Okay, okay!" The man who said that was dressed like a ballerina. "Oh just be quiet already. Really, why should I have to do this? You guys can go take care of garbage like Mr. 3 by yourselves!"

His subordinates paled at the thought.

"Please no, sir! Even if we all charge him at once we won't be able to beat him!"

"Please just this once! It's an order from the Boss himself after all!" Yes, Crocodile had ordered the assassination of Mr. 3 and the one that was supposed to deal with that was none other than Mr. 2.

"Un, deux, trois… I wonder what 'four' is." He let out a sigh. "That bothersome Zero-chan!"

* * *

-Straw Hat Crew-

* * *

Vivi kept gazing at the Eternal Pose ever since Sanji went back into the kitchen.

"Vivi… Sorry I need to go…" Nami said, her forehead was sweaty and she looked like she had a fever. On top of that her vision was blurry and she was fighting to even keep her eyes open. "…to my room."

"I won't mind, Nami-san. I'll watch our heading, you just get some rest." Vivi assured her as Vergil finally jumped down from the crow's nest and looked at Nami as she stood up.

"Hey, are you alri-" The cambion's eyes widened as Nami dropped to her knees and began falling but he still acted on impulse and caught her. "NAMI!" Now Vergil wasn't an expert on medicine but even he knew that Nami was not fine. Her face was red and she had a fever, that much was clear and it looked like she was having troubles with breathing normally.

Vivi touched Nami's forehead. "Are you okay?" Well she clearly wasn't. "Everyone, come quick! There's trouble!"

Vergil picked Nami up bridal style and went toward Nami's room. "Nami's sick! Get some cold water and whatever's needed!" He was panicking to a certain extent, they didn't have anyone with any descent medical knowledge and there was a big chance that Nami would need help with the way she collapsed just now.

Sanji was the first one to burst out of the kitchen. "NAMI-SAN IS WHAT?!"

"Quit screaming and get something that could help her! Water or tea or to hell if I know what!" Vergil snapped as Vivi opened the doors for him.

When he said that he didn't think Sanji would go and bring everything. Water, tangerine juice, tea… he'd come to his senses in a few minutes but right now…

"Luffy bring some container filled with water. Usopp find some we can use as a rag. Zoro keep us on course!" And he felt Nami shiver, perhaps at the idea. "_It's not like we have any other option…_"

"Leave it to me!" Luffy ran off.

"Y-Yeah." Usopp quickly went to do his task as well.

"Quack?" Carue figured he didn't have anything Vergil would task him with, though the duck did want to help.

"Carue go get me the first aid kit from the table." Nami had left it there yesterday and so the duck had something to do.

"Quack!" He eagerly ran to get it as Vergil lied Nami in her bed once Vivi moved the blanket out of the way.

Luffy and Usopp ran in with water and the rag and Vivi got the thermometer from the first aid kit Carue brought them.

The silence filled the room as Sanji got in with the drinks and they waited for Vivi went to measure Nami's body temperature.

"Is Nami-san gonna die? Is she, Vivi-chan?" Sanji was crying his eyes out as he bit and pulled on the white handkerchief.

Luffy and Usopp watched intently and Vergil gritted his teeth.

Vivi placed a damped rug on Nami's forehead. "It is probably due to the climate. One of the obstacles seafarers invariably face upon entering the Grand Line is the threat of illness due to the unnatural climate. It's not unusual for fearless pirates, even those with great reputations in other seas to succumb to the climate and pass away. Even the slightest of symptoms may lead to death if they are not treated immediately."

Well the situation went from bad to worse and from worse to horrible in a matter of one sentence.

Sanji wailed. "Nami-saan!"

"Is there anyone on this ship who has even the slightest medical knowledge?" Vivi asked hoping that the impression she was getting from the males was wrong.

Luffy and Usopp pointed at Nami and Sanji sobbed yet again. The impression she was getting was completely right.

"But she'll get better if she eats some meat! Right, Sanji?" Luffy was being too oblivious to being sick.

Sanji paused his crying but still looked utterly devastated. "Well, I'm going to prepare her food that will help her recovery, but… All that amounts to is nursing. Just feeding her the right food won't be enough. And besides, while we're at sea, I make Nami-san and Vivi-chan's food with a hundred times more care than yours. I give them all the freshest meat and vegetables. And then all the rotten shit…" He pointed to the males that were currently present. "Is what I feed you guys."

Usopp slapped his hand away. "HEY!"

"But even that tastes good! Shishishishi!"

"In any case, as long as I am this ship's cook, there will never be a problem with nutrition. But in preparing food for a sick person you have so much to consider. What her symptoms are and what they require nutritionally… I can't make that kind of diagnosis." Sanji knew where his expertise lied, but he also knew where he lacked. And this was one of the areas in which he couldn't help.

"Then just feed her all of 'em." Luffy suggested.

Usopp gave him a skeptical look.

"What sick person's gonna have the energy for that?" Sanji stated.

"But she'll get the energy from food, right Vergil?" Luffy asked his first mate who was up until that point silent.

"It'll only make things worse, feeding her everything." Vergil said, he never stopped looking at Nami.

Vivi took the thermometer and her eyes instantly widened. "4-40 degrees..?!" She couldn't believe it. "Her fever has gone up!"

"There'll be doctors once we get to Alabasta, right? How much longer 'till we get there, Vivi?" Usopp asked.

"I'm not sure, but I don't think we can possibly get there within a week." Vivi said.

"_And without Nami we might not even make it…_" Vergil thought bitterly, she was the only one who could mover Going Merry at the speed they needed. Without her they had no navigator to guide them, no one to guide them through the storms safely.

"Is being sick really that painful?" Luffy asked.

"I dunno, I've never been before." Sanji and Usopp admitted as they tilted their heads to the side.

"JUST WHAT ARE YOU PEOPLE?!" VIvi yelled at them. "Can't you see how much pain she's in?! A 40 degree fever is a dire matter. That means this sickness may be life-threatening." She had to say it.

The reaction was instant. The screaming, running, crying, wailing, punching themselves, everything that one could think of, it was done by Luffy, Sanji, Usopp and Carue.

"NAMI'S GONNA DIE?!" Luffy worded it.

"PULL YOURSELVES TOGETHER AND QUIET DOWN!" Vivi yelled at them.

And the cambion was frozen. Nami could die? Hell no. No.

Snapping out of it he darted to the bookshelf and began skimming through the titles. "Navigation… Geography… Climate… To hell with that crap! Why don't we have some medical books?!" If the books on the shelf weren't important to Nami they would already be set on fire by his electricity. He gave up on searching for the right book and frantically searched through the first aid kit. "Damn it I can't recognize one thing besides the bandages and stitches!" Never in his life did Vergil hate not learning something about medicine. He honestly doubted he'd ever regret it as much as today.

"WE'VE GOTTA FIND A DOCTOR! WE GOTTA HAVE HIM SAVE NAMI!" Luffy screamed.

"I know, just please calm down!" Vivi urged them. "You're going to disturb her."

"No." One word from Nami. That was all it took for the crew to halt everything. "No." She sat up.

"Nami-san?" Vivi whispered.

"Oooh, she's cured!" Luffy cheered.

Usopp quickly smacked him over the head. "No she's not!"

Nami took a few breaths. "In my desk drawer…there's a newspaper."

* * *

Outside Zoro was making sure they were heading in the right direction.

"Heading… right on course." And he was fully capable of multitasking as he lifted his weights casually.

* * *

"N-No. This can't be true…" Vivi read the newspapers.

"Hey, what is it? What's wrong?" Luffy asked.

"Is it about Alabasta, Vivi-chan?"

"300,000 Imperial Soldiers have defected to join the Rebel Army. At the outset, there were 600,000 Imperial Soldiers suppressing 400,000 rebels… But in one stroke, the odds have…" The blue haired girl was faced with the worst possible news.

"Now the rebellion in Alabasta will start to gain momentum. That paper's from three days ago." Nami said making Vivi gasp. "I'm sorry. Even if I'd showed it to you, it wouldn't have changed our ship's speed. I thought that it would only cause you more stress so I hid it. Do you understand, Luffy?"

Luffy gave it a few moments of thinking and came to a conclusion. "Hmm. I get the impression that things are very bad."

"Good, you picked up more than I thought you would." Nami said.

"But if we don't get you to a doctor soon…" Usopp pointed out.

"I'm fine, that thermometer's just broken. No one can have a body temperature of 40 degrees." She assured them and removed the covers. Slowly she sat up. "It's probably just a little heatstroke."

"Nami-" Vergil tried to say something, just he couldn't find the words.

"I'm fine." She cut him off. "I don't need to see a doctor. It'll go away by itself. Let's just head straight for Alabasta like we planned." She put on a brave face as she went toward the stairs. Finally when all they could see was her back she stopped and turned to them, the smile on her face revealing her exhaustion but also sincere gratefulness. "Thanks for worrying about me." With that she went up the stairs.

"Oh, she's cured?" Luffy figured.

"Moron, she's putting on a brave face." Usopp didn't even hit him, he just said it seriously.

Vergil clenched his fists. Half human? No. There was nothing human about him. Not when he felt life one million lives were nothing compared to making sure Nami was cured.

* * *

In the storage she was alone, there was nothing to hide in the empty room. And so she leaned against the wall. She was going to pull through this without a doctor, she had to, for Vivi. For that promise to bring her to Alabasta. For her nakama that were losing their minds at the thought of her life being in danger.

She would ignore the pain, the clear signs that whatever this was it would not just go away…

* * *

**_And that's it. As you can see Vergil went through somewhat of an emotional breakdown. Anyway, something that many of you probably noticed is the fact that when concerning Vergil I go with both half demon and demon. When I do go with half demon it's always with Vergil himself, Luffy and Zoro, everyone else gets the demon. This is simply because they are the only ones aware of Vergil being a cambion thus when it's more leaning toward their perspective Vergil is referred to as half demon. Just thought I should clear that out._**

* * *

**_Next Chapter – Maximum Speed_**


	107. Maximum Speed

**_Answers on reviews:_**

* * *

**_Naroku – Thank you. I'll try._**

**_20th CBoys fan – Thank you for the review._**

**_blazeinferno – Thank you, I'm glad you like it. Though the flashback was actually a dream._**

**_anquan16 – You'll see soon enough._**

**_Tanuuki Cloud – Thanks for the review. You're right and I do plan on leaving some of the fillers out. I mainly use anime simply for the fact that I am more used to that over manga, however I do check if manga had something different, like how Zeff ate his leg._**

**_KP360 – Thank you, I agree the reaction was quite to be expected._**

**_Guest – I'm glad you do._**

* * *

**_Chapter 107 – Maximum Speed_**

* * *

While Nami was fighting against the sickness Vivi was faced with reality of her situation. The ship couldn't go any faster and any delay could be fatal for her country.

"At this rate, blood will soon be shed throughout the country. It will become a war. If I don't stop this, Alabasta will crumble. Crocodile will seize the throne!" Vivi buried her face in the now crumbled newspapers as she fought back the tears. "Just getting there alive isn't enough anymore! I have to get there as soon as possible! If I don't make it in time, 1,000,000 of my people will engage in meaningless slaughter!"

"There's 1,000,000 people?!" Luffy was shocked at the number, well seeing as most of the islands they visited couldn't measure up to half of that when it came to the population there certainly wasn't a reason to blame him for being surprised.

"What a terrible burden for you to carry, Vivi-chan." Sanji expressed his compassion.

Usopp and Vergil remained silent, however, while Usopp watched Vivi, Vergil looked at the stairs, perhaps contemplating whether to go after Nami or not.

Vivi gripped at the newspapers and gritted her teeth, she was powerless to do anything.

* * *

Outside Zoro still lifted his weight and looked forward in the direction they were heading.

Wrong direction, as it became painfully clear to Nami the moment she looked at Eternal Pose.

"Just what the hell have you been doing?"And that was the most logical question, besides 'What the hell was Vergil thinking leaving Zoro to navigate the ship?!'.

"What's your problem? The ship is going straight isn't it?" Technically. It did.

"Yeah, straight in the wrong direction! Look at the compass for crying out loud!"

"I don't have to look at that thing. We've been heading for the biggest cloud over there the whole time!" Zoro pointed at the said cloud.

"Clouds MOVE and CHANGE shape, don't they?!" Nami snapped at him and turned around as she bent forward a bit and clutched at her head. "I can't take this anymore, I'm getting a headache."

"Then just get some rest and leave this to me!" Zoro told her.

"I came out here because I knew I couldn't leave it to you!"

Zoro frowned at that but chose to remain quiet.

It seemed like Nami suddenly realized something. "The air's changed."

"The air? It's been sunny all day."

"Just call everyone out here!"

"Hey! Get your asses on deck! We got work to do!"

"What?" Usopp and Luffy were the first ones to get out.

"What the hell? I ain't gonna take orders from you." Sanji was quite not motivated to follow Zoro's orders.

"Just shut up and get to work. Pivot the sails to catch wind from port." Zoro instructed.

"What's happening, Nami-san? The waves are calm and the weather's fine." Sanji pointed out.

Nami took a deep breath. "Wind…"

"Wind?" Sanji repeated.

"A large wind is going to hit us head on." She stated as she looked at the distance. "…I think."

She turned around to Luffy placing his hand on her forehead and immediately pulling it back as it sizzled and looked kinda cooked. "You're burning up! We need to stop the ship and get you to the doctor!"

"Just mind your own business! This is my normal temperature!" Nami snapped at him. "Quit fooling around and man the ropes!"

"Get to work! Now!" Vergil finally spoke up again. The crew wasn't completely sure whether Nami's fever was behind this but she was the navigator and that was enough.

"Yeah but Nami should rest." Usopp argued.

"We'll argue with her over that once we get the job done. Now come on." Vergil shut down any remaining arguments and went to the ropes.

The crew minus Nami got to work right away and soon the ship was turning around.

Nami leaned against the railing. "Man… What's coming at us? It doesn't seem like a storm."

The job was mostly done and Luffy had jumped onto Merry's figurehead.

Nami looked at the Eternal Pose, once again they were heading in the right direction.

"Nami. Take it easy." Vergil said as he stopped right next to her.

"I'm fine. Quit it already!" Though she snapped at him she sounded so tired. "Vergil cut it out." The way his eyes widened when he placed his hand on her forehead, the fear that she could clearly see… She didn't like that. Vergil was never afraid.

* * *

"_I must get to Alabasta as soon as possible_." She knew that. She knew her people could not be saved if she didn't get there in time. She knew how much blood would be spilled if even a minute was wasted. And she knew what she had to do to get there as quickly as possible.

* * *

"Didn't you hear how many people could die if we don't get to Alabasta?" Telling Vergil that she was fine wouldn't do, not now. Therefore, Nami chose to say this.

Vergil didn't get the chance to respond to that, though Nami could guess that he would just say that he didn't care.

He didn't get the chance to say it because Vivi stepped out. "I have a request to make! I realize this is a lot to ask after being allowed to ride on your ship, but… Right now, my country is falling to a terrible fate. Therefore, I want us to hurry forward. I cannot afford the slightest delay! I need this ship to continue on to Alabasta at its maximum speed!"

The response she got was silence, but that silence was filled with more tension than any words ever could be. Zoro was glaring from the side, waiting. Remaining three human males were dead serious. The disapproval on their faces was clear. Vivi was… in the end a guest, someone they agreed to help though they didn't have to and now that could cost them the life of one of their own nakama. Vergil gritted his teeth and took a step toward Vivi, the only reason he stopped was because Nami took his hand and smiled.

"Of course. We promised you, didn't we?" Nami assured the Princess though she could feel Vergil's hand trembling slightly.

"Well then, let's go find an island with a doctor!" The declaration surprised them all, especially Nami.

"We must get Nami-san cured as quickly as possible, and then head to Alabasta! That's this ship's 'maximum speed', isn't it?" She smiled at them.

"That's right! Doesn't go any faster than that!" Luffy grinned.

"You sure about this? As the Princess you have 1,000,000 people to worry about, right?" Usopp reminded her,

"That's right! That's exactly why we must get Nami-san well as soon as possible!" Vivi stated.

"Well said, Vivi-chan! I'm in love all over again!" Sanji declared.

"She's got guts." Even Zoro was impressed.

"Thank you." Vergil nodded at her.

Nami slowly walked up to Vivi while using the railing as support. "I'm sorry about this." She hunched over a bit and Vivi immediately supported her.

"Please don't strain yourself, Nami-san."

Nami smiled weakly. "Sorry… Vivi…. I think I might be in a little trouble here." She couldn't take it any longer and collapsed into Vivi's arms.

"Nami-san, hold on!"

"WHOA! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!" Luffy got everyone's attention and what they saw was anything but good.

"It's a cyclone!" And a damn big one as well. The large black whirlwind of destruction…

"IT'S HUGE!" Luffy yelled.

And Vivi was the first one to realize just where it was. "W-Wait a second! That direction is…"

"…the same direction we were headed before!" Sanji realized as well.

"If we'd gone that way, we would've hit it straight on!" Usopp screamed.

Lightning cracked and hit the ocean.

"That was too close! It barely missed us!" Luffy yelled.

It wasn't over. Vergil being a lightning demon was more of a lightning rod that had ten times as high chances of being struck. So while he could counter lightning he was most of the times the reason why he had to counter so many of them. So he **Air Hiked** into the crow's nest and prevented lightning from hitting the ship until they reached a safe distance.

"_Amazing… Cyclones on the Grand Line are supposedly impossible to predict. And yet she… She doesn't rely on theory alone to predict the weather it's almost as if she herself can sense the weather_." Vivi was honestly amazed at the girl in her arms. "I've never seen such a navigator…"

"All right! Let's get a move on! We're gonna find a doctor!" Luffy ordered.

"AYE!" The crew exclaimed.

* * *

A day has passed and there was still no sign of an island, however the climate was stable which meant they were approaching an island. A winter one if the snow was any indication.

Vergil sat on the floor with his back against Nami's bed as Vivi placed a new rug on the navigator's forehead. Her breathing was loud and she wasn't looking like she was getting any better.

"Vivi-chan, what are we gonna do?! Nami-san's fever isn't going down!" Sanji panicked as he and Carue ran around.

"Sanji-san! Carue! I told you two to keep quiet!" Vivi scolded them.

And they stopped as she looked at Nami once again.

Out of blue the ship started shaking and Sanji lifted Nami's bed up to keep it from swaying.

"Where is all this shaking coming from?"

"Hold the helm steady! If anything happens to Nami-san, you shitheads are dead men!"

'Are you surprised! This is my Giant Diving Ambush Ship: The Bliking! Mahahahahahaha! Mahahaha!' They heard someone laughing and the situation was clear to them.

"Vivi-chan! Vergil! Keep an eye on things here!" Sanji ran out.

"Okay!" Vivi agreed.

"Just hurry it up." Vergil added.

A minute later when the ship still didn't move Vergil finally got up.

"They are taking too long." He said and Vivi followed him with her eyes as he stepped out of the room.

* * *

So… The crew ended up stumbling into an ambush or whatever and now the other pirate crew invaded the ship… Awesome.

He spent most of his time in the Demon World, ambushes weren't something he wasn't used to. But in this case it really set him off. First the nightmare, than Nami getting sick, then the night without a single moment of sleep and now this. Well it was mostly because Nami was sick… Still he was furious.

"Don't move!" And now a few weaklings dared to speak while they pointed rifles at him?

"Hey, Vergil!" Luffy greeted him.

"You bastards… Quit wasting out… TIME!" Lightning erupted from Vergil's body and electrocuted every single pirate. For once the half demon had complete control over his **Discharge** and not a single spark hit his crew or the ship.

The large captain glanced toward him and his eyes widened when he saw that Vergil was in fact a demon.

"Get out of our sight." Vergil hissed and **Demon Flashed** in front of the pirate before slamming an electrified foot into the man's massive jaw and sent him flying into the distance.

"Wapol-sama?" Someone from the large pirate ship mumbled.

The crew grinned and smirked at that. These guys were all bark and no bite, plus their first mate was pissed and really prone to discharging electricity left and right at the moment.

"Out of our way, or I'll blow you into smithereens." Former Despot had every intention of making his words true if the pirates didn't do what they were told.

"Vergil, leave some for us." Luffy grinned while Zoro smirked.

"I don't mind!" Usopp had no complaints about what Vergil just did.

"I don't think they'll stay around." Zoro pointed out.

"Hey, we've gotta run! He played around with Wapol-sama like he was a little girlie-doll!" The one who looked like some kind of clown said, though Vergil didn't play around, he just kicked him into the distance.

"What a thing to do! Wapol-sama is a Hammer in the water!" Afro one panicked.

"He have to go and rescue Wapol-sama! If we don't get to him in time he'll sink and drown."

"And that guy wants to blow us up!"

Hippo figurehead opened its mouth and ladders reached Going Merry as pirates quickly went to pick up their electrified comrades.

"Remember this well! We will return for retribution!" The clown one threatened.

"REMEMBER… US!" Afro one yelled kinda desperately.

"Remember!"

"PLEASE! REMEMBER US! PLEASE!"

"J-Just who the hell was that? It sounded like they called him 'Wapol' or something." Usopp wondered.

"Who cared what his name is? Forget him. Just the run of the mill idiot. Nothing to bother yourself about." Sanji said.

"I'm going back to Nami's room." Vergil stated and went right back in.

Zoro smirked from the crow's nest. "Wrapped around her little finger." Yeah, it was quite obvious with the way Vergil acted.

* * *

"What happened?" Vivi asked as Vergil walked down the stairs.

"Some idiot pirate. Wapol or something, to hell if I care." He sat down once again. "I doubt they'll bother us again."

"Wapol?" Vivi repeated.

"Yeah. Did you hear about him?"

"I think I heard that name before… But I'm not sure. It's probably not that important." Vivi said.

"How is Nami doing?" Now it was Vergil's time to ask a question.

"Her fever isn't going down. I'm afraid this could be bad if we don't find the doctor soon."

Vergil looked at Nami. "We'll find the doctor. We have to." He said.

* * *

Lunch time came and Sanji entered the room with three trays. "Vivi-chan. Your lunch. Here is Nami-san's for when she wakes up." He lovingly offered the decorated food to Vivi and set Nami's down on the table.

"Thank you, Sanji-san." Vivi thanked him.

"Anything for you my angel." He swooned over her. "This is the last time you're getting your food like this Vergil." He threatened just like how he did at the breakfast this morning and the dinner last night. Vergil just ignored it and took his own food.

"Thanks for the food." Vergil still thanked him.

"Sanji! Meat!" They heard Luffy's shout.

"Tch! I'm coming!" Annoyed cook went to do what he captain requested.

"Sanji-san really knows how to cook." Vivi said as she began eating.

"He's the best cook you'll ever come across." Vergil grinned.

A few minutes later Nami shifted and opened her eyes.

"Nami-san. Do you need anything?" Vivi asked.

"Ugh… No. Just give me a minute…" She sat up and her stomach growled.

"Here." Vergil sat the tray in her lap and she looked at it and saw carefully decorated soul, salad and the main dish.

"Thanks." Nami smiled and took the spoon. Her hand trembled from both the fever and exhaustion and she couldn't exactly hold the filled spoon steady.

"Let me." Vergil placed his hand over her own and lowered the spoon back down into the plate.

"You're not going to feed me." She was not going to let him do something so embarrassing.

"Yes I am." He stated.

"Vergil."

"Nami."

"Uh, I'll go and eat in the kitchen." Vivi excused herself and swiftly left them alone.

"See what you did?" Nami half glared at him.

"I see. Now open your mouth. Not for talking." He said.

"Vergil this is embarrassing." Nami was blushing and not just because of her fever.

"Tell me about it." Well Nami had an excuse for having a red face, Vergil did not. "Put a debt around my neck or something for this if it'll make it easier for you."

Nami gave him a small smirk. "I just did. You owe me five million beri."

"That's fine." He brought the spoon up to her lips and she slowly opened her mouth. "One down. Who knows how many more to go." He grinned as she swallowed the soup.

"It was your idea." She pointed out and he fed her another spoon.

"I had worse ideas, I can live with this one." The blush on Vergil's face finally faded away and they kept going for about a dozen of spoons.

"Bread." Nami requested out of blue.

"You sure got used to this." Vergil muttered as he plucked a bit of bread and brought it up to Nami's mouth.

"It's not every day that I can have the notorious Black Thunder feeding me." There was a small sense of satisfaction despite the exhaustion that was clear in her voice.

Vergil rolled his eyes at that. "What are you, a kid?"

Calling him Vergil wouldn't cut it, not when she wanted to call him a child. And one thing that children sometimes had were nicknames so she picked the first one that came to her mind. "Soup, Verge."

He froze. "Verge?"

"You know for 'Vergil'." Nami said.

"I know what it stands for." Vergil muttered as Nami swallowed the soup he just gave her.

"Is it bothering you?" It looked like it did.

"No. My mother, Xenia and Grom used to call me like that when they were still alive. Now the only one who ever calls me like that is Blaiddmon so it's strange… Hearing that nickname again." Nami remained silent for a few spoons.

"Grom is your teacher, right?" She asked and Vergil nodded.

"And your mother? What was her name?" She was going to the question she wanted to ask.

"Irene."

"And Xenia? Who is she?" Clearly the said female was important to Vergil so Nami figured that since she was one of the rare people that called him by a nickname, plus the knowledge of Vergil loving a human before she figured it was Xenia.

"She was my older sister." A strange sense of relief washed over Nami it quickly perished when the fact that he said 'was' came to mind as she opened her mouth for him to put another spoon in.

"What happened to her?"

"She was killed ten years ago."

"Sorry. I shouldn't have called you like that." It really seemed like that nickname was a privilege to those who he loved the most. Even the human he said he loved the most didn't call him like that as far as Nami knew.

"I don't mind if you are the one calling me like that." He smiled at her. "Princess."

"It's been a while since you called me like that." Nami pointed out.

"I guess." He glanced down and saw an empty plate and so he moved to the main dish. "Let me just cut this into pieces." The main dish mainly consisted of some fish and rice.

Nami watched as he put a bit of rice and fish on the fork and raised it to her mouth.

"You'll never live this down if the word comes out." She said and just like that, they were back to casual chatting.

"I'm embarrassed not ashamed."

"So. What's the next thing you'll do to add to the embarrassment? Tuck me in the bed and tell me a story?" She teased.

"If you want me to. I'd recommend someone else for the story. I'm awful at telling stories."

"Just tuck me in."

"You're really making the most out of this, eh?"

"Mhm."

The chatting continued and Nami soon finished her meal.

"Are you still hungry?" Vergil asked.

"No. I'm going back to sleep. Tell Sanji-kun the food was delicious." She said and lied down.

Vergil set the tray down and covered her with the blanket. He tucked her in and rolled his eyes at her mischievous grin.

"Thanks." She muttered as she closed her eyes, in a matter of seconds she was asleep.

Vergil smiled and picked up the tray, he allowed himself a minute to go and get it back to the kitchen.

* * *

The crew, mainly Luffy still ate their meal when Vergil came in.

"Nami went back to sleep. She said the food was delicious." He passed the message making Sanji's eye turn into a heart.

"Ah! There is no greater happiness for me than to know my beautiful Nami-san thinks my food is delicious! I could die happy!"

"Go ahead." Zoro told him.

"Hm? I don't think I heard you right Moss Head." Sanji mockingly placed his hand behind his ear.

"Are you deaf Dart Brow?" And the fighting started.

"This is getting a bit too frequent." Vergil sighed and drank a glass of water while he was at it.

"Are you heading right back?" Usopp asked.

"Yeah. I don't feel like leaving her side." Vergil said.

"I'm going as well." Vivi said and followed the first mate out.

* * *

**_And that's about it. Was it too fluffy? Fluffy at all? Honestly I'm having mixed feelings about the feeding scene. So yeah, opinion would be highly _****_appreciated._**

* * *

**_Next Chapter – Country Without A Name_**


	108. Country Without A Name

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**anquan16 – Yeah, just a bit more.**_

_**Guest – Thank you, I'm sorry this one took so long.**_

_**dragonfox123 – Thank you.**_

_**Naroku – Thank you.**_

_**Chance Green G King – I guess you are right. I'm a bit low on time but I will check it out.**_

_**Shifx – Thank you. I do intend to finish this to the end. Hopefully I will be able to do it, though I do understand just how much time that would take.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks for the review, I'm glad you liked it.**_

_**KP360 – Thanks, you're right, that's not exactly something we get to see in One Piece, or most of the other shonen manga/anime for that matter.**_

_**Kakusei – You are certainly right, there will be more of that as the Drum Island progresses.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you.**_

_**Sagicknight – Thanks for the review. **_

_**Guest – Thank you.**_

_**Guest – Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed it.**_

_**Guest – Sorry for taking so long. Still, I'm happy and honored to hear that.**_

_**Guest – (I'm imagining some of these are from the same person) Nonetheless, sorry for being late, hopefully this kind of delays won't occur again.**_

_**slyKat28 – Thanks for the review. Yeah, she tends to do that more often as of recently.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 108 – Country Without A Name**_

* * *

Time passed slowly with only Nami's pants breaking the silence. Vivi looked up when she heard steps and saw Sanji and Luffy walking down.

"Did you see an island?" She asked hopefully.

Vergil held no such hopes, if they did Luffy would come running, actually they would know the moment Luffy spotted it.

"No. Still nothing and the sun is already going down." Sanji sighed.

"I see. We should drop anchor somewhere. Without Nami-san's guidance, we won't able to navigate through the night." Vivi said.

"That's for sure." Sanji agreed and all three of them looked at Nami while Vergil continued sitting on the floor looking like he was trying to remember anything that could help.

Nami's fever was getting worse and it was painfully obvious to everyone. Even to Luffy.

"I bet… she's real hungry…" He decided and then came to an idea. "How about if she eats 100 helpings of meat?! If she eats some meat, she'll get better in no time." He looked fairly cheerful about his idea.

"Gimme a break." Sanji sighed.

"C'mon, cheer up!" He went and stretched his face, tied his nose in a knot, tied his chin around his head and overall tried to look funny.

Vergil glanced at Nami and then at Luffy who looked way too pale, somewhat sweaty and worried. "She isn't smiling. Not one bit."

"Maybe if we… threw water on her or something…" The captain began suggesting and Vergil reached out for him. "…Her fever will go down."

"DUMBASS!" Vivi and Sanji went to punch and kick him but Vergil grabbed him by the shirt just in time to pull him down to the floor.

"He's trying to help and I don't see anyone else coming up with ideas of what to do." He snarled. "Plus he might be on to something."

Alright, now they both looked baffled.

"Luffy?" Sanji asked and then pointed at Luffy. "Our captain?"

"Let's go get water!" Luffy exclaimed as he went to pull his first mate up.

"Not to throw it at her." Vergil said making Luffy look confused.

"I had fever once when I was a child. My mother made me take a warm shower, I don't really get it but it lowered my fever." He turned to Vivi and Sanji hoping they could say something about it.

"Vergil-san might be right. When the body is submerged in water heat is transferred between the body and water. So a bath should help even more than a shower." Vivi realized.

"Vivi-chan is so smart! I'm falling in love all over again." Sanji swooned.

"Luffy was the first one to suggest water." Vergil pointed out.

"Shut it you shitty demon! Why didn't you tell us earlier?!" The cook snapped.

"Luffy jogged my memory, you can't expect me to think nineteen years back." Vergil stated. "Thanks captain." He grinned at Luffy who was still a bit confused. "Imagine having a hot piece of meat, however you can't eat it right away because you are busy. Naturally meat tastes better when it's warm, right?"

"Yeah!" Luffy confirmed it with a bit of droll near the corner of his mouth.

Vivi watched the captain and the first mate, mouth agape and unable to comprehend just what was going on.

"So you put it back in the oven and lower the temperature. So when you have time to eat it you'll pull out meat that isn't cold or too hot but rather warm."

"Nami's fever will go down but she'll still have it?" Luffy concluded.

"That's right. It's not going to make her healthy again but it could make things at least somewhat easier for her." Vergil said.

"Is this… normal?" Vivi had to ask.

"Don't pay attention to them Vivi-chan, understanding that logic is not something that can be done unless you have less than fully functioning brain." Sanji tried to comfort her.

"I see…" She was still quite speechless.

"There is one problem though. Does Nami have enough strength to do it alone?" Vergil muttered as he looked at Nami, her fever really did take its toll on her.

And it was clear to them, Nami first of all wasn't kind of person to accept having someone else do something as basic as that for her and she was certainly not well enough to do it on her own.

"Back to square one…" Vivi sighed.

"And we can't proceed forward. Without Nami-san's guidance we can't navigate at night." Sanji added.

"Let's drop the anchor." Vivi stated.

* * *

Hours later the clock showed one hour of the new day had passed and Nami finally woke up to find the entire crew in her room with mostly everyone sleeping. Vivi was kneeling on the floor with both her arms and head resting on the bed, Usopp was sleeping against her deck, Zoro was leaning against Carue who was lying on the floor as was Luffy. The only human who was missing was Sanji who was in the crow's nest.

"Lie back down."It was an immediate response to her sitting up.

It surprised her a bit but she expected that the demon would be sitting on the chair behind her.

She kept looking at her crew when a real surprise came.

"Oh, is that right? You really want my autograph that badly? You don't say…" And Usopp fell asleep once again.

Nami smiled. "Remember how he scared us that night after we went to Ocean's Navel?"

"It's kinda hard to forget the position we were in at the time." Vergil smirked, excluding other circumstances and looking from the side it was clear that the cambion was almost on top of the female.

Nami turned towards him and gave him a ghost of a cheeky smile to which he responded with a small smile of his own.

"Go back to sleep, I'm going outside to switch with Sanji." He stood up, this would be the first time he stepped outside of Nami's room with intention to stay there for more than a couple of minutes.

It felt a bit anticlimactic, with the way he stepped out of the room, but Nami knew better. Vergil wasn't exactly the best when it came to dealing with these kinds of situations. An enemy that's threatening her or someone on the crew, sure, he'll take them on, a storm, no problem, but here he had nothing he could do. It was a sickness and it frustrated him far more than Nami initially thought it did. She knew that much, what she didn't know was the fact that the white haired male was afraid.

And he stepped outside, into the chilling air of the night and he glanced up to the sky, then to the crow's nest where Sanji returned his glance. The cook did it mostly to see who was awake.

"Let's switch." Vergil said.

That was all the interaction they needed at the moment. There was no need for any other word and so Sanji climbed down and began walking past the cambion.

Still, it looked like Sanji had a different idea. "By the way." And Vergil barely blocked the kick that was directed at his chest. And though the kick was blocked Vergil still got pushed back by at least a couple of feet.

"What the hell was that for?" The cambion wasn't particularly enraged or anything, mostly confused and curious.

"We both have some pent up frustration." And it was all clear. Sanji went in for a side kick aimed at Vergil's neck and Vergil countered it with a punch. Leg clashed with a fist and for a brief moment they remained frozen in that spot.

And then it happened, Vergil frowned as he felt his fist being pushed back. It was a clash of raw power and he was losing at the moment.

"Don't tell me that's all you've got shitty demon." Sanji taunted him.

"Heh, don't get cocky." Vergil smirked and switched from blocking to gripping in a matter of seconds. He attempted to swipe Sanji off his foot but the cook jumped up and directed a kick towards Vergil's head as he began falling back down.

Vergil swiped the approaching leg away as Sanji landed his hands on the boards and jerked his other leg out of Vergil's grip. He made a couple of circles while standing on his hands thus forcing Vergil to block his kicks multiple times.

The smirk never faded from the cambion's face as he actually jumped up and **Air Hiked** downward to punch Sanji from above. Normally demons can **Air Hike** only once while in air, as such this kind of attack could prove fatal if dodged. Of course, Sanji easily dodged it by simply pushing himself out of the way.

What he didn't expect was for Vergil to **Demon Slide** after him as he skidded over the deck and kick him into the chest before adding additional strength behind the attack by **Air Hiking** once again. The combination proved to be quite successful as the initial kick made some damage and **Air Hike** would create additional damage due to the opponent being used as kick off area which did take some damage if user wanted it to.

Of course Vergil wouldn't be Black Thunder if he could only do one **Air Hike**, he did one more to ease the landing to a rather soft one.

"I suppose that's enough." Vergil sighed as both he and Sanji took about the same amount of damage and it's not like it was some massive damage, it's just that they kicked some frustration out and that was the point of this.

"More or less." Sanji agreed. "Don't fall asleep."

"Did my hair suddenly turn green?" Vergil smirked.

And he didn't fall asleep, although he did feel like drifting off for a moment right before Usopp began repairing the Going Merry and they once again raised the anchor to keep going.

"By the way... You notice it's been cold every day lately?" Sanji got the attention of Vergil who was still in the crow's nest and Usopp who was still fixing the ship.

Usopp was the one to reply. "Yeah I did. The temperature just suddenly decided to stabilize. Must be more of the fickleness of this place. This ocean, the Grand Line."

"Actually that might not be the case. It probably means we're close to an island. Vergil-san, concentrate on watching the horizon." Vivi who just came out of the kitchen instructed.

"Vivi-chan…" Sanji looked at her.

"Got it." Vergil responded to her order.

"There's a Winter Island around here, I'm sure of it." Vivi said.

"Winter Island?" Sanji repeated and Usopp hit his fingers with the hammer thus his cry of pain mixed with Sanji's question.

"In meteorological terms, the islands of the Grand Line are classified into four types: Summer Island. Spring Island. Autumn Island and Winter Island. And each of these types of islands has four seasons of its own. So it's basically like this: Navigating through the Grand Line you must, at the very least from the summer of a Summer Island to the winter of a Winter Island be able to endure a range of 16 different seasons. Of course, there are many yet undiscovered islands whose climates may not fit this classification." Vivi explained.

"I get it. And since there's so many of these islands crammed close together the sea in between them couldn't possibly hold a steady climate." Usopp realized.

"Right." Vivi confirmed it. "Therefore, when the climate becomes stable, it usually means that you are close to an island."

"There it is!" Vergil suddenly exclaimed. "Island!" And he exclaimed that so loud anyone on the Going Merry could hear him.

Sanji, Usopp, Carue and Vivi could only watch as the first mate disappeared into the storage and went right into Nami's room.

"We found an island." Vergil came down the stairs with a wide grin on his face.

"An island!" Luffy exclaimed and then began tapping his foot down lightly. "Hey, an island! We're at an island! Hey, Nami! Isn't that great news? We're at an island! You'll be better soon! It's an island! Island! Is… land! Is…land! Is…land! Is…land! Is…land! Is…land!"

"Go check it out, she's fine here." Zoro said casually and it had an immediate effect on Luffy.

"Is…" And he was gone

"We did it Nami, no idea how we did it without you but I'm not about to complain." Vergil took Luffy's seat and smiled at Nami's sleeping form.

"It was a prehistoric island, we might still not be out of the woods." Zoro pointed out what all of them feared.

There was a pause, that kind of uncomfortable silence that really made things worse. "I know…" Vergil finally said and much to Zoro's surprise his eyes became red on a few occasions. "But I have to cling to the hope that she will make it out of this."

Before Zoro could say anything the cambion continued. "I am not going to let the woman I love die like this."

* * *

And as those words came out of the cambion's mouth the crew approached an island. A winter island, to be precise. An island with mountains so tall that they went up to 5000 meters above sea level, mountains that were impossible to climb because of their drum-like shape. This island served as a place where a kingdom once resided, now it held a country without a name.

* * *

_**I swear this was a lame way to end the chapter. I apologize for that. This chapter was supposed to come out way earlier, plus it was supposed to be way longer and cover at least some more material, though I wanted to end this no update period as quickly as possible. But, there's always that 'but'… The last two months were hectic for me. School started, I had health issues, then catching up with school and all of the little things in between ended up doing this to my updating.  
**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Witch Doctor**_


	109. Witch Doctor

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Chance Green G King – Thanks for the review, I'm not really familiar with the franchise your story belongs to, so I probably won't check that one out, but I'll certainly check out your stories in the next couple of days. I'm finally free so I've got some catching up to do.**_

_**Guest – And it took damn too long…**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you for the review, glad you liked it.**_

_**anquan16 – Thanks.**_

_**KP360 – High school, final year, yeah, it's killing me. Glad to hear you liked the small fight scene.**_

_**Guest – Thank you.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you.**_

_**Sagicknight – Thank you very much, sorry it took me so long to continue.**_

_**Naroku – And I went and did it again with extremely slow update… Sorry.**_

_**GreenHoneyTea – Yeah, he sure said it. I'm really honored to hear it.**_

_**Guest – I don't plan to end the story just yet, I still want to keep going so no, I'm not killing him off just yet. Thank you for the support it really means much. Don't worry about it, it's just a typo.**_

* * *

_**Before we start, I'd like to say that I added a bit of an update to the story, every time demons speak in a more demonic, disembodied voice I'll use the combination of bold and italic, like in author notes to present it.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 109 – Witch Doctor**_

* * *

Luffy let out an excited cry as he sat on Merry's figurehead. "It's an island! White! It's so white! I bet it's snow! An island of snow!"

Sanji of course had every reason to feel alarmed at this, after all their captain wasn't exactly the brightest mind in the world plus he had the tendency to run off into the adventure. "Hey, Luffy! I shouldn't have to tell you this, but we can't go on an adventure this time. We're here to find a doctor! After we have one look at Nami-san we're gonna be leaving right away. Hey! Hey, Luffy!"

"Snow's so fun…" And his words fell to a deaf ear. "It's so white…"

"No use, he ain't listenin'." The cook realized just how pointless his attempts were.

"H-H-Hold on now, is this safe? If there's snow couldn't there be snow monster or something?! We don't even know if there's gonna be people here or not, isn't that the biggest problem?! OH NO! My Must-Not-Get-On-This-Island disease is acting up again!" Of course, the one that was panicking was none other than Usopp.

"Snow… I love snow 'cause it's so white…" Luffy was in his own bliss.

"Guess I'll go prepare to dock." Sanji gave up.

As they further approached the island they were completely mesmerized, the entire island was covered in snow, as white as it could get and stunningly beautiful with all of its landscape.

"So much snow… I'm so happy…!" Luffy marveled at the sight.

"Happiness isn't going to warm you up, get dressed." Luffy felt a long red coat being dropped onto his shoulders and back.

"Huh?" The rubber captain looked at it and then at Vergil who was walking up to them.

"The temperature is -10 degrees, at that temperature bears start getting ready to hibernate." Vivi pointed out.

Luffy looked confused for a few moments and then finally realized how cold it was. "It's cold!"

"Could you be any slower?!" Sanji and Usopp berated him.

He quickly put the coat on. "Thanks Vergil."

"Don't mention it." Vergil himself wasn't exactly that warmly dressed, he had his demon hunter jacket on but that was about it, he was dressed in his usual way.

"Aren't you cold?" Usopp asked.

"I'm fine, I'm a darkness demon."

"Well, if it makes sense to you…" Usopp didn't exactly feel like getting to know more about demons in detail. With Vergil he was fine, with other demons… Not exactly.

"This place is something else. Get a load of those mountains." Sanji commented.

"Yeah, if the circumstances weren't different this would be an amazing place to visit." Vergil agreed.

Unfortunately things weren't that good for the crew and as life often likes to work things gets worse before they get better.

"It's a waterfall created by the melting snow. I think we can dock the ship somewhere around here." Vivi pointed out.

"Okay. Someone has to go look for a doctor." Zoro who was standing next to her at the front spoke up. "Actually, we'd better find some people first."

"I'll go!" Luffy exclaimed.

"I'm going too!" Sanji joined in.

"Great! Get going!" And Usopp courageously tried to send them off.

"Not so fast." Vergil sighed.

"That's far enough, pirates!" And they were surrounded.

"Tch… We are too focused on finding a doctor, we even let our guard down…" Vergil hissed as the people prepared to point their rifles at the Going Merry.

Zoro looked from one side of the shore to the other one and so did Sanji, they were both quite serious.

"Hey, here's some people." Luffy pointed out.

"But… they don't look very happy to see us." Usopp noted something that was even more obvious.

A man that appeared to be the leader of the men stepped forward, he was larger than the others and was mostly dressed in green. "Pirates. We hereby demand that you depart this shore immediately."

"We came here to find a doctor!" Luffy told him.

"We have a sick person on the ship." Vivi added.

"You think your tricks will work on us?! You filthy pirates!"

"This is our island! We're not gonna let a bunch of pirates land here and invade!"

"Now, take up your anchor and be gone! Otherwise, we'll blow your ship out of the water!"

People responded.

"Oh, they really hate us. And we've only just met." Sanji commented.

"Keep your mouth shut!" Someone yelled and actually fired near Sanji's foot.

"They fired!" Usopp screamed.

"You'll regret that." Sanji was about to go and attack but Vivi stepped in his way.

"Sanji-san, wait!" She pleaded.

"Bastard!" He exclaimed.

Rifle fired again, lightning cracked and the bullet was destroyed.

"Vergil-san! Stop!" Vivi cried out even though the bullet would at the very least graze her arm.

"Hey, humans…" Lightning circled the demon.

"A… A demon!" Someone cried out and they all pointed their rifles at him.

"Fire!"

"Shut _**up!**_" Vergil's voice became somewhat disembodied as his eyes flashed dangerously. "Get a doctor here. _**Now!**_" It wasn't a request, he wasn't in business of making friends, they needed a doctor, that's all. He took a step forward but the rifles were still aimed at him.

"Please stop!" Vivi quickly stepped in front of him and tried to push him back. She placed her hands on his shoulders and tried harder but he wasn't even fazed by her attempt. "You really are nothing but a demon who resolves to violence when someone doesn't abide to your wishes. What are you even doing on a crew with humans you heartless monster?"

"Hey!" Luffy took offense to that, even more than Vergil did.

"You too. You're a failure as a captain, Luffy. Acting rashly all the time solves nothing. If you fight them… what will happen to Nami-san?" Vivi stated, she was still holding onto Vergil's shoulders and actually felt a bit of electricity.

"Well would you look at that, someone sure is acting all high and mighty." Vergil stepped back and glared at her. If the tone of voice was venom, then his would be extremely toxic.

She willed herself to ignore him for the time being and knelt down completely in front of the villagers.

"As you wish, we will not dock here, but please, will you summon a doctor? Our nakama is suffering with a severe illness. Please help her! I beg of you!" She pleaded.

Luffy looked at Vivi. Nami's condition was getting worse, they all knew it. And he made a decision as he turned toward the villagers. "I'm sorry. I was wrong. Please call a doctor." He knelt down just like Vivi and his straw hat fell off. "Please… save my nakama."

The silence was deafening as they waited for someone to say something, anything.

The man that seemed like the leader of the people observed the crew carefully. Humans didn't seem like a threat, but demon, he locked his eyes with Vergil who refused to look away.

"I will take you to the village." And he decided to take the risk. "Follow me!"

Vivi smiled and looked at Luffy. "See? They understood."

"Yeah. You sure are something." Luffy told her.

"Wait, Dalton-san. The demon needs to be restrained!" Someone said and Dalton looked at him.

"Get the shackle from the nearest village." He ordered and one of the villagers was quickly on his way. "It's a precaution, people don't feel safe with a demon walking around freely." Dalton looked at Vergil.

"Tch, hurry it up then."

* * *

Surprisingly they did hurry up, in about twenty minutes the shackle was brought and Dalton stepped onto the Going Merry as Vergil offered his right wrist.

"Thank you for your cooperation." Dalton clicked the shackle around Vergil's wrist, it was the similar to the kind he was shackled with back when he was imprisoned. It was quickly draining his powers.

"How come you have this?"

"It has been given to us nearly 30 years ago." The cambion was suspicious. This was a rare model, one that had no keys and it could only be taken off by Mundus or Acharon. If you did want to take it off, well you were in for a lot of bleeding. This wasn't the kind that was meant to ever be taken off.

"Can we go now?" And he was still having the same non friendly demeanor.

"Follow me." Was all Dalton said.

Vergil went back to Nami's room and pick the girl up bridal style.

"I'm going to stay here." Zoro said, there was no need to question his decision, someone could attack the ship so it was better to have someone stay behind. In the end he and Carue were the ones who chose to stay.

* * *

The rest of the crew was escorted by Dalton and the villagers.

"I should warn you. Our country has only one doctor, a witch." Dalton said.

"Huh? A witch?" Usopp repeated.

"What the hell? This country sure is weird." Sanji commented. "What the hell country is this anyway?"

Dalton remained silent for a few moments, almost as if contemplating whether or not to tell them. "This country does not yet have a name."

"Eh? A country without a name? Can there be such a thing?" Vivi asked.

Dalton didn't answer, however the brief silence was shattered by Usopp's panicking scream. "A BEAR! Everyone play dead!" And he fell down as a bear carrying a walking stick and walking on two legs.

"A hiking bear. It's not dangerous. Just bow to him in the mountain-climbing manner." Dalton instructed and most of those following him bowed down.

Soon enough they reached a village that Dalton was leading them to. "This is our village, Bighorn."

"There's some pretty weird animals walkin' around here…" Luffy and Usopp looked quite amazed.

"Just what you'd expect from a Snow Country!" Usopp exclaimed.

"Nami-san, we've reached the civilization. A village." Sanji said as he looked at Nami who was still sleeping on Vergil's back.

"Well thank you for your help, everyone. Anyone not on lookout, please return to work." Dalton's words caught Vivi's attention.

"But, will you be okay by yourself, Dalton-san?" One of the villagers asked. "They're pirates, you know."

"I do not think they mean us any harm. Call it an old man's intuition. Trust me…" Dalton requested.

"Dalton-san…"

"What do we do?"

"If Dalton-san says so."

"Well, they do need our help."

"It's probably alright…"

"Yeah."

"Then. Dalton-san. We'll leave the rest to you."

"Just keep an eye on them, Dalton-san."

"Call us again if anything happens."

With that the people began leaving.

"I guess they aren't your country's armed forces." Vivi guessed.

"They are civilians. You can come to my house for the time being." Dalton said and the crew, though mostly Vivi, noticed that the people seemed to really look at Dalton as a leader, some even mentioned his election.

Vergil walked into the house after Dalton and the crew followed.

"Feel free to use the bed." Dalton stated and Vergil slowly set Nami onto the bed while Vivi covered her with a blanket. "Forgive me for not introducing myself. My name is Dalton. I am this island's Captain of the Guard. Please excuse our hostile reception. May I ask you something?"

"Eh?" The question was clearly directed at Vivi.

"I believe that I have met you somewhere before." The words set panic free inside of Vivi's head but she calmly evaded the subject.

"I-I'm sure it's just your imagination! More importantly, could you tell us more about this witch? Earlier, Nami-san's temperature rose to 42 degrees!"

Dalton's eyes widened. "42 degrees?!"

"Her fever has been rising steadily for three days now."

"If it rises any higher, she will surely die."

"Yes. But we don't know what's causing her sickness, or how to treat it."

"It doesn't matter, there's a doctor here! Where's this witch of yours?!"

"The witch? Do you see the mountains outside that window?"

"Yeah, those freakin' huge-" And there was a snowman head in front of the window so the view was kinda not what Sanji expected.

"Hyper Mr. Snowman!"

"Snow Monster Shirora!" Luffy and Usopp high-fived at their creations.

"You dolts are dead!" Sanji yelled.

"Cut it out and get inside…!" Vergil snapped, opened the window and shot a lightning at the snow figures thus melting them.

"We're coming!" Usopp cried out.

"Shishishi! Sorry, sorry!" Luffy grinned and they ran inside where Dalton gave them the tea, he did offer it to the others too but they declined it.

"Those mountains are the Drum Rockies. You can see a castle atop the peak of the tallest, central mountain." Dalton began.

"Castle?" Usopp asked.

"It is a castle without a King."

"Ah, nice and warm." Luffy sighed as he and Usopp drank the tea.

"Yeah, I see it." Sanji stated.

"Is there something about that castle?" Vivi asked.

"The woman the people call a witch, the sole doctor of our country. Dr. Kureha lives in that castle." And now the story made sense.

"What? Of all places, why does she live all the way up there?! Fine, just call her down here! This is an emergency!" Sanji urged the large man.

"Even if we wanted to, there's no way of contacting her." And now they had a problem.

"And she's supposed to be a doctor?! What the hell kind of doctor is that?!" Sanji was growing frustrated and so was Vergil, however while Sanji expressed his frustration Vergil kept it in and focused on watching over Nami.

"There is no denying her skills as a doctor, but she is a rather strange old woman. She has lived a long life of nearly 140 years." Dalton said.

"Eh?" Vivi was quite surprised.

"140?! And she's still alive?" Sanji questioned in utter disbelief.

"Well, they say she likes those umeboshi." They weren't exactly sure how that answered anything.

"But then what happens when the people of this country become sick or injured?" Vivi asked.

"She comes down the mountain on her own free will. She searches for patients, treats them… and then takes whatever she wants from their homes as compensation before leaving again."

"Sounds like one mean old hag." Usopp said.

"Hey. Hey, she sounds like a pirate!" Luffy noticed.

"But, how does such an old woman get down from that mountain?" Vivi asked.

"It's just an odd rumor, but…several eyewitnesses have reported that, on moonlit nights she takes to the sky in a sleigh and rides down. That is the reason she is called witch. They also say a strange creature comes with her, the likes of which they've never seen."

"Ghhh. I knew it! I just knew there was one! An abominable snowman! From the snowy peaks! I just knew there'd be one! A witch with an abominable snowman! Oh PLEASE don't let us meet it!" Usopp wailed and panicked.

"She may be our only doctor. But that old woman does not wish to have close relation with us. All we can do is wait for the next day she decides to come down the mountain." Dalton said.

"Oh no…"

"Son of a… We don't have time to just sit here and wait! While we do, Nami-san is…"

And Luffy began lightly tapping Nami's cheek to wake her up. "Hey, Nami. Nami. Can you hear me?"

"HEY! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!" Vivi, Usopp and Sanji snapped at him.

Nami slowly opened her eyes.

"Oh! You're awake! Listen, you can't see a doctor unless we climb a mountain. So we're going mountain climbing."

"Are you insane?!" Sanji snapped. "What are you trying to make Nami-san do?!"

"I'll carry her." Vergil said.

"That will only worsen her condition!" Vivi nearly yelled at them

"Waiting won't help at all." Vergil stated.

"What? The sooner we see the doctor, the better, right?" Luffy added.

"That's true, but not like this! Look how steep and high those slopes are." Vivi tried to reason with them.

"We can do it." Luffy said.

"Maybe you can, but it'd be too much stress on Nami-san!" Sanji countered.

"But hey, even if Vergil drops her, there's only snow below us!" Luffy pointed out.

"I'm not going to drop her." Vergil argued.

"Even a healthy person would die instantly if they fell off THAT mountain!" Vivi snapped.

"And anyway, her fever is 6 degrees above normal! Don't you get it?! Vergil you should be reasonable!" Usopp exclaimed.

Nami pulled her hand out from the covers. "I have to… get better soon." She breathed out. "Soon… for Vivi's sake. Take care of me, you two." She smiled at them leaving the others speechless.

"Shishi!" Luffy high-fived her. "You got it! Leave it to us!"

"You just hang in there until we get to the top." Vergil grinned at her and held her hand for a few brief moments.

"So Luffy and I are going and I'm carrying Nami. That's the plan, right?" Vergil asked.

"Sure." Luffy agreed. "Old man, give me some meat."

"Meat?" Dalton repeated.

"That's it. I'm going as well." Sanji decided, it was bad enough to have Nami endure this kind of trip but these two idiots were the ones responsible for her.

"Just hurry up." Vergil already had Nami on his back and was making sure she was tied to him properly.

"Shitty demon…" Sanji hissed as a vein popped on his forehead.

"I'm going to wait for you here. I'd only slow you down if I came along." Vivi said.

"ME TOO!" Usopp added.

"Got it! Okay they, Nami, hold on tight!" Luffy encouraged her.

They didn't even get going but Nami's breathing was quite loud, she really wasn't doing well.

"If you are truly serious about this, I will not stop you. But please ascent from the slope opposite this one. The path from here is inhabited by Lapahn, they are a ravenous species of rabbit. If you were to encounter a pack of them, you would surely die." Dalton warned them.

"Rabbits? But we're in a hurry. We'll be fine. Right?"

"Sure." Vergil stated.

"Yeah. I'll kick 'em." Sanji sounded quite confident.

"Kick them? Impossible! You will be rushing to your deaths!" Dalton tried to reason with them but Vergil was already on his way.

"We'll be fine! Let's go, Sanji! Before Nami dies!" Luffy joked.

"Don't say such goddamn ominous joke, you shithead!" Sanji snapped at him.

"Shishishi!"

"Will they really be okay?" Dalton asked as they looked at the group leaving.

"Well, you don't need to worry about those three guys, but…" Usopp muttered.

"The real concern is whether Nami-san's strength can last long enough. I hope they make it safely." Vivi said.

Everything was in the hands of the three pirates they sent to escort Nami to the doctor. All they could do was wait and it was this kind of feeling of being powerless that could bother anyone. So they chose to do one thing they could, wait for them to come back outside.

"Is something wrong, you two? You should come in. It is quite cold outside." Dalton called them to come in.

"I'm fine! I'd rather stay out here." Vivi assured him.

Usopp was trembling but he had the same resolve. "Me too."

Dalton observed them and eventually smiled. He closed the doors. "I see." He sat down on the snow. "Then I shall remain here as well." Vivi and Usopp smiled.

"It's not my right to ask but, that demon you have on your crew. Do you trust him?" Dalton suddenly asked.

"Trust him?" Usopp repeated. "Well yeah, Vergil is our nakama. I mean he can be quite scary and he is a demon but he's fine."

"It's only the second time I've seen a demon, most of the demons don't travel our world, but when they do they bring nothing but chaos." Dalton said.

"Second time? What was it like the first time?" Vivi asked.

"Your crewmate bears striking resemblance to that demon. Some of the older citizens remember that time when he came here, 29 years ago which is why they were panicking when they saw that demon today."

"What happened?"

"He held the island hostage and demanded the medical research of this country. We gave it to him but he began wrecking havoc nonetheless until a female whose identity none of us know stepped in. She talked the demon into leaving but at the cost of leaving with him." Dalton summarized the event.

"What happened to her?" Usopp was quite frankly afraid of the answer.

"The only explanation possible is that she was killed." Dalton said. "Be wary of that demon, I doubt he doesn't have any ulterior motive."

"Usopp-san, how did Vergil-san even join the crew?" Vivi asked a bit slowly.

"From what I heard Luffy set him free from a prison." Usopp recounted what he knew.

They stood in silence, Dalton and Vivi's mistrust in Vergil quickly growing and Usopp gulped a bit, exactly what did Vergil do to be in prison. How much did they even know about Vergil? He had seen how demons acted toward humans, main example being Krim, so could they really trust Vergil?

Time passed rather slowly but eventually Dalton reignited the conversation. "A long time ago… we did have them. Doctors." He began thus getting their attention. "Doctors. But they are all gone. They were all extremely skilled doctors. In truth, they were said to provide the highest quality medical care possible."

"Then, why…?"

"This country, not less than a year ago, was completely ravaged… at the hands of a pirate crew."

"The whole country?!" Usopp nearly screamed.

"That explains why you were so nervous when we first arrived." Vivi understood it now.

"Yes. The citizens are not yet ready to hear the word 'pirate' again. You must excuse their behavior. It was a pirate crew of only five members. Their captain called himself' Blackbeard' and with the power vastly surpassing our own, he ravaged the entire country."

"A mere five pirates… You can't be serious…!" Vivi muttered.

"Blackbeard…" Usopp repeated.

"However, some would say it was good for this country." Dalton's statement baffled them.

"How can the wreckage of your country be a good thing?!" Vivi exclaimed.

"Yeah! Who could possibly say that?!" Usopp asked.

Dalton smiled. "Thank you. But while that is true, until that time, the monarchy of this country had been causing misery for the people. The former name of this country is the Kingdom of Drum. And our King was… Wapol. He was the worst King imaginable."

Vivi and Usopp recognized the name, that was the pirate that attacked the Going Merry."

"Yes, that man! I remember!" Vivi's eyes widened.

"Wapol?!" Usopp exclaimed.

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_**And that's it.**_

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_**Next Chapter – Climb The Mountain**_


	110. Climb The Mountain Part 1

_**Answers on reviews:**_

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_**JayH120 – Thanks for the review. I'm glad you like it, giving it a slightly more of a darker feel was somewhat what I intended so I'm glad I did it. There is going to be a demon on Blackbeard's crew, however not in the original crew he had when he fought Ace, demon will join the crew at some other time during the story.**_

_**Chance Green G King – Thanks, actually the chapter was a bit over 4000 words long (author notes included) which makes it just a bit below the average word count, but yeah, it could have been longer. I began reading 'Pirates Destiny' and so far I like it. I'll drop a few reviews as I read through it.**_

_**Naroku – Thanks. Well there's not much to hide since you're not the only one who guessed it right, it's Acharon and Irene, which was foreshadowed back in chapter 86. As for this chapter, well it's not longer but I certainly updated much faster than I did in the course of last half a year or so. I'll try to make them longer though.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**The Storm Master 567 – And you're another one of those who guessed it right. What Vergil did to get locked up will be explained in the last portion of his flashback, as for the battles and reunions, there's not much I can tell without spoiling.**_

_**Guest – Yeah, sorry for the wait.**_

_**KP360 – Thanks, that's something I tried to put weight on, some of the emotions that will need to be taken care off. And you guessed it as well.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks, it's good to be back. You guessed it correctly, seeing as so many of you guessed it right there's no point in denying it.**_

_**GreenHoneyTea – Well it's that kind of prejudice that we have to deal with, if it was only in fiction it would be a wonderful world we live in. On the other hand Vergil did kill in front of Vivi, he didn't exactly show any mercy and the only ones he cares about are his nakama, so there's not much to blame Vivi for. I have to say though, I'm glad you like him. **_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks.**_

_**Sagicknight – Thanks for the review, well more came sooner than I expected.**_

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_**Over 600 reviews… I'm speechless. Thank you for the support, you are the ones who made the final pushes when I needed to keep going with the last few chapters. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.**_

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_**Chapter 110 – Climb The Mountain Part 1**_

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The mountain climbing group kept advancing forward but the weather wasn't exactly on their side.

"The weather is getting colder, huh? The wind's picking up." Luffy pointed out. Not that one could tell by the way Luffy was dressed, after all he was still running around in his regular attire plus the coat.

"You dork. Why are you running around barelegged. It hurts just looking at you!" Sanji was the one to scold him over that.

"Well, it's just my polisuu!" Luffy said as if it was obvious.

"Policy, Luffy." Vergil corrected.

"Yeah that's it."

They didn't notice a creature observing them.

"Oh yeah, you know what? People in snow countries never sleep!" Luffy suddenly said thus making the other two turn to him.

"Huh? How come?" Sanji questioned.

"Cause if they fell asleep, they'd die." Luffy explained.

"Don't be an idiot! No person could do that!" Sanji argued.

"It's true! I heard it from someone a long time ago."

Rabbit attacked but they effortlessly dodged it.

"Usopp?" That was Sanji's first guess.

"No! I heard it at my village tavern!" Luffy said.

"Then why was there a bed in that Dalton guy's house?" And Sanji's argument was pretty solid.

"Oh yeah! Well, that must be for when he dies!" Not that it mattered, the one he was arguing with was Luffy.

The rabbit attacked yet again but instead of biting his target he ended up biting a tree that got in his way.

Rabbit bit into the tree harder and actually managed to make it fall on the path.

"Yeah, right, numbskull." Sanji disagreed.

They easily jumped over the fallen tree thus infuriating the rabbit even more.

"Well Luffy is right in a way." Vergil joined in.

"See?" Luffy grinned.

"Will you always take Luffy's side?" Sanji questioned.

"Probably. On the other hand he is right. If someone falls asleep in this cold they are most likely going to die from hypothermia." Vergil stated.

"Hypo-what again?" Luffy asked.

"Being too cold for your own good. Freezing to death. Having your temperature drop far below normal." Vergil offered a few simple explanations and for once Luffy didn't need any meat analogies.

Although they were still dodging the damn rabbit's attempts to take their lives.

"Oh hey, listen to this. The women in snow countries all have smooth skin!" Sanji suddenly got their attention.

"Why?" Luffy asked.

"Isn't it obvious? When it's really cold, you have to rub your skin like this. That's how everyone's skin gets so smooth. Smooth skin, so white it's nearly transparent. That's what Snow Country women are." Sanji swooned at the thoughts of that.

"Huh. So how come it's white?" Luffy made a question that caught Sanji by surprise and Vergil snickered at the pause the cook made.

"Well… Of course because the color of this never-ending cloud of snowflakes soaks into their skin." And that was the explanation he came up with.

"Idiot." Vergil rolled his eyes.

"Eh? You're pretty dumb, y'know that?" And even Luffy could see how stupid Sanji was being at the moment.

"I don't want to hear that from you two!" Sanji snapped. "And…" Sanji kicked the rabbit. "You're being a real pain in the ass!"

"What the heck's his problem?" Luffy wondered.

"Who cares, we're getting closer." Vergil pointed out and they were indeed getting closr to the hardest part of their trip.

"Nami-san, just hang in there. We're going to get you to a doctor soon." Sanji assured Nami.

"The snow's pretty deep around here…"

"Hey, Vergil! Run more gently, will you? You're gonna jostle Nami-san's body!" Sanji berated Vergil.

"The hell…?" Vergil stopped and so did the other two.

"What the hell are these?" Sanji wondered as they faced an entire herd of overgrown carnivorous rabbits known as lapahns.

"They're big and they're white… Must be polar bears. Definitely!"

"No, they're lapahns, Dalton did warn us but this is just ridiculous." Vergil gritted his teeth.

The leader of the herd jumped up and attacked, luckily all three of the pirates were capable of dodging.

"That's crazy! How can it move like that? Is it a gorilla?!" Sanji exclaimed.

"No, they're rabbits!" Luffy corrected him.

"I know that!" Sanji snapped.

"But you just asked if they were gorillas." And Luffy was right for once.

"Never mind…! But… why are there so many?!" Things could never go easy for them, could they?

"Well… the cub was hit so the adults got mad…" Vergil realized when he recognized the small lapahn from before.

"All of them for just one baby?!" Sanji exclaimed.

"Animal instinct." Vergil stated.

"Listen Vergil, no matter what don't attack and don't get hit." Sanji instructed.

"I know, if I do either of that Nami's condition will get worse. I can't use ranged attacks either, this cuff is draining me out."

"Why did you even let them put it on you then?!" Sanji snapped.

"I'd figure a way to take it off sooner or later." Vergil was equally frustrated.

"Then figure it out now, you can defend with that darkness of yours, right?" Sanji glared at the demon.

"Hey. They're attacking." Luffy pointed out.

All the lapahns charged towards them at the same time.

"Shit…!" Vergil cursed as he began running to his right and Luffy and Sanji followed.

Nami grunted and Vergil looked at her. "Nami…" His voice was barely louder than whisper.

"Soon… To Alabasta…" She reminded them they had no time to lose.

"It's okay, you just go back to sleep. Don't worry about anything else right now." Luffy told her.

"Even though her own life is in danger…" Sanji smiled fondly at the girl. "Nami-san, just hang in there for a little longer. Luffy we are attacking!" The cook took charge.

"Got it!" Luffy turned around. "**Gomu Gomu no Gatling Gun**!"

Now Luffy packed enough strength to deal with lapahns, that was for sure, however this was their home, they were on the snow and they had the field advantage. So while some of them got hit about the same number dodged.

Sanji went to kick away one of the rabbits that closed in on Vergil. "Shit! With all this snow under my feet I can't get off any decent kicks!" Sanji cursed his luck, they just had to fight in an environment that was anything but favorable for him.

"Up there, we might be able to run away if we get higher." Vergil point forward.

And they did. While Luffy and Sanji dealt with lapahns Vergil reached the top, it was pretty high up but their opponents were rabbits so he wasn't exactly counting them off right away.

Luffy grabbed Sanji, stretched his arm and pulled both of them to where Vergil was.

"Shishi." He laughed a bit before sticking his tongue out at the carnivorous rabbits.

"Numbskull!" Both Vergil and Sanji yelled when lapahns jumped after them and they began running again.

And they kept running and running for what felt like forever.

"Are they still coming?" Luffy asked.

"No… they're not." Sanji was the one to answer.

"Alright! Guess we lost 'em!" Luffy cheered.

"Awesome…" Vergil grumbled.

"No… we didn't." Sanji had the same enthusiasm.

"Huh?" And as Luffy turned around he saw the herd in front of them. "WOW!"

Lapahns began jumping up and down with no apparent reason.

"What're they doing?" Luffy asked.

Sanji kept looking at them as he tried to figure out what they were doing and then realization began hitting him.

"Are they pissed because they're hungry?" Luffy questioned.

"No… Hold on a second…" And it hit him. "Oh shit! They're going to…!" The cigarette dropped down from his mouth.

"They're really doing it… Those shitty rabbits! This ain't for real!"

"Hey Sanji, what's wrong? What are they doing?" Luffy asked.

"Run for it." Sanji tried to remain calm as Vergil tore of knife-sized piece of wood.

"Run? Where to?" Luffy asked.

"Anywhere, just as far away as possible. THEY ARE CAUSING AN AVALANCHE!" Sanji shouted.

"Stay where you are. I've got this." Vergil stated and lowered Nami to the ground.

"What are you going to do! You can't blast the avalanche!" Sanji snapped at him.

"But I can defend from it." Vergil calmly said as he pulled up his right sleeve and stabbed the wood into his own forearm right behind the shackle.

"Hey! Vergil! What are you doing?!" Luffy frantically asked.

"I'm taking the damn thing off." He said and pushed the wood deeper into his flesh, below the shackle. The blood gushed out and he jerked the wood upwards.

Blood painted the snow underneath him crimson red and Sanji paled, hands were after all one thing he made sure he kept safe.

The wood tore through the flesh and hit the shackle but failed to break it.

"A bit stronger." Vergil cursed. He couldn't exactly change the power behind the attempt but he could accelerate it even if just a little bit by going a bit deeper into the flesh. At the moment the wound was about a centimeter deep, if he went deeper to the bone he'd probably be able to break it so he dug the wood deeper.

And he tried again, the shackle cracked a bit but remained around his wrist.

"Damn it…" He yanked the wood out of his wrist and angled it with the crack.

"We have to run!" Sanji was about to grab Nami and try to get her to the safety but it was too late, the avalanche was about to swallow them.

"Break damn it!" Vergil hit the shackle with the wood and darkness emerged from his body.

"Alright!" Luffy cheered.

"**Darkness Field**!" Darkness spread over the snow in a three meter radius thus the group was now standing on it, it rose from the outer line of the circle and created a semi sphere like space. Neither Sanji nor Luffy could see anything in the darkness but they didn't feel any snow hitting them so they guessed they were safe.

"I made it in time." Vergil muttered. The darkness he formed withstood the force of the avalanche and he let out a sigh of relief.

"It sure is handy, having a demon on your side." Sanji had to admit, this would have gotten them in trouble otherwise. "So, will we be able to get out of the snow?"

"Yeah, I'll just push the darkness up until we reach the surface." Vergil assured him.

"What's this dripping?" Luffy asked when he noticed the constant sound of dripping.

"Don't worry about it." Vergil told him.

A few minutes passed and it seemed like things have calmed down so Vergil began pushing the darkness upwards before spreading it a bit to open a passage above them. They could see again and the first thing Luffy checked was just what was dripping.

Blood.

His first mate's blood.

In order to make the shackle come off Vergil pierced it with the wood, however he also made it go through his own wrist, entire wrist and now the blood was pretty much gushing out.

"It'll be fine, let's get going." Vergil assured Luffy and picked Nami up bridal style. He effortlessly **Air Hiked** out of the snow and the other two joined him.

"That sure made damage, the landscape is nearly unrecognizable." Sanji pointed out and he was right, most of the trees were broken down and the rest was mostly covered by the snow.

"What about lapahns?" Vergil wondered.

"If we're lucky they got buried." Sanji stated.

Vergil's eyes widened suddenly when he felt tremendous demon energy on the island. "A demon is on this island, we better be careful."

"Great, just what we needed." Sanji said sarcastically.

* * *

And he was right. The young lapahn that started all of it was desperately trying to dig out its parent, unfortunately all it managed to do was make its own paws bleed.

It was crying as it tried to dig deeper but the cold and pain were unbearable. It tried to deal with the pain by putting its paws in its mouth but it didn't do much. Still it shifted from crying and digging again until it heard footsteps.

It tried to growl at the pirates as they approached it wordlessly.

Luffy and Vergil stopped in front of it while Sanji observed from the side. Baby lapahn covered in fear as the two pirates reached out. Vergil patted its head while Luffy pulled out its parent.

It looked to the side and saw the scarred lapahn was perfectly fine, a bit dazed but fine. It let out a squeal and hugged the bigger animal as Luffy, Vergil and Sanji kept going toward the mountain.

* * *

They kept going, now that the lapahns were no longer a problem it seemed like they would at the very least have a peaceful trip to the doctor. Or not…

Wapol, who had returned to the island, already went to Bighorn and wounded Dalton in the process had found out that the crew was on the island and heading for his castle, so naturally he went after them.

"There they are Wapol-sama!" Kuromarimo exclaimed.

"Wait right there you brats!" Wapol shouted out as they caught up and stepped in between the mountain and rather passive half of the crew.

"What? Who are you guys?" Luffy asked.

"How dare you bring so many humiliations upon me! I'm gonna chew you up!" Wapol

"Move." Luffy demanded.

"Well ain't you a hippo? Why the hell should I move?!" Wapol mocked.

"_**Perhaps you should wait for a few seconds. Just so you can live longer.**_" A disembodied voice of a demon stopped any and all conversations.

"You're finally here." Wapol stated.

"_So that's the one I felt. He's fast_." Vergil realized.

"_**I prefer taking my time, it's not like there's anyone worth my time here.**_" The demon said as he observed the group of four.

The demon was even bigger than the adult lapahn, he was actually standing at nearly five meters. He was extremely bulky and had ice spikes covering his entire body. The demon opened his mouth to snow sharp teeth and icy breath came out. His golden eyes betrayed his murderous intention as he looked at Nami, the most vulnerable one of the four. There was probably no way for normal humans to even notice him though, the color of his body blended into the snowy landscape and despite the size he had he was, true to the elements he controlled, extremely agile and silent.

This demon was none other than 'Blizzard Claw' Huyu. "_**Oh? So you are a demon after all.**_" Huyu noticed Vergil's eyes. "_**I was wondering what kind of weakling was on this island.**_"

Vergil remained silent but glared at the demon. This was not a time to fight.

"Vergil, guard Nami-san with your life, that's all you need to do so get going. Luffy, make sure he gets things done." Sanji stated as he stepped in front of Vergil.

"Cut it out. I hate to admit it but he's stronger than me, much stronger." Vergil gritted his teeth.

"So? That's one more reason for me to stay behind and hold him here." Sanji stated and made a fatal mistake, he turned his head toward Vergil and away from the demon.

"Sanji!" Luffy shouted out but it was too late. Huyu was in front of Sanji and slammed his knee into Sanji's guts.

The sound of bones cracking could be heard and Sanji gasped as he coughed up blood. Huyu pushed his knee forward and sent Sanji slamming into one of the trees.

"Well done! I'll make sure you get paid even more than we agreed on if you deal with the other hippos as efficiently!" Wapol praised him.

"_**Humans… Such weak creatures.**_" Huyu pulled back his fist and punched toward Sanji, gust of air hit Sanji head on and the cook fell into the snow.

"You bastard!" Luffy jumped toward him ready to attack.

"Pull back Luffy!" Vergil managed to **Demon Slide** to Luffy just in time to pull him away from Huyu. He jumped back and knelt down so he could dodge another gust of air, still the large demon was quick as he towered over the trio right away.

"Quit standing in our way…" Vergil hissed and threw snow right at Huyu's face much to the demon's amusement, one that wouldn't last for too long though.

"_**Gah! You damn bastard!**_" The snow hit the demon's face and the lightning circled Vergil's fist as the electricity embedded into the snow discharged right into Huyu's face. It was pretty much harmless but it certainly blinded the demon for a few moments and it wasn't exactly pleasant.

"Let's run for it!" Vergil exclaimed. Luffy quickly picked Sanji up and they dashed toward the mountain.

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_**And that's it. Well, Sanji got caught off guard, plus Huyu is at this moment said to be far stronger than Vergil, add the physical power he has and yeah, this was what I felt would happen.**_

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_**Next chapter – Climb The Mountain Part 2**_


	111. Climb The Mountain Part 2

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**The Storm Master 567 – Thanks, you'll see soon enough. Perhaps she will, perhaps she won't.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks, I'm glad you liked it. It'll happen soon enough.**_

_**GreenHoneyTea – Thanks, yeah, quite crazy but I guess necessary. It sure is funny, one of my favorite parts of Drum.**_

_**JayH120 – I guess that would really, really hurt… As for Huyu, yeah, he does.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**Chance Green G King – He sure fits that description. I'm still reading and so far I like it.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Yeah, I'm honestly surprised myself. I'm glad you liked the chapter.**_

_**KP360 – Good to hear you're interested and you're kinda right, you'll see what I mean in the chapter. I don't exactly have any experience with Smite, but I checked Ymir when I read your review and yeah, it can work with a few minor changes.**_

_**Naroku – Not much wait I suppose.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 111 – Climb The Mountain Part 2**_

* * *

"Quit standing in our way…" Vergil hissed and threw snow right at Huyu's face much to the demon's amusement, one that wouldn't last for too long though.

"_**Gah! You damn bastard!**_" The snow hit the demon's face and the lightning circled Vergil's fist as the electricity embedded into the snow discharged right into Huyu's face. It was pretty much harmless but it certainly blinded the demon for a few moments and it wasn't exactly pleasant.

"Let's run for it!" Vergil exclaimed. Luffy quickly picked Sanji up and they dashed toward the mountain.

"Where do you think you're going you hippos?!" Wapol yelled. "Get them!"

Chess and Kuromarimo smirked as they lunged at them.

"I'll take the girl." Chess decided.

"That leaves me with the unconscious one." Kuromarimo seemed to agree with the policy of striking down the weakened opponents first.

"Luffy! We can't fight! Just keep running!" Vergil made sure Luffy heard him.

"Got it!" The problem however appeared when dodging became a problem, that demon could simply catch them once they made one wrong move.

Vergil managed to skid to his right and evade an arrow while Luffy dodged Kuromarimo's attack and went to his left.

"_**Try this.**_** Gust Blade.**" Huyu simply moved his arm horizontally towards them.

"Duck underneath it!" Vergil instructed and they managed to evade it.

"I take it this isn't your first time dealing with wind demon." Huyu smirked.

"That's none of your concern." Vergil growled.

"_**Try dodging this.**_" Vergil's eyes widened, the snow underneath him froze and rose up to his knees. "_**I know you felt it. Wind may be my primary power, but I am quite sufficient with water as well.**_"

The demon pulled his fist back and prepared to attack just like he attacked Sanji.

"Stop it!" Luffy yelled and ran towards Vergil.

"Did you forget about us?" Kuromarimo taunted as he went to punch Luffy.

Now he certainly wasn't someone that could normally give Luffy a decent fight but with Sanji injured and without much space to fight back Luffy had to halt and then even jump back when Chess shot arrows at him.

"Give me a break." Vergil hissed when he saw Huyu lunging towards him and he quickly untied Nami from his body and let her fell into the snow. "Better than getting hit." He muttered and formed a **Darkness Shield** to lower the damage.

Huyu's fist broke right through and slammed into Vergil's guts, the half demon spat out blood and felt his ribs cracking but he remained standing.

"Vergil!" Luffy shouted out to his barely conscious first mate.

"_**Not bad. You withstood it.**_" Huyu mocked.

"_**Let me return the favor****!**_" His eyes flashed golden as his voice turned disembodied. "**Mjollnir Thunder!**" His punch landed and pushed Huyu away but that was it, the demon didn't even fall to one knee, the lightning attack that destroyed the Arlong Park and obliterated Krim, that melted Mr. 3's **Giant** **Candle Service Set**. Vergil's most destructive technique didn't even scratch, let alone wound, Huyu.

"_**Hehe. That tickled.**_"

"Why you…" Vergil seemed ready to attack again and even charged up another **Mjollnir Thunder**.

But… Nami grunted. Vergil's eyes widened and he looked back at the navigator behind him. He greeted his teeth and punched toward Huyu thus sending **Mjollnir Thunder** towards the large demon and then quickly picked Nami up bridal style. "Please, withstand this." He pleaded and **Demon Flashed** to Luffy.

"Grab on." He said and Luffy quickly did just that.

"Stop them!" Wapol ordered when Vergil began **Demon Flashing** toward the mountain.

"Yes! Wapol-sama!" Chess and Kuromarimo exclaimed and lunged toward the pirates.

"Quit following us!" Luffy yelled.

"Lapahn!" Vergil saw two rabbits and the cub from before standing in their way..

"Move it!" Luffy snapped, but the lapahn weren't there to stop them. They jumped past them and slammed Chess and Kuromarimo away.

"Lapahn!" Wapol exclaimed in surprise.

"Did they protect them?" Chess wondered.

"No way. Lapahn never take to humans. It must be coincidence." Kuromarimo stated.

"You…" Luffy recognized the one with the scar.

* * *

-Flashback-

* * *

The young lapahn that started all of it was desperately trying to dig out its parent, unfortunately all it managed to do was make its own paws bleed.

It was crying as it tried to dig deeper but the cold and pain were unbearable. It tried to deal with the pain by putting its paws in its mouth but it didn't do much. Still it shifted from crying and digging again until it heard footsteps.

It tried to growl at the pirates as they approached it wordlessly.

Luffy and Vergil stopped in front of it while Sanji observed from the side. Baby lapahn covered in fear as the two pirates reached out. Vergil patted its head while Luffy pulled out its parent.

It looked to the side and saw the scarred lapahn was perfectly fine, a bit dazed but fine. It let out a squeal and hugged the bigger animal as Luffy, Vergil and Sanji kept going toward the mountain.

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

Scarred lapahn raised its hands and roared.

"Thanks!" Luffy exclaimed and Vergil bowed his head slightly before he began Demon Flashing out of there.

"After them!" Wapol ordered.

"Yes sir!"

But two lapahn weren't all they had to worry about, the entire herd was there.

"_**Let's let them squirm. The weather is already bad, I wonder how they'll deal with it being far worse.**_ **Hurricane Force**!" Huyu clenched his fist and swung it toward the mountain. "_**How about we give them some time. If they survive this I'll play with them a bit.**_" The demon suggested and the massive destruction that the weather was causing because of him made Wapol

* * *

You could say that neither Luffy nor Vergil liked the way things were going.

"The wind is really getting stronger!" Luffy complained, it was nearly impossible to see.

"It's that bastard's fault. He is making the wind stronger." Vergil managed to breathe out. Taking that punch was taking a toll, rather big one at that. "What are you doing?" He asked when he saw Luffy taking off his coat.

"Nami's cold." The rubber man put his coat around Nami's back and Vergil had to smile a bit.

"You getting a hypothermia won't help us either." With that being said Vergil pulled his jacket off and handed it to Luffy. "I'm a demon, I can take cold far better than humans can." He smirked.

"Camion." Luffy corrected him.

"Cambion, not camion Luffy."

"Yeah, that."

"Anyway put it on, it's not as warm as a coat but it'll be better than nothing. Demon DNA is still dominant so the statement is still true, I'm fine in this cold." He wasn't, not as fine as he hoped he would be, his body was fighting off the pain and now cold as well. To hell with being a demon, he wasn't untouchable.

But he knew they needed Luffy to be at his best, because at this moment the chances of him losing consciousness were higher than Luffy's. Raising Luffy's chances of losing consciousness by exposing him to this cold could be fatal.

"I don't want to." Luffy argued.

"Luffy… Don't argue with me now."

"I said I don't want to."

"Just put it on. I'm getting weaker as we speak, stupid jacket won't do much for me. If you on the other hand pass out because of this damn cold there will be no one to get to the doctor. So put it on and at the very least make sure you're somewhat warm." Vergil said.

"I'll carry you too if you lose consciousness." Luffy assured him.

"Good to know, now put that on so I can pass out in peace and blissful knowledge that you won't freeze to death and fall asleep with all of us unconscious as well."

"Shishishi" The slight humor didn't fly over Luffy's head and the captain actually laughed a bit. "It's warm." Luffy said as he put on Vergil's Demon Hunter jacket and pulled the zipper up.

"I really regret not taking 'Trigger' now." Vergil voiced out his real concern.

"Trigger?" Luffy was still a bit confused as to what that was.

"I can transform with that, remember?"

"Oh? The mystery ball?"

"Yeah, that."

"We'll figure something out when we get to the doctor." Luffy said.

"Yeah, we will. Speaking of doctor, we only need to climb up this mountain to get to her."

They reached it, the bottom of the mountain, the beginning of the hard part, this was where they needed to really climb.

With Sanji on Luffy's back and Nami on Vergil's back the two began climbing with their bare hands and in Luffy's case bare feet.

Barely a few meters down, around 5000 meters to go, with winds capable of braking down buildings to blow through their bones.

* * *

Lapahn, a carnivorous rabbit, creature infamous for attacking that which trespasses into its territory. A creature capable of tanking even Luffy's punch. In herd they are almost unstoppable, capable of causing an avalanche, the key word was… almost…

Huyu laughed, he didn't even break a sweat yet here he was in the middle of a slaughtering ground. About half of the lapahn were dead, viciously slaughtered by the demon. Remaining half was clinging to life and the only conscious one was the small cub that started the entire encounter of the crew and the pirates.

It was crying, trying to wake its parent.

"_**I like this one, perfect for killing in front of those weaklings.**_" Huyu smirked and he picked the crying lapahn up, he didn't even bother to at the very least knock it out, he enjoyed them, the cries it was letting out.

* * *

As for the rest of the crew… Well they had their fair share of troubles as well.

Prior to Wapol even returning Usopp, Vivi and Dalton found out that the doctor went to a nearby village on that exact day and then when they reached the town that she was in they found out she left again. With Wapol's return Dalton left the duo alone and eventually they got caught up in the avalanche.

As for Dalton, Ushi Ushi no mi: Model Bison (Ox Ox fruit) user, he took three arrows to the chest to protect the villagers that came to fight Wapol so he was also buried in the avalanche.

Finally, Zoro, he went for a swim, swam to far away from the Going Merry and eventually got lost in the forest. So, being a genius that he is he began exercising and also got buried in the very same avalanche.

Luckily he was found by Vivi and Usopp and now they were going forward to the civilization.

"Midwinter swimming?!" Usopp exclaimed as Zoro began explaining himself.

"Yeah. I was swimming down the river and suddenly I didn't know where I was. Then I got onto shore, lost sight of the riverbank and got lost in the woods."

"Without any clothes? You're an idiot, you know?" Well being dressed in only his pants really was idiotic. Zoro didn't even have his shoes on, let alone shirt.

"Whatever Usopp, give me your coat."

"Fat chance."

"_I wonder if Nami-san was overcome with mental fatigue_." Vivi came to a possibly logical conclusion.

"Then, your shoes!"

"No."

"One shoe."

"No! You have to pay for your mistakes you know!"

"Look at that. There are people down there." Vivi pointed out as they stopped at one of the hills above the group of people.

They looked down and Usopp was the first to notice the similarities.

"Hey. Those buildings look familiar." He noticed.

"Eh?" Vivi took a closer look and recognized the place as well. "You're right! This is Bighorn! We ended up all the way back here!"

"Looks like something's going on." Usopp realized as the trio walked down to the villagers.

"Hey. What's going on?" Zoro asked.

"'What's going on?' you say…" One of the villages turned around and saw the real reason to ask that, a shirtless green haired idiot who was trying to keep himself warm… "What's going on with you, dressed like that?!"

"Dalton-san is… under the avalanche!" Someone else offered an answer.

"What?!" Usopp nearly shouted.

"Dalton-san is?" Vivi asked for confirmation.

"Yes. But because of them, we can't dig him out of the snow!" And she certainly got it.

"Stand back! Stand back! Anyone with a problem, feel free to step up and show us what you've got! Hahahahaha!" One of Wapol's soldiers practiced being in a position of power for once in his life.

"Usopp. I've seen those uniforms before. Those are the guys we met at sea. Am I wrong?!" Zoro recognized them.

"Yeah. Same guys." And Usopp confirmed it.

"So they're our enemies."

"Huh?"

"Enemies right?"

"Huh?"

"What are they then? Allies?"

"Well, they're enemies, but… What about it?" And that was all Zoro needed to know.

"Hahahaha! Are you that afraid without Dalton around? Hahahaha!" Soldier mocked. But he certainly wasn't getting the last laugh as his laugh got interrupted by Zoro backhanding him.

Vivi gasped. "Mr. Bushido!"

The soldiers were angered and surprised, but mostly surprised and with their weapons ready more out of habit. "Who's that?!"

"Hey you! Stop! You're provoking them!" One of the villagers warned the swordsman.

But Zoro was now warmly dressed and laughing. "Nice and warm! I'll borrow this!"

"You attacked him for that?! Hey, look! They're pissed off now!" Usopp yelled at him.

"YOU! You were on the same ship as the guy who beat up Wapol-sama!" One of the soldiers recognized him.

Zoro smirked as he turned to them. "Ho. You're rather slow to learn, gentlemen."

They attacked as a group as if that would work. Zoro, being as experienced fighter as he was easily slipped between them and left three of the soldiers wondering where their swords were.

"Are you looking…" He turned around and showed them the swords. "…for these?" He grinned smugly as he put one of the swords into his mouth.

"Kill him!" Came the order and another head on attack.

Now Zoro wasn't one to just sit and get attacked. He rushed forward and the entire platoon of soldiers was quickly cut down, the remaining ones stopped just for a moment. "**Hawk Wave**!" That dealt with most of them and the remaining handful didn't stand a chance.

"What? Finished already?" Zoro stabbed the swords into the snow and stood smugly in the snow field decorated by his fallen enemies. "What a bunch of losers."

The villagers were left speechless and they certainly weren't the only ones. Vivi experienced the same amount of amazement.

"Amazing." Vivi muttered.

"Okay! Good job, Zoro. As per my instructions!" Usopp praised him.

And he was ignored as people had more important things to care about.

"Find Dalton-san!"

"Right!"

As they passed Zoro one of the villagers looked at him. "Thank you, sir."

"Hurry! Dig here!"

"Well? What's going on here?" Zoro asked once Usopp approached him.

"Save it for later. We have to help them!"

"Dalton-san… please be alive!"

Usopp was digging with his hands as quickly as he could and the entire village worked frantically in order to find the man.

* * *

Although seeing in what state the rest of the crew was it seemed like Zoro and the others were having a field day…

"…Doctor…" Luffy had been chanting the word like it was the only one he ever knew as he and Vergil climbed further up the mountain.

The cold was ripping their will and consciousness into tiny shreds as the skin that was exposed gained pink, nearly red color and they both had bruises on their fingers.

"OUCH!" Luffy grabbed onto a bit sharper piece of rock and immediately paid the price as his fingers received cuts much deeper than the ones he had up until now.

"Damn it… Of all places to pick the crazy hag picked top of the tallest mountain on the island…" Vergil cursed, the strain he was putting on his right arm was making his wound worse as the flesh tore bit by bit every now and then. It wasn't anything significant but it certainly would have been better without the wound.

* * *

And they kept going, the coat Luffy gave to Nami was blown away and the jacket Vergil had given to Luffy wasn't helping. Both climbers had frostbites nearly everywhere, to make matters worse as they were getting closer to the top the wind was getting stronger, almost as if it was following them and intensifying in strength as they climbed.

Luffy's eyes widened when the rock he grabbed on cracked and he began sliding down the mountain.

"Got you…" His descent was stopped by Vergil, who was about one feet below him grabbed him by the collar of the jacket.

"Thanks…" Luffy mumbled.

"Don't mention…!" And it had to happen, the sudden added weight made the rock Vergil was holding on to crack.

They began falling and there was nothing they could grab on to. "_**Damn it…!**_" Dark Edge materialized in Vergil's hand and he stabbed it into the mountain thus stopping the fall.

"Too close…" Luffy let out a sigh of relief and looked at Vergil. "Your eyes." Luffy pointed out.

"_**Huh? What about them?**_" Vergil wondered, he could hear his voice so he knew he entered the half-awakened state so his eyes were completely yellow, right?

"They're red." And the Halfling's eyes widened. Red eyes were sign of demon and human blood being in synch, whether temporary or permanently, forced or not, uncontrolled or controlled, it didn't matter. Ten years passed since both sides of his DNA were in perfect balance and not constantly at war.

"_**It doesn't matter, let's keep going.**_" He said and managed to reach the mountain again.

* * *

It felt like forever, but they were almost there, with only about a dozen of meters to climb they were exhausted. The wind even made cuts on their skin, even more on Vergil's since being a lightning demon made him weaker against wind.

They made a couple of final pushes and reached the solid ground, the top, the castle.

"Made it…" Luffy said but his vision was getting blurry. "Doctor…"

"We did it…" Vergil managed to breathe out and did one final **Demon Flash** that pulled him, Nami, Luffy and Sanji barely a few meters forward but certainly away from the cliff. With that the half demon lost consciousness and the rubber man followed just a few moments later.

* * *

"Doctorine. There's an antibody response." Young voice spoke up.

"Yeah. As there should be. So what is the origin of the disease? Can you tell me?" The doctor known as the witch, Kureha asked.

"Kestia." There was no hesitation, the answer was firm and confident.

"That's right. It's a Kestia. You look after the girl." And she gave order to her assistant.

"Okay." One that the owner of the child-like voice complied to.

She entered another room and glanced at the body lying on the bed. "Another Leonidas, eh? He looks just like the previous one. I wonder if he's your son, Irene."

* * *

_**And that's it.**_

* * *

_**Next chapter – Tony Tony Chopper**_


	112. Tony Tony Chopper

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Chance Green G King – Yeah, she knows a bit about both of his parents. Actually there's only one, but like Vergil who has lightning and darkness, Huyu has wind and water. Please define what falls under awkward and then I'll be able to give you an answer.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**The Storm Master 567 – It'll happen at some point in the arc.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks, yeah utterly outclassed.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you, I'm happy you liked all that. He will do some training, that's for sure.**_

_**Naroku – Well it's not like I want to go back to two months between updates so I'll try to keep up for at least some time.**_

_**KP360 – Looks like I'm on a roll. For now… It'll be revealed eventually  
V: Author, what is Gian talking about? That demon killed lapahn?  
Uh, can you forget about that? Go back to the chapter. Anyway, she does. You'll see soon enough, hopefully, if I don't get back to no updates for months schedule…**_

_**Guest – Thanks, I'll try.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 112 – Tony Tony Chopper**_

* * *

Nami finally woke up to the sound of something similar to hooves stepping on the floor but that would be just ridiculous… right?

A bowl filled with herbs was set on the desk and the sound of the herbs being mixed and minced made the orange haired navigator turn to the side.

She was probably hallucinating, since she saw a small brown toddler-sized creature looking somewhat like a human and reindeer hybrid wearing pink top hat with a sideway medical cross on it and maroon shorts. She tried to focus a bit more but the image remained the same and the creature even turned around and jumped down from the stool it was standing on.

Nami sat up. "Who…?"

She certainly didn't expect the creature to freak out. Nearly jump out of his own skin, hit the chair and cause multiple things to fall down. Plus it looked like whatever it was it was frightened.

Nami sweat dropped and the two looked at each other for a moment before creature ran to the doors and hid behind the wall in a peaking manner, only he got it wrong and most of his body was there to be seen.

They just kept looking at each other, creature filled with fear and Nami filled with curiosity or simple confusion as to where exactly did her nakama bring her.

"Isn't that… backwards?" Nami's statement made the creature's eyes widened before he slowly switched sides and peeked at her again.

"It's a bit late now. And I can still see you. Who are you?" Was she really expecting an answer.

"SHUT UP, HUMAN!" Creature screamed at her and Nami looked shocked. "And how's your fever?" Well that was a bit random…

"IT SPOKE!" Nami screamed thus once again scaring the creature and making him stumble backwards. Thus once again causing an even bigger mess then before.

"Settle down, Chopper!" Kureha told him and he did settle down, though not in a way he would like.

Kureha chuckled as she looked at Nami. "Looks like your fever's gone down, little girl." Her grin widened. "Ya happy?"

Nami was probably thrown off by the fact that the woman in front of her seemed like another hybrid, of a young female that had curvy figure from the neck down and an old lady with a witch like face. Furthermore the doctor was drinking rum and wearing a short sleeved top, her stomach was exposed, on a winter island, exposed…!

Kureha placed her finger on Nami's forehead and took a long swing of her drink.

"And you are?" Nami asked.

"38.2 degrees. That's tolerable. I am a doctor. Dr. Kureha." She took her sunglasses off. "But call me Doctorine."

"A doctor?" Nami looked around the room. "Then this must be…"

"The secret of my youth?" Kureha asked randomly.

"No… I didn't ask."

She took another long swing of the rum. "This place is just as it seems. A castle atop a mountain."

"Then there should have been three other people with me, right?" Nami asked.

"Yeah, the two of them are sleeping like babies in the next room. Quite a tough pair." Kureha commented.

Nami felt a relief wash over her for a moment and then realized that the count wasn't right. "Wait two?"

"Humans." Kureha sat down on her bed.

This set off alarms in Nami's mind. "What about Vergil?!"

"Irene's brat, eh? I'm still treating him." Nami looked at her in disbelief. Irene was Vergil's mother, that much she knew but how in the world did this woman know it was shrouded in mystery.

"Is something wrong?" Still the worry was more apparent than the curiosity.

Kureha ignored her question and lifted Nami's shirt up thus exposing the cause of the sickness. "Look."

"Answer me." The navigator demanded.

"Later. This is the cause of your illness." Kureha began the explanation.

"What… is that?" Nami muttered.

"You were bitten by an insect called a Kestia. It's an infectious species of tick that inhabits hot, humid jungles. The infection begins when the insect bites and bacteria enters through its mouth. Once inside, it incubates for five days, causing the host immense pain. The symptoms include a fever of over 40 degrees, widespread infection, Myocarditis, Arteritis and Encephalitis. From the state of the wound, I'm guessing it's about the third day. I expect you've had more than your share of pain up until now but if you'd left it alone for two more days, it wouldn't have hurt at all."

"After two more days?" Well maybe this entire trip could have been avoided.

"Two more days, and you would've been dead." Or maybe not.

Nami's eyes widened and she gasped. The trip was definitely necessary.

"They call it a Five-day Disease. Though I heard the Kestia became extinct a hundred years ago. You're lucky I still had the antibiotic. Just where the hell did you come from? You weren't wandering around a jungle on one of the Prehistoric Islands with your belly sticking out, were you?" She chuckled. "Of course you weren't."

Actually, that's exactly what happened and Nami's face showed it.

"You know something about that? What a surprising little girl." She pushed Nami down. "Lay down. Get some sleep. You're not fully recovered yet."

"Thanks a lot, but there's no need if the fever's receding. I'll get better on my own, won't I?" Nami assumed.

"Naïve little girl. By its nature, once treatment has begun, it takes ten days to recover from this disease. But if you want to go back to that pain and die, that's a different story. Even with my medicine, you'll have to stay put for at least three more days." Three days, time they absolutely didn't have.

"Eh?" Nami abruptly sat up. "I can't stay here for three days! We have to hurry and get Vivi to Alabasta!"

Kureha spun a knife in her hand and pushed Nami back to the bed, to make sure she was taken seriously she put the knife near the navigator's neck. "The only time someone leaves my care… Hehehehe. Is when they've recovered or died. There's no escape."

Nami's eyes widened in utter terror.

"I'm going to finish treating Irene's brat. Leaving before I finish treating him would only cause more damage to him."

If threatening her life wasn't enough this certainly got Nami to stay put.

* * *

Chopper finished changing Luffy and Sanji's bandages. He remembered Luffy's barely conscious form before they were brought into the castle and walked up to the rubber man.

* * *

-Flashback-

* * *

"They climbed the mountain with his bare hands? This Drum rock is 5000 meters high!"

Chopper went to Vergil. "This one has three broken ribs, frostbite and multiple cuts."

Kureha glanced toward the demon. "I'll take care of that one." She stated.

Luffy was shaking as Kureha observed him.

"He has frostbite throughout most of his body. What was he thinking, dressed like that?" Sure the jacket helped a bit but it was mostly useless. "Heat up some water and toss him in right away."

Chopper went to Sanji and opened his shirt. "This one has severe hemorrhaging, six broken ribs and a fractured spine. Can I operate on him?"

Kureha picked Nami up a bit. "This girl appears to be in the worst condition. She's on the verge of death. Chopper, prepare some phenicol, cadiotonics and some chialshirin."

"Does she have an infection?" Chopper asked.

"Yeah, though it's not an infection you can get from this island."

Luffy reached out and grabbed Kureha's forearm thus surprising the two. It sounded like he was trying to say something.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of that bloody kid, the demon and this girl, I assure you."

"THEY'RE MY NAKAMA."

Chopper's eyes widened. All of this for his nakama, this human went through all of this, climbing the Drum Rockies, probably lapahn as well for this.

"I know. We'll help them. Chopper, let's begin treatment." Kureha assured him.

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

Long story short Luffy and Sanji woke up and Chopper was an animal in other words meat, so what happened next was a frantic chase…

* * *

"SAVE ME!"

The scream caused Nami to once again sit up as Chopper, Luffy and Sanji ran through the room.

"Wait meat!" Luffy yelled.

"Wait Luffy! I have to cook it first!" Sanji tried to stop Luffy from eating Chopper alive.

And Kureha didn't even get a chance to go and finish Vergil's treatment, the trio ran through the room before she even stepped out of it.

The trio ran through the room again and Luffy finally noticed Nami sitting on the bed, awake. He blinked and then ran backwards until he was standing in front of her.

"Nami!"

Sanji jumped to her as well. "Nami-san!"

"You got better!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Thanks to you guys." She smiled at them.

"Alright! Nami-san, I'll whip up a nice venison dish to help speed your recovery!" Sanji promised.

Luffy noticed Chopper trying to sneak out.

"HOLD IT!" The two shouted and began running after Chopper again.

"I'm surprised. They can run around like that already."

"What is that blue-nosed talking stuffed deer?" Nami asked.

"You wanna know, huh? His name's Chopper. And he's just a regular blue-nosed reindeer."

"But reindeer don't talk."

"There's one difference between him and any other reindeer."

"One difference?"

Chopper who was still being chased suddenly became much bigger. "I AIN'T YOUR FOOD!" He yelled and slammed the two down into the floor.

"He's eaten the Hito Hito no mi."

"The Hito Hito no mi… One of the Devil Fruits." Nami realized.

"Yeah. He's a reindeer who's gained the abilities of a human." She grinned. "And I've pounded all of my medical skills into him."

* * *

Finally, with a bit of time she had Kureha went into the room where Vergil lied. She simply checked if his recovery was going in the right way, all the medical stuff was already done, now it was up to him.

The cambion was still unconscious, mostly because of the sedative Kureha gave him. Now due to cambion being an unusual sight she didn't have something specific for Vergil, but she gave him a medicine that should to some extent negate the effects of 'Trigger' and calm the raging blood that was trying to once again find synch.

Normally it would be fine for human and demon DNA to synch, but it was forced and thus it could end the white haired male's death. She learnt that this was the very reason why cambions failed to survive through the tests Mundus made them go through.

Which also gave her another fact about Vergil, he was a test subject, probably the only survivor. Most likely due to his father's bloodline being quite strong, Leonidas were after all said to be connected to the Darkness itself in some way. The fact that he already survived it once was the reason why he didn't kick the bucket this time. His body was at least somewhat familiar with the Cambion DNA.

"Nami…" Vergil muttered as he opened his eyes. "How is she…?"

"The girl is fine. All of your comrades are, two of them are chasing after my reindeer as we speak." Kureha assured him.

"Reindeer? That sounds like them. I bet Luffy's hungry and Sanji wants to cook it for Nami." Cambion smirked a bit.

"Ya happy? You could have died because of the 'Trigger'." Kureha stated.

"I'll admit I didn't think that far ahead when I took it. I still didn't use it completely though." The smirk didn't leave his face. "Can I go and see Nami?"

"Go ahead."

"Thank you, for saving her and helping my nakama." He actually stood up and bowed to Kureha in gratitude before going straight to Nami's room.

"Hehe, he really is your son." Kureha noticed.

* * *

She couldn't fall asleep, her mind was too busy working out a reason why Vergil had to be treated. So, when she heard footsteps and turned her head to see him she sat up and smiled at him.

"And here I was worried." Nami teased him.

"I'm honored." He walked up to her bed and crouched down. "How are you feeling?"

"Fine. My fever is receding. Thanks for getting me up here." She glanced at the bandages he had on but quickly looked up when he pressed the back of his left hand against her forehead.

"You're still a bit warm though." He muttered. "I didn't get to talk to the doctor. What caused the sickness?"

"Some bug that bit me while we were on the Little Garden. I would have…" She hesitated, but the look in Vergil's eyes urged her to say it. "…died in two days. Thanks for saving me again."

Vergil's face remained unreadable for a few moments and then he leaned in and reached out to her. Nami relaxed when she felt him wrapping his arm around her shoulders and closed the distance between them herself. It wasn't like their usual hugs, when she had her head against his chest, this time she rested her chin on his shoulder.

"Vergil…" She whispered.

"Hm?" He responded rather intelligently.

She remained silent but she tightened her hold on him and pulled him closer, her right hand which rested on his neck went up a bit into his hair and she leaned back without once making the distance between their bodies any bigger. He complied and supported his body by putting his hand down on her bed.

"Sorry for making you guys go through this." Her voice barely a whisper, she apologized.

"Don't worry about it. We make you go through trouble on a daily basis, you get to return the favor every now and then." Vergil assured her.

"But Vivi and Alabasta…" Nami began.

"You're more important." And the demon didn't leave a single space for argument thus the human underneath him resigned to enjoying the warmth for a bit longer.

"You shitty demon! Get away from Nami-san!" And that went out the window the moment Sanji barged in with Luffy close behind him.

"Vergil! You're up as well!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Yeah, yeah." It may have been Nami's imagination but he seemed a bit grumpy over prematurely ended hug time.

"Hehehe. You seem disappointed, Irene's brat." Kureha walked in and Vergil's eyes widened.

"How did you just call me?"

"Irene's brat." Kureha repeated.

"You knew my mother?" Vergil asked.

"You could say that." Kureha sat down and threw a bottle at Vergil. "Drink it."

"Thanks." Vergil downed the context of the bottle and moved to lean against the wall. "I'd like to hear more about that later."

"Heheh, sure you'd like. Fine. I'll tell you." Kureha promised.

* * *

A bit of time passed and the group had a meal so now Luffy decided to make one more mistake.

"Please be my nakama! I'm begging you, Grandma! We need a doctor on our ship!"

"Luffy! That's your name, right?" She put a finger in front of rubber man's face.

"Yeah."

"Did you just call me 'Grandma'?"

"Yeah, I did, Grandma." A mistake anyone with functional brain wouldn't make.

And she kicked him. "YOU SHOULD WATCH YOUR MOUTH!"

And he slammed into the wall above the doors and made a crack…

"I'm still in my sparkling, too young, too young 130's, you know." Kureha stated.

"Whoa, you're hella old." Mistake Sanji, mistake, paid by a face to the wall.

"Want me to become a pirate, eh? What a load of crap. You're wasting your breath. I'm not interested in the ocean." Kureha stated.

Luffy got up again. "You don't have to be! Just come on an adventure with us, grandma!"

"Hey, hey. Didn't I just tell you to watch your mouth?"

"Useless, it's in one ear and through the other with him." Vergil commented with a small grin on his face.

"_He's a pirate._" Chopper was 'peeking' at Luffy. Which was the reason why Luffy and Sanji noticed him, jaws dropped and another chase began. One that Kureha quickly began participating in in order to catch the cook and the pirate captain and through that save her little reindeer.

"The hell just happened?" Vergil had to ask, due to being asleep up until recently he wasn't exactly up to date with what was going on.

"Don't think about it too much." Nami advised.

"Probably the best choice." Vergil sighed. "Tch, they left the doors open." He noticed and went to close the doors.

"Looks like I lost them…" Chopper looked around.

"For now." Vergil smirked at him.

Chopper looked up toward the white haired male and the usual reaction almost happened. He was about to scream but Vergil put a hand over his mouth.

"Shh. You'll get them back on track. I know, I'm a demon, you are talking animal, let's not make a fuss about either of the two." And he gave Chopper the most honest grin he could.

"Reindeer…" Chopper muttered.

"Ah, sorry, talking reindeer then." Vergil apologized. "Thanks for taking care of Nami."

"Thanks. I really appreciate it." Nami added as she smiled as well.

"SHUT UP! I don't need gratitude from a human or a demon!" But he began doing a sheepish happy dance before going back into the furious mode. "Don't mess with me!" Back to being happy. "Asshole. Don't mess with me, jerk." He was really happy. "It won't work… I mean it…"

"The type that can't hide his feelings, huh?" Nami said to herself.

Either way Chopper slowly touched Nami's hand with his hoof. "You guys are pirates?"

"Yeah." She confirmed it.

"Real ones?" He still wasn't that certain.

"That's right." Nami tried to assure him.

"Do you have a skull and crossbones flag?" Chopper asked.

"Right on our ship. Interested in pirates?" And she set him off again.

"NO! IDIOT!" Chopper panicked and staggered backwards thus hitting the bookshelf. "NO WAY!" A large book hit him on the head thus making him sit on the floor. "STUPID!"

Nami grinned apologetically. "Alright, alright, sorry, sorry. But… If that's so…" She smiled at him. "Would you like to come with us?"

Chopper screamed again.

"To the sea. Wanna come with us? Hm?" She tilted her head to the side. "It's be a big help to me. If we have a doctor on board, I won't have to stay here for three days. Also our ship doesn't have-"

"D-Don't be stupid!" Chopper cut her off. "I'm a reindeer you know? WHY THE HELL WOULD I GO WITH HUMANS?!" Nami's eyes widened at the outburst and Vergil's eyes narrowed. "I mean, aren't you scared of me? I'm a reindeer, but I walk upright… and I can talk."

"What, you want me to be scared of you?" Nami asked.

Chopper looked at her. "And my nose is blue…"

The trio remained silent for awhile and then the masters of bad timing came in.

"So this is where you were… REINDEER!" Luffy and Sanji, who else…

"Come back here!" They both shouted as they ran after Chopper.

Vergil closed the doors again and Kureha set her rum bottle on the table. "What a quick pair of brats." She sat down. "I'm disappointed, little girl."

"Eh?"

"Who said you could tempt my reindeer when I'm not around?" Kureha gave her a mock lecture.

"Oh. You're saying I need permission to hit on a guy?" Nami asked cheekily.

Kureha laughed at that. "No, you don't. If you want him, go ahead and take him. However, someone like him won't go so easily. His heart bears deep scars, large wounds that even I cannot heal. You see, from the moment he was born, he was abandoned by his parents and his herd."

Nami's eyes widened and Vergil clenched his fist as he leaned against the wall behind Nami.

"All because he had a blue nose. He always walked alone by himself at the back of the herd. This is a newborn baby we're talking about. Then one day, he ate one of the Devil Fruit and came to be treated as a complete monster. The other reindeer viscously chased him away. He had completely ceased to be a normal reindeer. But he must have wished for some nakama. So in the form of a man, he went down to a human village. But he didn't look like a human either. For some reason, his blue nose didn't change." And it got worse.

"He didn't understand what he did wrong. He didn't even know who to hate. He only wanted some nakama, but was branded a monster. He was no longer a reindeer… but neither was he a human. So he lived all alone, in total solitude." That was Chopper's story… At least a part of it, the very beginning.

"Can you fill the void in his heart?" She asked.

Nami remained silent and Vergil gritted his teeth, it was a small action that coupled with his body language made things clear to Kureha who glanced at him from the corner of her eye.

"Well I wouldn't mind if you were the ones to take him to the sea. After all you understand him, don't you?" Kureha's eyes were now fixated on Vergil.

"I don't. He is the only one, I'm not." Vergil stated, his voice didn't show any emotion and his face remained unreadable.

"So? Which one are you?" Kureha asked and it didn't take a second for Vergil to realize what she was asking.

"Primarily I was CTS – DFHM – 3352, but as you can see I got kinda promoted, to CTS – S – 1, as far as I'm aware there isn't CTS – S – 2." He replied.

"Which means you are the only one, Irene's brat." Kureha smirked at him.

"Vergil." He corrected her.

"Oh? Are you ashamed?"

"It's contrary. It brings shame to her name to call me her child." Nami's eyes widened at that.

"Hehe. Vergil it is then." Kureha agreed.

* * *

_**That's it.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Doctor Hiluluk**_


	113. Doctor Hiluluk

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Kakusei – Thanks for the review, rum is probably one of my favorites and I planned from the start to tie him into the Human World, well mostly through Irene. Since she was a human there's not much sense in her not being brought up at least once in canon arcs.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks, I'm glad you liked it.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**Naroku – There will be a bit more about her soon as you can probably guess.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you. I suppose it is a highlight.**_

_**SubZPhantomX – I take it you're also the guest as well. First of all thank you very much for taking time to read this, I know it's really a long story at this point being nearly 500k words. I have read Another Nakama series and it really saddens me to know that it ended the way it did. In my opinion it's the very top of the OC stories in this community and to have this story of mine reminding anyone in any way of that story really honors me. As for Free Heart, if you are the Guest reviewer, I haven't read it but I'll probably read it sooner or later.**_

_**KP360 – Or it can open up a lot of things right away. You'll see as you read.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 113 – Doctor Hiluluk**_

* * *

They seemed nice, nicer than most people he has ever met. They got injured trying to get their nakama to Doctorine, that spoke something about them, right? And the demon wasn't as scary as he initially thought he'd be and the girl even invited him to join them… Yet…

"A MONSTER!" He heard the other two scream after he transformed in front of them.

"W-What is it?! If it walks on two legs…"

"…and it looks like a reindeer…"

"…and it's furry…"

"…and it's small…"

"…and then it gets big…"

"…IT'S A MONSTER!"

He heard Luffy and Sanji completing each other's thoughts before finishing together. Even they saw him as nothing but a monster…

What he didn't hear was the continuation of the conversation. "I like him! That's so cool! Sanji! Let's make him out nakama!" Thus, Chopper's nightmare began for there was a price you needed to pay in order to join Luffy's crew, you had to go through severe, nightmare-like process of acceptance. Yes, you had to accept that you were now Luffy's nakama and that meant abiding by his wishes, first one being of course, officially joining the crew. The only choice you did have was when to relent and give in.

* * *

A bit later Sanji came up to Nami with a special dish he prepared just for her.

"In order to help you regain your health, Nami-san, I've prepared an exrtra special meal for your enjoyment."

"Thank you, Sanji-kun."

He blushed, a bit more than just a little bit. "But then again, Nami-san is still wonderful even when she's exhausted…"

"Unbelievable. When did you decide you could use the kitchen?" Kureha appeared at the doors.

"Madam, the roast there is high in protein and will rejuvenate-!" Another mistake paid by getting his face kicked right into the wall.

"I am not a 'madam'. I am an unwed flower. Still too young, far too young."

"139, right?" It looked like Nami and Kureha were getting along.

"_Must be a witch thing_…" Vergil sweat dropped at their interaction.

"Doctorine, save me!" Chopper cried as he ran past them with Luffy right behind him.

"Hold up! Hey, wait up!"

The two were circling around Kureha while Chopper tried to seek safety in the older woman.

"I've got you cornered!" Luffy grinned.

"What are you doing?" Nami asked.

"This guy's gonna be our nakama." Luffy stated.

"Oh, really?"

"I never agreed to that!" Chopper denied.

"Did so!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"You two are giving me a headache." Kureha berated them.

"Hey, Luffy. Mind if I soften him up a bit for you?" Vergil said out of blue.

"Huh, sure." Luffy agreed believing that his first mate had a plan.

"Waaah!" Chopper cried as he quickly began running away.

"We'll be back eventually!" Vergil called out as he ran after Chopper.

"You think Vergil can be gentle enough with that guy?" Sanji asked, most particularly Nami, since Luffy would just say 'yes' anyway.

"Being gentle isn't exactly Vergil's trait." Nami felt a bit unsure about this. Yeah, Vergil did care, but other than a few times he actually had a caring, softer approach, he wasn't gentle. If you had a problem and needed someone to be saved from, yeah, Vergil was the first one she'd turn to. If she needed to feel safe, protected and all that, yeah, he'd be the first one she'd go to as well. She was sure he'd listen if someone he cared about wanted to talk about their problems, but she was also sure he'd be blunt and maybe too honest in his response. Not the best emotional support kind of guy…

"Vergil's got this." Yet Luffy seemed sure about this. Perhaps because he didn't think too much about it, or he knew instinctively that things would be fine.

Kureha didn't seem worried either but that seemed to be the result of her knowing something Nami, or Sanji didn't.

* * *

"Quit chasing me!" Chopper cried out.

"Listen to me then." Vergil said as he ran after Chopper, he could have ended the chase, a few **Demon Flashes** and done, Chopper wouldn't be able to escape, he didn't he wanted the reindeer to stop.

"I don't want to be a pirate!" Reindeer exclaimed.

"It hurts doesn't it? Not knowing where you belong, being a cross between two breeds and not having anyone around that's just like you." Vergil stated.

Chopper stopped and turned to give Vergil a glare that betrayed his pain at the brought up memories. "What do you know?! You're a demon!"

"No I'm not. Merely a Halfling." Vergil said, he was now simply walking to Chopper who stood there, his eyes widened with shock.

"Halfling?" Reindeer repeated.

"My mother was a human, my father was a demon. That makes me Halfling. Hybrid. Crossbreed. Half-demon, half-human. Cambion. Whatever works for you." Vergil grinned at him. "How about you take me somewhere and we can talk a bit?" He suggested and though still slightly surprised Chopper nodded and brought Vergil to his room.

"Kureha already told us a bit about you, about eating the Devil Fruit and not fitting in, so it's only natural that I give information for information, you know, fair trade." Cambion began once he sat down on chair while Chopper sat on his bed. "Is there something you want to know?"

"Are you really pirates?" Was the first question he asked.

"Yeah. We sail and look for adventure. That's Luffy's idea of how it should be and I guess I agree. We sing and have parties. Sorry about this, putting things into words is rarely my strong point. Anyway, the crew's small, Luffy is the captain, he's the guy that was chasing you. Sanji, the blond guy is the cook, Nami is the navigator and I'm the first mate. We've got two more nakama, Zoro, he has green hair and he's our swordsman and Usopp, he's got a long nose and he's our sniper. Vivi and Carue are travelling with us. Vivi is a princess and Carue is her duck." Vergil gave small but defining details about his nakama. "Anything else you'd like to know?"

"No… About that half-demon thing… What is it like?" Chopper wasn't exactly sure if he could ask something like that but Vergil was the first one to speak about it so he took risk.

"Being a cambion was even worse than being a human in the Demon World, humans were humans, whatever. Cambion has blood of both a demon and a human, which was mostly looked at as an insult to the demons. You either ended up as a test subject, if you were lucky you'd end up as someone's weapon in training. Even if you don't get either of those there's not much you can look forward to if you keep saying you are a cambion. Humans on the other hand judge you as a demon, most are afraid of me, terrified even, they think I'll rip them to shreds while they sleep and maybe even eat them or whatever image they have of demons. Most of the humans won't accept you, and neither will most of the demons. You are left to be the monster that can survive in mid-dimension. That's the gist of being a cambion." Vergil explained.

"And for you?"

"I was a test subject, the only one so far that actually survived. I was one day away from turning five when it happened. Sometime later I met Grom, he took me in, taught me how to fight and he was one of two demons that knew what I was and didn't mind. I was Vergil, I was his student and…" He had a distant look in his eyes and smiled, for the first time Chopper saw the more human side to the Halfling. "…his pride. I rarely called myself cambion, not because I was afraid of the reaction, or ashamed. I simply lost the right to call myself human in any way."

"Why?"

"After I survived the testing I experienced lightning for the first time, that's how I got the scar." Vergil motioned to his scarred side of the face. "Even though it was out of my control, even though it was unintentional, I still killed my mother with these hands, with this very lightning." He made a few sparks and glanced at horrified Chopper.

"Your own… mother?" It looked to Vergil like Chopper was reliving something.

"She was trying to get me to stop, I guess, to calm me down, to hell if I know… I killed her and there isn't anything that can change that. See now Chopper? You aren't a monster. In the hierarchy of monstrosities there's little that can rank higher than the ones that killed their own family members."

"But you said it yourself! It was unintentional." Reindeer was on the verge of tears for some reason.

"Unintentionally. Unknowingly. But still, with these hands." Vergil offered the small reindeer a sad ghost of a smile as he walked up to Chopper. He slowly put a hand on Chopper's tiny shoulder making the reindeer look at him. "Thanks for trying though."

"Then I… I'm a monster as well!" Chopper cried out.

"Want to talk about it?" Vergil asked.

"I… I don't remember much about how it started but I was shot by the villagers and barely conscious, I would have probably died if it wasn't for Doctor…"

* * *

-Flashback-

* * *

His vision was foggy but a strange man was kneeling next to him mentioning Abominable Snowman, the name they called him, and he had a gun. So Chopper screamed and punched the strange man away before giving a loud cry. He turned to leave believing that he had taken care of the man… That he got rid of the human… He couldn't be more wrong…

"Making a fool of me…" Man who he later learnt was Hiluluk, a quack doctor. "Just… Who do you think I am?! Hey, hold it!"

Chopper turned around.

"I WILL NOT SHOOT YOU!"

The strange human was naked. In the snow, in this freezing weather. With his arms and legs spread in order to show that there was really no weapon anywhere near him.

"MY NAME IS DR. HILULUK! A DOCTOR!"

Chopper passed out, the pain became too much.

* * *

He didn't know how much time passed exactly but he woke up, in his smaller form, in Hiluluk's bed while the man that caught a cough was sneezing and sleeping on the chair. Chopper was bandaged and hungry much to his embarrassment.

And then, to his surprise he saw bread and milk next to him on the table, this man… He did it for him…

Chopper bit into the bread and swallowed the first bite, he bit in again and tears just began flowing, no one had ever done anything like this for him… No one had ever tried to help him, or be kind to him… Yet this man did…

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

"Doctor didn't hate me because I could talk and he was the one who gave me my name… Tony Tony Chopper… Even though he used me as a distraction when we'd run from soldiers… We even had the first fight I ever had with anyone and he even gave me this hat as a present, as reconciliation. He taught me not to hate humans, he taught me that every illness could be cured… He even taught me about pirates…" Chopper was sobbing as he recounted some of the most important times he had spent with Hiluluk, every single moment was important but he wanted to only mention the most impactful ones.

"I see. I take it the story doesn't have a happy ending…"

Chopper nodded.

* * *

-Flashback-

* * *

"You recovered in one year. Your treatment is now complete. Your wounds have all healed, Chopper." Hiluluk said as he unwrapped Chopper's bandages for the last time, the reindeer was completely fine.

"Yep! Thank you, Doctor!" Chopper thanked him happily.

"Well, stay in good health." Hiluluk turned his back on Chopper.

"Eh?"

"Now get lost. Live however you like, I'm busy with my research." Doors closed. "I don't have any reason to take care of you anymore!"

Tears began forming in chopper's eyes. "Doctor, I won't get in your way anymore!" He couldn't just go back to being alone. "Let me in!" Even just being in his company would do. "I'll give you backrubs every day! I'll serve you tea! I'll clean up the lab! Just please, let me stay!" He hit the doors with his hooves.

"I don't have any friends! I don't have anywhere to go!" Oh, Hiluluk knew that… And he was tearing up, fighting the hardest battle of his life… "Doctor! Doctor!" As he listened to Chopper's pleas… Could he still let the one he cared for as much as he would for his own child be alone like this… "Doctor!"

Suddenly a loud thud was heard and Hiluluk ran out.

"Chopper!" He looked franticly at the ground to see what happened to Chopper.

The reindeer fell down, on purpose, and now he had a wound for Hiluluk to treat.

"Look, Doctor. I'm hurt. Look Doctor!"

Hiluluk went inside and then it happened, he broke it.

"Look-"

A gunshot echoed and Chopper's eyes widened as a small cut appeared on his cheek… He broke the promise to never shoot at him…

"Why… Doctor?" Was he that much of a monster?

"Go away!" Hiluluk fired a few more times. "To the sea or wherever, I don't care! Never show your face here again!"

Chopper ran off crying… There was nothing else he could do right now…

Hiluluk dropped the rifle as tears streamed down his face. "Forgive me, Chopper!"

* * *

-Flashback pause-

* * *

"Doctor had only ten days to live so he chased me away… But I… I took his favorite book and went to find a mushroom that would cure him… At the time I thought it would cure him…"

Vergil looked at the reindeer and could see where this was going.

-Flashback continue-

He did find the said mushroom, but at a high cost. His left leg was broken, he was all bloody and beaten, covered in bruised, his left eye was closed due to area swelling up and part of his left antler was missing.

He still pushed Hiluluk's doors open.

"Doctor… I'm sorry… Your favorite book… I lost it." He apologized weakly.

Hiluluk was utterly speechless. Horrified at the state of the small reindeer. "What happened to you?"

"This mushroom…" Chopper mustered the strength to raise it up. "It's a medicine."

"That's an Amiudake!" Hiluluk realized. "You… got that for me?"

"Stay alive. Stay alive, Doctor. I want to be a doctor. Teach me to be a doctor like you."

Hiluluk knelt down in front of him.

"I can fight, too. Just like a pirate."

The man was still at a loss of words.

Chopper bowed his head down. "I don't know if a reindeer can do it…"

Tears fell and he hugged Chopper. "Of course you can! You can! You can! You're gonna be a great doctor!"

"Doctor, it hurts…"

"You've got such a kind heart!"

Chopper had to smile despite the pain.

"You idiot…"

* * *

-Flashback pause-

* * *

"Amiudake is a deadly poison, once eaten consumer will die in half a day… I… Killed Doctor…!" Chopper cried out.

* * *

-Flashback continue-

* * *

He didn't quite do it himself though. What was it that caused such turn of events, no one could really know. But Wapol had arranged for Hiluluk to get all the way to the castle under claims that Isshi-20, the doctors of the Drum Kingdom were all sick.

In the end, much to Hiluluk's relief it was just a set up, something that he genuinely expressed his happiness about.

"The most important thing for this country is to have you dead! Ignore him and fire!" Wapol ordered and the rifles were pointed at Hiluluk.

"Don't bother. You can't kill me." Hiluluk stated much to Wapol's confusion. "Yo. When do you think people die?" He asked and looked right at the king and his men.

Chopper who had learnt the truth from Kureha was running as quickly as he could towards the castle.

"When they are shot through the heart by the bullet of a pistol? No. When they are ravaged by an incurable disease? No. When they drink a soup made from a poisonous mushroom?! No! It's when… they are forgotten."

Dalton was on the verge of crying.

"Even after I'm gone, my dream will come true." He poured a drink into a cup. "The ailing hearts of the people will be cured. Why are you crying, Dalton?" He asked the man.

"Do you think… a country is the same?" Dalton replied with a question.

Hiluluk grinned. "If the will is inherited."

"Hey, hey Dalton! What the hell are you crying about? Mahahahaha!"

But Hiluluk was smiling. "A monster will be coming here soon. He's my son. Don't touch him." He smirked. "_Don't worry, Chopper_." Blood trailed down his chin and his vision was getting blurry. "_Your mushroom isn't going to kill me."_ "This has truly been a wonderful life!" He raised the cup and drank. "Thank you, Chopper!"

An explosion ended Hiluluk's life…

Hiluluk's hat fell on the snow right in front of the reindeer he named.

Dalton's eyes were wide and so was Chopper's.

He was gone. Hiluluk was gone, the only thing remaining was the hat he wore.

"Mahaha! He blew himself up! What a hippo!" That did it.

Rage set in and Chopper saw red. He let out an animalistic rage filled roar as he transformed into his larger form and charged right towards the panicking soldiers and Wapol.

"STOP!"Dalton, in his bison hybrid form stopped and pushed Chopper to the ground. "Leave! Leave this place now! If you cannot even overpower me. There is no hope for you to defeat them! If it's because he laughed at Hiluluk's death, I apologize!"

Tears dropped onto Chopper's face and he calmed down, but now the sadness set in and he cried.

"Your strength will be of no use if you die a dog's death! Don't become another sacrifice for this country! Please." Dalton spoke to him.

It worked, Chopper took Hiluluk's hat and left.

* * *

He cried out. "A doctor! Teach me to be a doctor! Please!" He was waving Hiluluk's flag in front of Kureha. The only person Hiluluk ever spoke to about Chopper. The one Hiluluk turned to when he was living his last moments… His only human friend. "Make me a doctor! I'm going to become a panacea! A doctor that can cure anything! A doctor that can even cure a country! Because… Because…! There's no disease in this world that can't be cured!"

"Doctorine. Call me that." That's all she told him and since then, for six years now he's been with her and she's beaten everything she knows into him.

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

"You didn't kill him." Vergil said once Chopper finished the story and the reindeer looked at him. "You would have killed him. That's a fact. Nevertheless, you didn't. He didn't die because of Amiudake."

"I still…"

"I know. It's a guilt you have to carry." Cambion sighed. "So? What will you do? Will you let the past make you weaker, or will you use it to get stronger?" Vergil question.

But they both abruptly turned toward the window and looked outside.

"It's him… Wapol…!" Chopper could smell him.

"_That demon is with him as well_." Vergil could sense the demon coming with the humans Chopper smelt.

Chopper ran out in his reindeer form, he was rushing toward Kureha. "Doctorine! Doctorine!" He entered the room with Vergil joining him a few moments later.

Kureha who had just finished telling Chopper's story to the other Straw Hats, minus Luffy who had fallen asleep due to not caring about the reindeer's past turned to look at him.

"Doctorine, come quickly! Wapol has returned!"

"I see." She accepted it calmly.

"I don't think that's the smartest thing to do." Vergil said. "Look, I don't have a right to meddle with your business, however that demon down there is too dangerous. If there is a way for you to escape this place go now. I'm holding them here." He decided.

* * *

_**And that's it, flashback done, I doubt I've ever done worse when it comes to these, I butchered it so much I felt I just needed to put this chapter to sleep. I was debating whether or not to have Vergil be this open with Chopper but I decided that it was needed.**_

_**By the way, this story now has over 300 followers and since in history Leonidas had 300 Spartans fighting alongside him in the Battle of Thermopylae I'm doing an Q&amp;A. So yeah, go ahead and ask.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – You're No Match**_


	114. You're No Match

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Angryboy13 – Thanks. Yeah, I do, well I have a few scenes written down for some moments down the line but I mostly write chapter, publish it and then get to writing the next one, hence I can have a day between two chapter or a month depending on time I have on my hands and a few other factors.**_

_**The Storm Master 567 – Thank you. Yeah, it did and as you said it is a given. Chopper and Vergil's relationship is something I wanted to write for quite a while now so I kicked it off with that moment. As for this chapter, you'll see for yourself.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you, I'm glad you liked that moment.**_

_**Chance Green G King – I have to say you're right, I do see now that it's lacking those moments. Well I might go back and add them eventually. Thanks, I'll try.**_

_**Kakusei – Thanks, that's kinda the point, we are all familiar with One Piece story so yeah, I guess that's one of the aspects in which this story fails. I spent a lot of time rewriting moments that we all know and didn't change them at all. As for questions, I do have a plan concerning Demon Weapons, though I doubt Vergil will be making a collection. As for his demon form, that will be also touched upon soon enough, mostly in Alabasta portion of his flashback, but no, he won't have any other Demon Release, it could 'evolve' so to speak but it'll remain as only one form. As for Devil Arm, similar to the concept of his Demon Release, but no he won't have two of them.**_

_**SubZPhantomX – Sorry then, the reviews kinda tied into one another so I made a mistake to assume. Chopper's backstory is up there when it comes to how sad it is, maybe even the most tragic because of the entire poisonous mushroom part. I hope I did deliver the fight properly, it was a bit of a 'what to do' kinda dilemma about a few things. Montenegrin is my native language.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**JayH120 – Thanks. Yeah, I'm trying to build it from the very beginning because there are some similarities between the two of them.**_

_**KP360 – Glad you think so. The heat to heart moments pretty much pulled the chapter out of being word to word canon rewrite, so yeah. If I ever get to it, I will write Film: Gold, as for the other movies, I take it you want to know about Strong World and Film Z. Well Strong World certainly won't have an OC for Vergil to fight, while Z will. I mostly plan on changing the final battles of both movies plus a few other things. Well I don't think I can tell much more without spoiling things.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you. Sorry it took a bit of time to get this out.**_

_**Naroku – Here it is.**_

_**Guest – Soon, very soon.**_

_**Guest – Xenia will fight and yes, I will do a few original arc, plus the Demon World Saga.**_

_**GalaxeySkyGlim – No, I won't use Robin to get Nami jealous.**_

_**Guest – Something as major as that, I doubt it. Depends on how things go though. If I feel like it's justified to change it I probably will.**_

_**And to the Guest I mistook for SubZPhantomX on the previous chapter – First of all I apologize, as for the suggestion, I will check it out.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 114 – You're No Match**_

* * *

"Doctorine, come quickly! Wapol has returned!"

"I see." She accepted it calmly.

"I don't think that's the smartest thing to do." Vergil said. "Look, I don't have a right to meddle with your business, however that demon down there is too dangerous. If there is a way for you to escape this place go now. I'm holding them here." Demon stated.

Kureha merely cackled at that. "Even if we wanted to run there's not much places to go to from here."

"You're not staying alone." Luffy, who had woken up said that and it sounded like an order.

"Those three clowns aside, I can take them out on my own, easily, but that demon is way stronger than me." Vergil said.

"H-How strong is he?" Nami asked.

"From what I can feel… Even if Sanji was perfectly fine, plus we had Zoro here and then all four of us fought against him at once… We would probably lose." That certainly put their situation in a whole new perspective.

"Come on now Vergil, you've got to be kidding." Sanji was the first one to speak.

"I wish I was. But even though we could hold our own against him none of us have the necessary strength to take him down. **Mjollnir Thunder** did nothing to him and I used it twice."

"You're not staying then. You're absolutely not staying. You'll… die." Nami actually stood up and grabbed the collar of his jacket.

"I know. Whoever stays here will die."

"Use that 'Trigger' then!" She pleaded not knowing why he wasn't considering it.

"I left it on Merry." And now it was clear.

"I'm not going." Nami told him.

"You're the one that needs to go the most! You're still recovering and I…" He stopped in the middle of the sentence. They were running out of time.

"You what?!" Nami demanded.

"Nothing…" He muttered.

"Hey, Reindeer. Are you going to fight?" Luffy asked.

"Of course." Chopper stated.

"All right! It's decided!" Luffy suddenly stopped everything by saying that. "Nami and Grandma are staying here, Sanji, Reindeer, Vergil and I are going to fight!"

"What part of I'm staying alone did you not understand Luffy?" Vergil asked and turned to Luffy, he looked into his captain's eyes for a few moments. No, it would be an easy way out, one that Luffy wouldn't allow him. He glanced at Chopper, this was primarily the reindeer's fight, who was Vergil to take that right away from him? And Sanji, there was no way he'd just sit back… Cambion looked at Nami, her brown eyes clashed with his yellow ones and then he sighed. "This is the best I could hope for I suppose. Let's go, they are almost here."

* * *

Speaking of the former king and demon that was accompanying him they were nearly at the top of the mountain. The king was rapidly going up on the list of people Huyu wanted to kill. As he actually came into direct contact with the human that hired him Huyu began wondering if 100 million beri was really enough of a payment.

* * *

The four that decided to fight what looked like a losing battle were stepping outside the castle.

"Vergil." He turned when Nami called him by his name.

Luffy and the others didn't stop, they went to stand outside of the castle and await nearing arrival of Wapol and his men.

Vergil remained silent but he could see the way Nami's eyes seemed conflicted in a mixture of emotions.

She walked up to him and took a deep breath. "Promise me none of you will die." She said.

"Nami…"

"Promise me…!"

Demon that was multiple times stronger than any of them individually. That's the opponent they were supposed to face. Hope was all they could cling on to. So he did, he nodded.

"I promise, we'll beat Wapol and his clowns and that demon. I promise you, we will not die here." Big words, they both knew it.

She hesitated for a moment, contemplating whether to act on her feelings. And she hugged him. "You better keep that promise…"

Vergil smiled at that. "Go back to bed now, we've got this."

Nami took a deep breath, holding onto him for a few moments longer. "Good luck." She muttered and stepped back.

"Thanks, we'll need it." He grinned and went outside just in time to see Wapol victoriously standing there.

"Behold, everything is exactly as I left it! This is MY castle. The Drum Kingdom will now be revived! Mahahahaha!" Was he blind?

"Please wait, Waol-sama. Look on top of the castle tower." Kuromarimo told him.

And there it was Hiluluk's flag. At the very top of the castle for everyone to see.

"What's that ugly flag doing up there?! What happened to the Drum Kingdom flag?!" Wapol demanded.

"It was burnt. Get out of this country!" Chopper fiercely proclaimed.

"What?"

"Hey! Big Problem Mouth! I'm gonna kick your ass!" Luffy charged right toward Wapol.

"Wait Luffy! Don't act recklessly!" Vergil tried to warn him but it was obviously too late so he charged right after Luffy.

"W-W-Wapol-sama, it's the Straw Hat!" Chess stuttered.

"**Gomu Gomu no Pistol**!" Luffy punch the baffled king right into the face, knocked him into the animal he used to get up to the castle, which unfortunately ended up falling down the cliff instead of Wapol.

Inside the castle Kureha's eyes widened when she saw just what Luffy could do and she wasn't the only one. Chopper was just as surprised.

"H-Hey, did his arm just stretch?" Reindeer asked.

"Yeah, he's a rubber man." Sanji told him.

"Huyu! Kill him!" Wapol ordered making the demon mentally roll his eyes, still he complied and appeared above Luffy.

"Watch out!" Chopper yelled.

"No you don't." Vergil grabbed onto the back of Luffy's shirt and **Demon Flashed** out of the way.

"Rubber man?" Chopper asked once the danger seemed to pass.

Sanji grinned. "A monster."

"You fiend! How dare you approach Wapol-sama, the king of Drum Kingdom!" Chess yelled.

"Idiot we're pirates!" Vergil stated.

"Aren't they as well?" Luffy asked his first mate.

"No, that one is previous king." Vergil explained.

"King?! Why was he a pirate then?" Luffy asked.

"No idea." Cambion replied honestly.

Chopper looked at the flag.

* * *

-Flashback-

* * *

"I have hung this skull and crossbones to fly in the face of all disease!" Hiluluk declared as he slammed his palm onto the flag.

"Skull?"

"This is a symbol of conviction that defies the impossible! I, as a doctor, shall save this country! Flying this flag, I will fight like a pirate!"

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

"Doctor fought to save this country… Flying that flag…" Chopper began. "Doctor died at this castle… He died to save this country! And so now… This is Doctor's grave!"

"Mahahahaha! Grave? That stupid doctor's? Mahahahaha!"

Chopper growled as Wapol kept laughing.

"Keep laughing and I'll electrify that mouth of yours." Vergil threatened making Wapol stop laughing when a bit of electricity circled around the white haired male.

He glared at Chopper and then at the flag. "Defiling my sacred castle with that filthy doctor's flag?! BURN THAT FLAG AT ONCE!"

"You will not enter this castle…" Chopper transformed into his human hybrid form. "EVER."

"Wapol-sama, he's…" Chess began.

"That's right! That day!" Kuromarimo also realized. "He's the monster that was chasing after the idiot doctor that day!"

"That flag is… Doctor's conviction. I'll never let it be taken down! EVER!" Chopper declared.

"Mahahaha Show no mercy! We're going into the castle! Leave none of them alive!" He noticed Huyu's glare.

"_**Hurry it up.**_" Demon hissed.

Wapol more or less got the message. "But first… What was on my menu today?"

Chess pulled out a notebook. "Ah, onboard the ship, you had one butter sautéed cannon, one cannon extra rare and a cannonball and gunpowder salad. You also had one grilled house in town."

"What the hell do you eat?" Luffy had every right to ask.

"I guess he'll eat anything." Sanji guessed it right.

"Watch closely, as my food becomes my flesh and blood!" He began doing something.

"He's doing something!" Chopper realized.

"The question is what…" Vergil questioned.

"Baku Baku Shock!" Wapol transformed into house like creature. "Wapol House!"

"A house?" Sanji couldn't believe it.

"Coooool!" Luffy exclaimed.

"For once we disagree." Vergil sighed. "Lame. / _**Lame.**_" He and Huyu actually agreed.

"Rules of Drum Kingdom No. 1. 'Those who disobey the King, die!' That's how this country works!"

"It obviously doesn't work anymore…" Vergil pointed out.

"Shut it you hippo! This country is MY country! And this castle is MY castle! The last thing I'll ever allow is that lousy coot of a doctor's flag flying over it! It defiles the castle!" Wapol fired the cannon that was now in the place of his arm right toward the flag.

"No you don't. Darkness Blast!" Vergil's attack collided with the cannonball before it could hit the flag.

"Why you…!" Wapol hissed at him while Chopper looked thankful.

"A pirate mark…" Luffy muttered. "Hey, Reindeer. That flag…" There was no need to ask, it was important to Chopper.

'For a man that hangs the skull and crossbones, nothing is impossible. That's what I taught you, Chopper.' Hiluluk's words repeated in Chopper's mind.

"Thank you…" He said to Vergil.

"It's not over yet." Vergil muttered.

Luffy stretched his arms and grabbed the pole. In just a moment he was up on the castle tower next to the flag.

"Hey, Big Mouth Problem!" Luffy called out.

"Straw Hat!"

"You being a pirate was all a big fat lie, wasn't it? A pirate who wouldn't risk his life… You don't know the meaning of this pirate mark!" Luffy exclaimed.

"What is he…" Chopper muttered.

"Listen closely." Vergil told him.

"The meaning of that flag you say, Straw Hat? Mahahaha! There's no meaning behind that stupid pirate decoration!" Wapol mocked.

"That's why you're so weak!" But that certainly hit the mark.

"What?"

"This is not a flag you can fly as a joke!" Luffy shouted.

"You hippo! As if I, the King, would be caught dead waving a pirate flag! Don't you dare put that hippo flag up there!" he pointed the cannon again and fired.

"Watch out! It's going to hit you!" Chopper exclaimed.

"You think you can destroy this flag?!" Luffy demanded as cannonball hit.

"Luffy!" Sanji called out to his captain.

"It's fine." Vergil said.

"I bet that sent you flying, hippo! Mahahaha!" Wapol laughed but his laughter was short-lived.

The straw hat wearing pirate was fine. "Look. You can't destroy it."

"I-Impossible! He's insane!" Chess and Kuromarimo yelled.

"I don't know whose pirate flag this is, or where it's from… But this is a flag you pledge your life to. You don't fly it as a JOKE!" He glared at them. "THIS ISN'T A FLAG YOU CAN BREAK DOWN AND LAUGH AT!" His roar sent chills down Wapol and his human companion's spines and made Chopper look at him in awe.

"_Amazing… So this is… a pirate!_" Chopper thought.

"It will never be destroyed! The skull and crossbones is a symbol of conviction!" Luffy declared.

Yet Wapol wasn't impressed. "Are you threatening me? You hippo bastard!" He aimed at Luffy again. "If you're so eager to protect that flag then just stay RIGHT THERE!

"Shut your mouth for one second…!" Vergil **Demon Flashed** in front of Wapol and grabbed the cannon. "I told you I'd electrify you." He sent a decent amount of lightning into the man.

"Gaah!"

"Wapol-sama!"

"How dare you?!" Chess demanded.

"Strike the King!" Kuromarimo added.

"What was that?" Vergil glared at them.

Seeing how serious the demon was they tried to take at least one opponent by breaking their spirit, naturally they turned to Chopper.

"You must be that abominable snowman those peasants were making a ruckus about six years ago. You pitiful monster! For what reason do you try to save this country? What a joke!"

"Shut up! Even if I don't have any nakama… I can still fight! As long as Doctor's flag flies, I…"

"You've got nakama right here!" Chopper turned around. "THIS IS A NAKAMA!" Luffy declared and got ready to launch himself into Wapol.

Chopper's eyes widened at that.

"Luffy! We'll set him up for you! We've got to deal with the obstacles quickly!" Vergil yelled out to his captain.

"Got it!" Luffy confirmed that he understood. This was a four on four battle, nothing more and nothing less.

"Sanji, mind giving me a boost?" Vergil smirked as he dashed toward Sanji.

"Heh, like you need to ask." Sanji returned the gesture.

"What are those hippos talking about?" Wapol stupidly questioned.

Sanji raised his leg and Vergil jumped on it. "**Armee de L'Air Thunder Shot.**" He launched Vergil right towards Wapol.

"_So naïve and reckless_." Huyu smirked but felt the need to allow this, all the annoyance he went through because of Wapol, 100 million beri wasn't enough to sooth the feeling of disgracing himself by working for the human. Plus it didn't seem like the human had a desire to obliterate this island.

Vergil slammed right into Wapol and kicked him up into the air.

"Wapol-sama!" Chess and Kuromarimo wailed as Vergil **Air Hiked** after Wapol and punched him up with electricity powered up fist.

"Thanks for wearing metal." Vergil smirked as electricity took an even stronger effect due to metal Wapol was wearing.

"Why you hippo!" Wapol shouted at him.

Vergil smirked.

"**Gomu Gomu no Rocket**!"

Wapol's eyes widened when he saw Luffy rapidly closing in on him, rubber captain slammed into Wapol and flung his arms back.

"**Gomu Gomu no Bazooka**!" His arms slammed into Wapol and sent him flying.

"As I said, clowns aren't a problem." Vergil smirked as Luffy and him began falling back to the ground.

"_**What are you going to do about this though?**_** Wind Breath.**" Not only did Vergil and Luffy's eyes widen, but shock showcased itself in the eyes of everyone else watching. The **Breath** that Huyu fired was growing wider rapidly and it was clear that it could destroy half of the Drum Castle by how large it was getting.

Vergil quickly grabbed onto Luffy. "**Lightning Breath**." He fired his own **Breath** but not towards Huyu, **Breath** had no offensive purpose, all it needed to do was to push Vergil and Luffy out of the harm's way. And it did as they barely evaded the massive attack.

"That was close." Luffy noticed.

"Just barely…" Vergil muttered.

"Not bad for a weakling." Huyu smirked.

"You insolent demon! Why didn't you protect Wapol-sama?!" Chess demanded.

"Yes! You are merely a worthless demon servant!" Kuromarimo added.

"_**Oh? A worthless demon servant, am I?**_"

Vergil narrowed his eyes, he recognized the way Huyu's energy flared and simply radiated with anger. "Retards…" He didn't know the larger demon in person, he's never even heard of him before, but he knew how demons were, how Huyu's kind acted. More importantly he understood what Huyu was about to do because of the way his energy shifted, he entered the second element stage… So, Vergil placed a hand over Chopper's eyes.

"Huh?" Small reindeer tried to move away.

"This isn't something you should see." Vergil said and he honestly hoped Nami wasn't looking either. Sanji and Luffy could take it but he didn't want Chopper and Nami to see it. Both of them, while they did see death taking their loved ones, were innocent, they haven't experienced the brutality that was about to happen. They were never present in a war. He doubted either Luffy or Sanji were, but they were fighters, they fought and not only felt, but dealt pain in battles. They had to have the stomach to take this, otherwise they had no place in a larger battlefield.

It happened in a matter of moments, Huyu swung his arm toward Chess and Kuromarimo. Wind slashed and next thing three males present outside of the castle saw were two bodies being ripped into shreds, blood and flesh spilling all around the snow.

Chopper finally managed to push Vergil's hand away and pieced together what happened… This was a demon... Only a demon could do something like that so easily. He gulped, his instincts screamed for him to run.

Kureha who watched from the window wasn't too affected by what Huyu did, however disgust was clearly present in her eyes.

Sanji understood now exactly what Vergil meant when he tried to make them see this wasn't a battle they could win. There was no way any of them, not even Luffy who was made out of rubber or even Vergil who was a demon could survive getting hit like that. And he felt sick, this kind of brutality… He glanced at Vergil who didn't look affected at all, which raised a question in Sanji's mind. If Vergil grew up in environment where this was a common occurrence just how much of a moral code did he have?

Nami had her mouth covered, up until now she thought she knew what brutal meant, this put a whole new meaning to both brutal and heartless. Slowly she turned her eyes toward her nakama that were supposed to fight this… monster…

Luffy's eyes were wide. Yes. They were the enemies. Yes. He wanted to kick their asses. But no. They didn't deserve this. "Weren't they your nakama?!" Luffy demanded.

"_**Nakama? Humans to be comrades to a demon? I don't know whether that demon on your side is some kind of abomination or is he simply with you because of some deal you have but I assure you that is not a natural order of things. You humans are merely a failure of a living being. Look at your faces! You are disgusted by a bit of brutality! Now look at that 'comrade' of yours! He understands, he knows how things are and he, though weakling and potential abomination in his relation with humans, is a demon through and through. He, unlike you, is capable of what I just did! Your 'nakama' is capable of this exact brutality!**_" Huyu exclaimed loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Vergil's nothing like you!" Luffy roared to defend his first mate.

"He's not wrong. I did obliterate Krim." Vergil's statement made Sanji's eyes widen. It was a direct confirmation, Vergil himself stated that he was capable of this as well.

"_**Hehe. Why don't you join me, 'Blizzard Claw' Huyu? A bit of training and you'd make a descent 'nakama'.**_" Huyu suggested.

"I refuse." Vergil firmly stated making the demon laugh.

"_**Such a waste. Do try to entertain me at least for a bit.**_" Huyu smirked. "_**As a sign of my good will, here, a bit of a motivator.**_" He brought up a water orb that was near him and released the water thus revealing the small lapahn.

"Lapahn?!" Chopper exclaimed. Just why was it there in the first place?!

"Huh?" Sanji felt confused, why would they feel motivated by something that gave them so much trouble.

"You bastard… Just because it got in your way before…" Vergil growled.

Now it made sense to Sanji as well.

"_**Try saving it.**_" Huyu said and threw the barely conscious cub toward the group. "**Gust Blade**." He sent another deadly wind blade, this time towards the animal.

"**Darkness Shield**." Vergil immediately **Demon Flashed** and caught the cub into his arms. He put on the pitch black shield but knew it wouldn't be enough. He jumped back and fired **Mjollnir Thunder** right into the gust that just cut through the darkness.

Lightning clashed with wind and caused a small burst of energy. Vergil's strongest attack… against something Huyu effortlessly did.

"_Shit… I can use _**Mjollnir**_ at that level two more times, three at best…_" Cambion lowered lapahn onto the snow by the castle doors, it wasn't even close to being safe but it was out of imminent danger.

"_**Hm? Try countering this.**_" Vergil could only take the punch that Huyu dealt him, white haired male gasped as he struggled to get any amount of air back into his lungs, that punch alone probably broke a few more bones. Vergil fell down and grunted in pain as he tried to push himself back up.

"That's as far as you go!" Sanji began running toward Huyu, unfortunately that wasn't a good idea as his body gave in and sound of bones cracking could be heard. Sanji yelped and began falling, the problem was in his back…

* * *

"Cracked his spine, eh?" Kureha realized from the window.

"Sanji-kun!" Nami gasped as the blond fell face first.

"Well of course, considering the way he keeps overdoing things." Kureha commented.

"I'm going down…" Nami decided.

"What are you going to do?" Kureha questioned.

"I don't know but we have to get Sanji-kun to safety. Vergil and Luffy are there as well." She tried to sound confident, she tried to believe in the promise Vergil made to her, she had to.

* * *

Not too far away from the island a demon was hovering in the air observing the scene. He was dressed as a marine, in fact he held the rank of a captain.

* * *

"Nami-san is calling my name…" Sanji sounded lovesick.

"_**She might do it again when you die.**_" Huyu was hovering above him.

"**Gomu Gomu no Gatling Gun**!" Luffy was the first one to attack and the blurry of punches connected with Huyu's side.

Chopper transformed into his human hybrid. "**Heavy Gong**!" He slammed his fist into Huyu's guts trying to push him away.

"Chopper get back!" Vergil instructed and as soon as Chopper moved out of the way he fired a **Darkness Breath** right at Huyu.

"Are you even trying?" Huyu had to wonder aloud.

"Damn it…!" Vergil recklessly charged right at Huyu and powered up as much as he could. "**Mjollnir Thunder**!" He hit Huyu's chest and kept discharging electricity.

"**Gomu Gomu no… Thor Bazooka**!" Luffy's palms hit Huyu's head but along the way electricity Vergil was discharging engulfed them thus creating Thor Bazooka.

"_**Bastard, you're not even budging an inch…!**_" Vergil breathed out. "_**Chopper Get Sanji out of here!**_"

"We'll cover you." Luffy assured him as he once again tried with **Gatling Gun**.

"Got it." Chopper skillfully picked Sanji up and began going inside as quickly as possible.

"_**Worthless effort.**_" Huyu smirked yet again and swung his hand at them.

Vergil quickly **Demon Slid** out of the way and formed a **Darkness Field** to shield Luffy and himself. Wind that could cut flesh hit the darkness and they nullified each other.

"_**Well that wasn't bad. Using darkness to cushion the hit and then charging lightning into it to strengthen it. Just using darkness as a shield is quite a feat.**_" Huyu complimented.

"None of our attacks hurt him. What is he, a monster?" Luffy had to ask. Truthfully, to rubber man's statement, Huyu didn't have a single scratch and he didn't even bother to defend himself.

Huyu pulled his fist back and then punched toward them. It was just a regular blast of air, without cutting properties, but it pushed them both back right into the castle where Chopper, Sanji and lapahn cub were.

"Damn it…" Luffy muttered as he pushed himself back up, he wasn't hurt due to his rubber body but Vergil was having a hard time getting up. "What about that sword of yours?"

"I tried to get it out but nothing happened." Vergil scowled. Was it happening again? Why now of all times…?!

"I can fight as well. I… I can use additional four transformations for three minutes." Chopper told Vergil.

"Don't. Make sure Sanji's safe inside. Luffy and I will figure something out." Vergil said.

"I can fight too!" Chopper tried to persuade him.

"I know, but not against him. I can't use lightning to its full extent if anyone other than Luffy is fighting with me. He's immune to it." Vergil reasoned.

"But-"

"I know this is Hiluluk's grave, I know you have more right to fight this battle than any of us, but don't make this place your grave as well. Leave this to us, we'll figure something out." Cambion had a plan, that much was clear in his eyes.

"Vergil…" Sanji muttered.

"Just rest."

"Nami-san won't forgive you if you break your promise." He smirked at Vergil.

"You heard us?"

"No. I guessed what Nami-san wanted." Sanji stated. "Nami-san's heart is easy to read when it comes to you." That left the demon slightly confused.

"Leave that topic for another time." Vergil said and stood up. "Thanks for waiting, Huyu."

"_**There's not much fun in killing you without you providing me with at least a bit of entertainment.**_" Huyu smirked as he stood at the castle's doors.

"Sick bastard…" Vergil muttered and looked at Luffy, they exchanged a nod and Vergil went right toward Huyu.

"_**Come.**_" Huyu beckoned them and stepped outside. "_**This will be the last round.**_"

Vergil noticed Nami coming down as he was stepping outside with Luffy. They had to do something…

Luffy and Vergil weren't making the first move, they were trying to gather enough strength to end this.

"_**You've been attacking this whole time, I guess it's time for me to return the favor.**_" It ended before it even started.

* * *

"Sanji-kun!" Nami ran down and knelt in front of Sanji.

"Nami-san? Are you really worrying about me?!" He was looking at her chest with a heart eye and a blush on his face. "If I could just be embraced by that gentle warmth…!" The warmth clearly being the navigator's bosom.

"DOWN!" She slammed his head back down.

"Nami… san…" He grunted.

"Chopper, where are the other two?" Kureha asked.

"They are fighting." Chopper looked down.

Sanji sighed. "Do they even have a plan?" He muttered.

"Vergil looked like he did have one." Chopper told him.

"Great. That shitty reckless demon…" Sanji sighed again.

Just as he said that the last defense they had was once again slammed back into the castle and Huyu stepping into it this time.

Nami's eyes widened in horror. This was the enemy? This monster? She's seen him from the room she was in but seeing him this close up was a completely different story.

Vergil tried to push himself back up but fell back down instead, he had broken bones, the pain was coursing through his body, he didn't have natural resistance to punches like Luffy.

"Stand back Vergil! I'll-" Luffy's statement was cut off by Huyu slamming him into the wall with another blast of air.

"Stop it…" Vergil breathed out as Huyu approached Luffy.

"Well if you want to go first then so be it." Huyu sent yet another wave of wind blades. This time there was little to nothing they could do.

"NO!" Nami screamed and shut her eyes tightly.

"I told you to _**stop.**_" Vergil pushed himself back up and took the attack head on.

"Vergil!" Luffy, Sanji and Chopper yelled as Luffy tried to set himself free while Sanji tried hard to get up.

"Hm?" Huyu still felt the traces of Vergil's energy.

Huyu's eyes widened when he felt Vergil's energy abruptly rising, in fact the way he was growing stronger was absurd. He turned to look at Vergil, the very demon that was supposed to be cut in pieces. The white haired male sure had cuts, mostly on his arms and chest and a few here and there on the rest of his body but he didn't have any severed limbs and that lightning…

Lightning that violently and wildly traveled through and around Vergil's body to the point of it discharging through demon's breath. His eyes, now completely golden were engulfed in the very same electricity.

"_**You're actually using it.**_" Huyu whistled as lightning began concentrating around Vergil's arms, furthermore it seemed to actually hurt him.

"**Lightning**…" His voice was disembodied. "**Gamma Ray**!"

Huyu's eyes widened as he formed a wind made shield, after all lightning was weakest against wind. Yet it wasn't enough, lightning easily broke through the wind and was going right toward him.

He flew up and barely escaped with it only touching his left hand. He screamed as he felt like his hand was diffusing and it seemed like it would spread further. He didn't have a choice he swiftly removed the problem by cutting his own hand off with a precise wind blade.

His breathing was heavy as he formed ice around the wound to stop the bleeding and he looked behind him, everything that came in touch with Vergil's attack was gone. "_**You… Desperate bastard… How are you still alive after that?**_" Huyu questioned.

"You wanna try dodging again?" Vergil smirked.

"_**Quit bluffing.**_" Huyu merely brushed it off, not that he didn't have a reason. Vergil looked ready to pass out. He was coughing up blood and Huyu guessed that his vision was getting blurry.

Still, he was impressed. Using forbidden technique and surviving it that was worth the praise. Furthermore, Vergil actually managed to pull it off, that alone was amazing considering his normal power level. He glanced to the side, the captain was released due to him having to concentrate on Vergil's attack.

He raised his hand up and slowly lowered it making Luffy fall to the ground, once again he was impressed as Luffy struggled enough for Huyu to use far more power than he originally thought he'd have to.

"_**It's very regretful to end the battle like this. You can die knowing that you did provide me with some entertainment, as short as it was it was enjoyable battle. I'll be sure to remember both the persistence of you and your human nakama.**_" Huyu actually complimented them for their stubbornness.

"Tch. Shut up…" Vergil grunted, Luffy was pressed to the floor via Huyu's wind power. There was nothing Chopper, let alone Sanji, Nami and Kureha could do and he was nearly unconscious. "_Damn it… I promised we'd survive…!_" He berated himself.

"_**Farewell**_**. Wind Breath.**" Breath made its way toward them and Vergil glared at it, almost as if hoping that if he glared hard enough it would just perish.

Luffy grinned, this was it…

The eyes of all six of them widened though when white mass blocked the **Breath**.

"What's that?" Nami couldn't help but ask.

"_Heh, to think you'd do this. Well if I die you can't return to your owner, can you now, Dark Edge?_" Vergil smirked as white mass changed into Dark Edge.

Huyu watched, fairly interested and was the first to notice a small box resting on the guard of the sword that was now stabbed into the floor.

"'_Trigger'… So that's where you were. You went to fetch it, eh?_" Vergil realized and pushed his body back up. He reached out and opened the box, glanced at 'Trigger' and pulled it out.

Kureha immediately recognized the orb in cambion's hand. "You idiot! Using 'Trigger' will be too much for you. If you use it chances of transformation failing and you dying right away are too high." Kureha berated the cambion.

"What?!" Nami as the one to immediately turn to Kureha.

"Even if he transforms the very nature of 'Trigger' makes it dangerous to use. Even if he transforms he'll be at risk of losing control, to make matters worse 'Trigger' forces the body to heal and transform, but once time runs out the body is dealt with damage multiplied by the very power up it offers, five times."

"Vergil! Don't you dare use it!" Luffy shouted at his first mate.

"Either that… or we _**die**_." The last word sounded disembodied as 'Trigger' shattered and took full effect on Vergil.

Huyu's eyes widened, not out of fear, rather out of excitement as darkness engulfed Vergil's body.

"You fool…" Kureha hissed, he used it… the 'Trigger'.

"Vergil!" Nami tried to stop him by shouting at him, after Kureha's warning she knew this wouldn't end well for the white haired male.

* * *

Vergil slowly opened his eyes, darkness, it was everywhere around him and he felt kinda light, here was no pain whatsoever. Did he fail? "_The hell? Is this how it feels to be dead?_" He wondered but then as his senses slowly came back he realized just where he was.

He stood up and faced the space he was in. Darkness clad area illuminated by lightning that was generated at a handful of places around him. And then the doors. Quite similar to the gate between Demon and Human world, from where he was standing the gate seemed mostly black, engulfed in darkness.

"What are you hesitating for?" A voice made him want to turn around quicker than ever before, it's just that he couldn't. Not that it mattered he could recognize that voice anywhere.

"Go, you are my pride. I can't have you hesitating." Voice said and Vergil overcame the shock, he smirked and opened the gate.

* * *

"_**Hey, Huyu… You're no match.**_" Disembodied voice stated.

"_**No match, eh?**_" Huyu laughed briefly and appeared right in front of Vergil. His fist went through the darkness and he was certain he hit the target. "_**What the…?**_" He hit the target but he couldn't move it, he couldn't even get a grunt or anything from the one he just punched.

Huyu felt the demon move, rather casually, through the darkness that was slowly fading away. He was getting closer.

Red hand, half curled into fist appeared from the darkness and Huyu looked down as it stopped about a hair away from touching his chest. The demon in the darkness was clearly levitating as the size of the hand looked just a bit bigger than before.

And then quicker than Huyu could react demon clenched his hand into a fist and slammed it right into Huyu's chest.

"Awesome!" Luffy cried out with stars in his eyes and he didn't even see his first mate yet, but this was enough to set the excitement bomb off. Huyu, who was mostly untouchable up until now was blasted probably twenty meters backwards, had coughed up quite a bit of blood and fell to the ground from just one punch.

For a moment risks of using 'Trigger' were forgotten by all.

As for the rest of the crew, well Sanji certainly was impressed, Chopper was a bit terrified and Nami was having a mixture of reliefand worry.

"_**Yeah, no match at all.**_" Vergil said as darkness finally disappeared.

* * *

_**And that's it. The reason why this chapter is late is mostly because I was thinking about what to do with Chopper. On one hand, I could have made him use Rumble Ball and get defeated pretty much the same way Vergil, Luffy and Sanji did and let's be real. It's not an epic reveal of the power when it just ends up being useless. Therefore, I went with this route. Let me know if I made the right decision in the reviews or via PM.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Vergil's Demon Release**_


	115. Vergil's Demon Release

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**The Storm Master 567 – Well yeah, it's common in anime and manga as well so I just went with that approach.**_

_**Chance Green G King – I thought about it but it didn't feel natural to just have Huyu standing there and watching and as previous chapter showcased Vergil and Luffy couldn't exactly stop him. I'm also trying to shift a bit away from the anime and manga with some scenes. So I chose something that felt like the most logical thing to do. As for The Outcast, not really. It's a Fairy Tail story and I'm kinda losing interest in the manga so I doubt I'll read any fanfiction concerning Fairy Tail for now.**_

_**Naroku – Thanks.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you very much, I'm happy you liked the chapter so much.**_

_**SubZPhantomX – I agree, finally. Seeing as it's not something he'll be able to do for quite some time I don't think it's overpowered. 'Trigger' shattered so there's no using it again and I really wanted to show it at this point. Demon Release was established to be at least five times of a power up, I personally believe that Luffy doesn't become just five times stronger when he goes Gear 4, though yes, right now it is overpowered and that's exactly what I was going for. Also thank you, I'm really happy if I can make anyone smile with these updates. Kinda the point of writing this, right?**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you. I wouldn't exactly call it betrayal, he didn't quite ally himself with them, it was more of a money deal. Although yeah, he did brutalize them.**_

_**KP360 – No problem, I'm looking forward to writing them as well. Huyu is probably the best villain I've created so far and I think he'll keep that spot for quite a long time as well. Well, truth be told that depends more on how you and other readers accept my OCs, anyways… yeah, this chapter has the full effects of 'Trigger'.**_

_**Guest – Geez, it's here… I updated…**_

* * *

_**Chapter 115 – Vergil's Demon Release**_

* * *

"**Yeah, no match at all.**" Vergil said as darkness finally disappeared. His voice, it was deeper, more demonic, kinda obvious given his appearance, and disembodied even more than before, it held some sort of chilling feel to it. He had grown taller as well, around 2.2 meters plus his muscles were more prominent. His attire changed quite a lot, he was wearing black, somewhat baggy pants tucked into same colored bandages that reached his ankles. His forearms were covered by a red arm guard with black borders and lightning that started from the top, spread over it and finally circled around his wrist. The arm guard ended with a fifteen centimeters long black blade, finally he had red bandages around his biceps and that summed up any kinds of clothing he had.

His feet and arms were red and he had sharp claws big enough to use as weapons but not big enough to stop him from clenching his fists. The skin on his arms, shoulders, sides and back was black and he had fur covering his shoulders. His chest and abdomen, though mostly red had a strange black symbol right in the middle of the chest area. He had small spikes running down his spine and ending with a going from thick and thinning down the line, scale covered black tail, about a meter and a half long and large, clearly powerful wings, though the skeleton of the wings was black most of the wings had a very light shade of brown.

Unlike all the other scars the scar on the right side of his face was still present but similar to how it was back on Little Garden it seemed more like a recently closed wound than a nearly two decades old scar. Lower part of his face, chin, cheeks and nose were red just like his neck. The exceptions were deep blue claw marks a bit below his eyes. His teeth were sharp and his fangs were about twice as bigger as before. Nape, temples, forehead and the area around the eyes was just as black as his skin, but his eyes were completely red with black slit like pupils. His hair was slicked back in a spiky manner and the previously white hair was now black. The ears were covered by two thick black horns that went from the sides of his head about seven centimeters to the sides and then went up slightly diagonal for about fifteen centimeters and then turned just a few more centimeters straight up.

That was the form that appeared when transformation ended, that was Leonidas Vergil's **Demon Release**.

"_**So that is your demon form, that is your instinct…**_" Huyu smirked. "_**I've seen many demons transforming but yours is something else.**_"

His words were a bit puzzling, Vergil's form wasn't gigantic like Mr. -1's and it didn't look as sturdy as Huyu's spike covered body. Vergil smirked showcasing his sharp teeth.

"_**Is that so?**_" Cambion asked.

"_**That form of yours, it's completely combat oriented. You lack armor or natural protection like my own, but your body is enough, you brushed my punch off, you didn't even feel it. Your body is a natural defense, because it's not gigantic it stores your power in a much higher density, you didn't transform you changed your entire body structure. That kind of **_**Demon Release**_** is truly a rare sight to see.**_"

"_**Who are you anyways? I've rarely seen demons like you.**_" Vergil's curiosity got the better of him, although he could guess part of the story given the way Huyu looked.

"_**You can already guess, can't you? I once had the freedom of not serving any of the two sides, now I lack the power for that luxury.**_" Huyu said, the conversation however was abruptly stopped when two arms stretched and grabbed onto Vergil.

"That idiot…" Sanji and Nami groaned while Luffy latched onto his first mate's wing.

"Awesome! So awesome! Hey how come you don't have any feathers? What's with the fur? Oooh! The tail's moving! And you've even got horns!" Luffy's moves were blurry as he disappeared and reappeared all over Vergil's wings, tail and back.

Vergil just sighed as he allowed the captain to jump onto his tail. Luffy looked as Vergil's tail rose up to stand in a nearly horizontal line so he went and leaned over it. His arms and legs were hanging just a bit above the ground as Vergil began moving his tail from side to side to entertain the captain if only for a bit. Which of course worked.

"How in the world is this real?" Sanji couldn't help but ask, seriously with the way Vergil looked no one would guess that he'd actually go out of his way to entertain their captain.

"It's Vergil and Luffy, what did you expect?" Nami asked though she did feel a tiny bit of unfamiliar jealousy. Just look at them, Luffy holding onto Vergil's left shoulder and grinning widely, just waiting to set off into the air. Vergil actually allowing this and she suddenly feels a bit jealous over how close the two are, there is no way she is ever going to have this much of a connection with the demon. Mostly because of the apparent difference in their strength, plus she's not resistant to lightning, meaning that this could never happen. He simply won't willingly let her be with him like this. After the battle, sure, he'd let her, but not like this. Did she want to be in the center of his battle? No, but this just showed how much he trusted Luffy and how much Luffy trusted him.

"_**Do you want to stay there during the battle?**_" The question confirms her belief.

"Shishishi! Sure!" Luffy somehow knows, there's no point in interfering with this battle, he knows his first mate outclasses the opponent in front of him, Vergil said so himself, Huyu's no match. Plus the rubber captain wants a first row seat for this fight.

"_**Hehe, let's take this outside.**_" Huyu rises into the air and casually flies out of the castle.

Wordlessly Vergil's winds take him into the air as well and he follows Huyu.

"So cool…!" Luffy marvels at the flight, yeah, he had a bit of flying experience, but this was different, Vergil was ascending and descending in the air on his own free will, with what seemed like no limits but the ones he set for himself.

Vergil smirks at that but then looks at Huyu, the battle was about to start again and he looks at the larger demon in a completely relaxed manner.

Cambion glanced to the side and noticed that the others were just outside the castle, watching. "_**Make the first move.**_" He offered.

Huyu made an excited smirk appear on his face as he appeared behind Vergil and his fist headed right toward the back of Vergil's head.

Luffy turned to look at Huyu's fist but then noticed Vergil's tail moving swiftly and swiping the larger demon's fist away before snapping to the side and slapping Huyu off to the side.

"_**As I suspected, you've got everything covered.**_" Huyu commented. "_**We can start now.**_ **Gust Blade**." A single wind blade was sent right toward Vergil.

"**Darkness Blast.**" Vergil fired the black ball and it easily countered the slicing wind. A small explosion of darkness engulfed the area and Vergil flew right through it. He stopped right in front of Huyu and slammed his fist into the demon's chest. Huyu began falling down onto his back as Vergil moved behind him and kicked him into the sky.

"_**Gah…!**_" Huyu grunted and spun around to block another punch only to be elbowed right into the face by Vergil who flew after him. He had the size advantage but his opponent was stronger and faster, now Huyu was not a tower Vergil couldn't make a dent on, he was an overgrown punching bag.

Not that he'd give up. He blasted of the entire area with wind making a tiny bit of space between him and his lightning using opponent.

"**Wind Breath.**" Vergil could tank it, but Luffy probably couldn't even though he was protected by demon's body. So Vergil would have to dodge, right?

No, he just backed away. "**Dielectric Barrier Discharge.**" Two orbs of electricity formed around his fists and created a shield that completely blocked Huyu's attack. Vergil thrust his fists toward Huyu and barrier discharged. It clashed against the wind, found its way through and electrified Huyu.

"You've got to be shitty joking." Sanji had to comment. Vergil didn't even look like he was really trying.

"He's winning this." Nami smiled, her demon was making sure that the promise he made was kept.

Indeed, he was winning, but the battle was still not over. Huyu rose the snow from the ground and froze it to create a massive axe that he wielded with his remaining hand.

"**Devil Arms: Dark Edge.**" Vergil called forth his Devil Arm.

Two fighters charged at one another and Dark Edge clashed with ice axe. Ice immediately cracked and the axe shattered but the ice froze Vergil and Luffy in place allowing Huyu the time needed to back away move his arms and form a tornado around captain and the first mate. "**Blizzard Tornado**."

The raging wind was closing in on the two and the snow and ice that were flying through it held their own kind of danger.

Vergil **Discharged** and shattered the ice around him and Luffy before rapidly going higher and higher. Tornado decreased its width and Vergil picked up the speed, with one massive flap of his wings he sped up and broke through the clouds above the tornado.

Luffy was easily holding onto Vergil but the cambion wrapped his tail around Luffy's waist just in case.

"_**How do you like the ride?**_" Vergil asked as he felt Huyu closing in on them.

"It's so cool!" And Luffy was pretty happy.

Huyu reached them and swiped his arm. He just sent numerous deadly blades of wind and his opponent wasn't doing much to evade them. In fact it looked like Vergil would take them head on and that was something Huyu had to respect.

Vergil slammed darkness coated Dark Edge against the barely visible blades which resulted in a loud boom, but other than that both pirates were unscathed.

"_**Can you keep going?**_" Huyu wondered as he appeared next to Vergil and slammed his knee against Vergil's forearm.

"_**I was about to ask you the same question.**_" Vergil smirked as he pushed Huyu's knee away and then planted a kick to the demon's side.

"_**Of course.**_" Huyu withstood the kick and nearly landed a **Water Blast** right into Vergil's face.

"_**Water against lightning? Don't joke around.**_" Vergil had stopped the water with the palm of his hand, threw it back right at Huyu and charged electricity through it.

"_**You are the one joking around.**_" Before lightning could electrify Huyu he froze the ice and slammed against it. His body slammed against Vergil's and the cambion was forced to grab onto Huyu's shoulders and stop him.

"**Discharge.**" Huyu's eyes widened as large quantity of electricity erupted from Vergil's body and sent him down toward the ground.

"Look! Up there!" Chopper was the first one to point at the falling demon.

Vergil began descending back to the ground as Huyu steadied himself in the air.

"_**Shall we end this?**_" Huyu suggested as he began gathering power. The winds that blew around the mountain peak gathered around the demon, clouds were shifting around and the weather was powering the demon up.

"_**Environment power up, eh?**_" Vergil noticed that Huyu's power was rising, this was Huyu's home advantage after all, just like the advantage Vergil had during storms and even more during stormy nights, Huyu had the advantage in environment and climate of this very island. And just like Vergil could draw power from his desired surrounding so could Huyu. "_**Go right ahead.**_"

As Vergil stepped onto the snow Luffy finally jumped back down as well.

Luffy was watching intently as Huyu gathered the wind around him, something foggy began emerging from the large demon. It reached the castle and everyone noticed small cracks appearing on the tower closest to Huyu.

"What is he doing?" Kureha asked.

Luffy kept looking, it was clear that it was the blue foggy thing and just as he was about to try and do something about it some red fog blocked and pushed back the blue one, it looked like red energy was engulfing the blue one and keeping it in place. Luffy followed the path red fog seemed to take and saw its origin, his first mate.

"What is that?" Luffy asked.

"He's obviously charging up his attack dumbass." Sanji berated him.

"Not that! That foggy stuff!" Luffy pointed toward all the places he's seen the 'foggy stuff' as he put it. Vergil's eyes widened at that.

"What are you talking about Luffy? There's nothing foggy over there." Nami was the one to tell him that and she wasn't the only one looking at the captain skeptically, Chopper and Kureha in addition to Sanji were all quite skeptical.

"_**I didn't think a human could see it.**_" Vergil's words made everyone but Luffy turn to him with mouths wide open. "_**Describe it a bit more clearly.**_" Cambion requested.

"Hmmm… It's foggy and kinda reddish and then bluish above it…" Luffy struggled to find anything else to say.

"_**Pale blue energy is Huyu's. He can't control the affect his power has on his surrounding, just another effect of permanent **_**Demon Release**_**. The blood red mixed with black one is mine. I'm using my own power to counter Huyu's in order to keep the castle intact. Our energies are colliding and nullifying one another. Humans shouldn't be capable of seeing it, hell it's rare even for demons to actually see it, especially as clear as you do.**_" Vergil explained.

"Huh?" And Luffy didn't get it. Plus Vergil said it's blood red mixed with black, Luffy could only see red.

"_**His meat is trying to escape the frying pan and I'm using my meat to squeeze it inside so his meat doesn't damage the surrounding.**_" Vergil's explanation made everyone but Luffy sweat drop.

Luffy looked like a light bulb just brightened in his mind and something just clicked. "Oh, I get it." And he certainly did, in his own way. "So how come it's foggy and not clear?"

"_**That's about as clear as about 90 percent of the demons that can see it see it. The remaining 10 percent can clearly see the energy, the small clashes and all the other details.**_" Vergil informed him.

"So how can Luffy see it?" Nami recovered from the meat analogy and asked.

"_**No idea. I'm not that familiar with humans and their capabilities but I'm fairly certain that seeing demon energy in that state is ability only accessible to demons.**_" Vergil was truly confused, but even more than that he was impressed by what his captain could do.

"And just why are you letting him charge up that much power?!" Nami snapped at Vergil.

"_**Relax.**_" He calmly looked at Huyu whose **Hurricane Force** took form of an orb. "_**If that amount of power collides with the ground there's a high chance this mountain will drop a few hundreds of meters in height.**_"

"Then do something!" Nami and even Chopper yelled at him.

"_**I said 'if', I didn't say it will.**_"

"**Hurricane Force!**" Huyu launched the wind-filled sphere that had been gathered around him right toward the ground. The attack about the size of Huyu himself was descending not that quickly but it didn't matter, the moment it collided it would disperse and kill most if not all of his enemies.

"Vergil!" Nami yelled at him and then her eyes widened when **Mjollnir Thunder**, now shaped just like the transformed demon's arm formed. There was something different about it, the density of electricity, the red outline, it's shape that replaced usually shapeless mass of lightning, she didn't know what it was but it seemed way more powerful that something of that size should be.

"**Mjollnir Thunder!**" Vergil thrust his fist toward Huyu's **Hurricane Force** and two attacks clashed.

Vergil's eyes widened slightly. He saw a familiar prison cell, a wounded demon breaking down mentally and transforming into the demon he was now fighting. The clash of two powers adding on to the forced merging of his human and demon DNA and Huyu being what he was Vergil heard it, the demon's soul…

"_**There will still be an explosion.**_" Huyu informed him from above.

Just like the wind demon predicted the collision between two techniques threatened to cause an explosion.

"_**No, it won't.**_" Vergil raised his arm and Luffy's eyes widened.

The energy, all of it, was gone. Both Huyu's **Hurricane Force **and Vergil's **Mjollnir Thunder**, even foggy energy Vergil explained just now, it was all gone.

"Vergil…? What…?" Luffy looked at his first mate, or at least where he thought his first mate was as the space where Vergil stood now only had the foot prints to prove that he stood there.

"_**Truly amazing.**_" Huyu commented and his eyes widened.

Vergil appeared right above him and slammed him down with one well-placed electrified punch. Cambion used the strength of his wings to push himself and Huyu down rapidly before they slammed against the ground about thirty meters away from the others.

Huyu's body cracked as he coughed up blood.

"_**It's over, Huyu.**_" Vergil stated.

"_**Heh, it really is. I can't even move.**_" Demon grunted. "_**How did you nullify that?**_" He just had to ask.

Vergil sat down. "_**I used to have so much trouble with controlling my power, somehow I always had an abnormally high amount of power. So I've been working on my control until I could concentrate it all into my target, so I could nullify it at any given moment and so I can nullify the aftereffects like I did just now.**_" Vergil explained.

"_**I see…**_" His body shattered and Vergil glanced at him, where a body of a rather large demon lied rested a human like form. Near death, extremely weakened body of a demon around forty years old. Huyu had pale skin, was much more muscular than Vergil normally was, he was tall and had deep blue shade colored hair. "Your name's Vergil, right?" Huyu asked weakly.

"_**Leonidas Vergil.**_"

"Leonidas…?!" Huyu clearly recognized the last name as his eyes widened. Then he smirked. "Well, you really are an abnormal…"

"_**I suppose.**_" Vergil agreed. If Huyu hadn't been permanently stuck in his **Demon Release **form he'd be twice as strong, plus he could use _**Demon Release**_ which would make him at least ten times as strong as he was during their fight. Cambion had a guess that Huyu's Demon Release wasn't in the lower rank of x5 power up, he'd bet at the very least 5.5x if not even more.

"It was a good battle. Thank you…" His body just… perished as Luffy and the others joined Vergil.

"_**Farewell.**_" Vergil said and stood up, he looked up into the sky and paid proper respect to his opponent, a minute of silence. "_**So, you want another round of flying Luffy?**_" He asked, there was no grief, they were fighting a battle to death. Feeling sadness and grief over Huyu would insult the demon.

"Sure!" Luffy grabbed onto Vergil's shoulders and the cambion grinned at others.

"_**We'll be back in about five minutes.**_" And with that he flew up toward the clouds.

* * *

Unknown to them the battle was observed by the marine demon.

"So that is… 'Black Thunder' Leonidas Vergil, eh? He could be troublesome later on, if he survives this." Demon muttered to himself. He'll report this to the HQ anyways. Especially if the demon survives.

* * *

Well given the fact that Luffy had stars in his eyes and the fact that he looked way to excited it looked like Vergil was doing a good job with his flying. Cambion rapidly flew up, did a few spins around the castle, each time doing something new, either making quick turns, spinning, gliding and then speeding up… Yeah, Luffy was having a great time.

And then after nearly five minutes came the very finale, Vergil abruptly sped up, his wings reaching their limit he rose above the clouds and Luffy's eyes widened as he gazed at the star filled sky. There were no clouds to obscure their vision and the night was wonderful.

"_**We'll look at the sky again like this one day. I promise you.**_" Vergil promised.

"I know." Luffy said.

"_**Are you ready for the grand finale?**_" Vergil asked making his captain nod. The cambion allowed Luffy to watch the starts for a bit longer and then relaxed as he began falling towards the ground, he wasn't doing anything, nothing to speed up or slow down the fall, they were simply pulled by the gravity.

The eyes of the remaining four widened when they saw Vergil falling down with Luffy still holding onto him.

And then, a meter above the ground Vergil abruptly changed the direction and sped past their crew with Luffy laughing on his back.

"You idiots!" Nami and Sanji yelled at them as Vergil did another slow and casual spin around the castle finally landed a few meters away from them.

"Shishishi! That was awesome!" Luffy laughed.

Nami sighed and then looked at Vergil, he didn't look that scary, furthermore, this was her demon. She then glanced at happy Luffy and made a decision.

"Can you still fly?" Nami asked and Vergil understood from her implications that she wanted to get a bit of a ride as well.

"_**Nami, would you do me an honor.**_" He offered her his hand, bowed slightly and she smiled as she took it.

"A quick one, you look tired." Nami said and allowed him to pull her up, she went and sat on his shoulder. "Is this fine?"

"_**Sure. We won't go too fast.**_" He assured her as she held onto his other shoulder with her right hand.

"Vergil, if anything happens to Nami-san…!" Sanji hissed at him.

"_**I know, now rest.**_" Vergil stated and slowly but surely began going up.

Nami tightened her grip on him and gulped.

"_**I won't let you fall.**_" His words made her calm down immediately.

Nami smiled down at him and then simply enjoyed the casual flying session she was having, the wind that lightly blew through her hair and the sight she was presented with.

"Is something on your mind?" She suddenly asked.

"_**We were lucky in a way. Huyu was a permanently transformed demon.**_" Vergil said.

"What does that mean?"

"_**When demon breaks down mentally and their life is in danger body can naturally transform from devil form to demon form. Devil form is what I'm in normally, the human-like form. Demon form is what I'm in right now. Once a demon transforms in those circumstances the only time he or she will turn back into the devil form is when they are dying.**_" Vergil explained.

"You are thinking about what happened to him…" Nami realized.

"_**Somewhat. If that didn't happen to him he'd be twice as strong and we'd have no chance even with me being transformed like this. On the other hand maybe we'd never encounter him if he wasn't like that.**_" He muttered.

Nami kept looking at his face and decided to change the subject. "What about your 'Trigger'? Why don't you just turn it off?"

"_**I can't. Back on Little Garden I used **_**Demon Burst**_**, that allows me to briefly transform and doubles my strength. This is **_**Demon Release**_**, full on transformation without much of a time limit when accessed naturally. Though in this case it's limited to minimal power up gained through the transformation.**_"

"I see." Nami gripped his shoulder, but this time in a more comforting manner.

"_**Hm?**_"

"I… Nothing." She didn't provide him with the answer. She turned her gaze away from him, anywhere was fine. So she looked at the ground from her current viewpoint. "Go over there." She pointed near the cliff and Vergil obliged. As the navigator looked down she saw the key.

"_**Maybe that Wapol dropped it.**_" Vergil suggested.

"You think it's for some treasure room?" Nami smiled as she picked it up.

"_**Look more like something for the armory if you ask me.**_" Vergil said and turned to his far left where Chess and Kuromarimo's body parts were. He gathered a ball of electricity and sent it over there to obliterate the remains. "_**Lack of respect, don't we demons just excel at it.**_" He said.

"You did what you thought was right."

"_**You don't agree with what I did.**_" He countered.

"That doesn't really matter." Nami muttered. She decided to hold onto the key anyway as she once again climbed up onto Vergil's shoulder.

"_**I'd take you up but it's a bit cold up there and you're still recovering.**_" Vergil said.

"Let's head back then." She grinned at him. "Maybe this is a key of some treasure chest." She was still hopeful.

"_**Whatever you say.**_" He laughed a bit and flew to where the others were.

"Nami-san! Did that shitty demon endanger you?!" Sanji was the first one to speak up.

"I'm fine Sanji-kun." Nami told him.

Vergil took a few steps back and watched them. Usopp and Zoro came to his mind. Usopp with his outrageous stories, Zoro and his determination, Sanji and his chivalry, hopefully Chopper would join as well so the cambion glanced at him as well. To some extent even Vivi and Carue, because he really had to give respect to the girl. Nami, he promised himself he'd never fall for a human, yet he did, he was head over heels for the girl and she was just amazing. Finally Luffy. The man who will become the Pirate King. Human who constantly exceeded Vergil's expectations, the man Vergil was proud to follow. "_I'm sorry._"

"_**Well… It's time…**_" Vergil muttered as his transformation faded and he returned to his human-like, devil form. He fell to his knees and threw up considerable amount of blood, he couldn't breathe and the world just blackened. He lost consciousness, the last thing he heard was Nami screaming his name, the last thing he saw was Luffy running up to him and the last thing he felt was Chopper's hoof checking his pulse.

"Doctorine quickly! His heart is slowing down!" Chopper cried out.

* * *

-Demon World-

* * *

Xenia had just finished bandaging Igaram.

"Well, a day or two to go and we can leave." She grinned at him.

"Thank you, I am." His voice failed him. "Mah mah ma! I am indebted to you."

"Don't mention it." Xenia stood up and suddenly felt dizzy, her vision was getting blurry. "Ver…gil…" She breathed out before she passed out.

"Xenia-san!" Igaram called her name but she didn't respond.

* * *

_**And that's it. I tried to give a description as detailed as I could, I did plan on drawing it but I can't do it even if my life depended on it. As for why the battle scene was generally short, well Vergil does sort of outclass Huyu so not much point in a long drawn out battle. This arc so far gave quite a lot of feats concerning demons, their abilities and stuff, so how about I try to put things into numbers and then give Vergil's power, through numbers, for a couple of arcs so far, plus I'll add a few other characters to make better comparison.**_

* * *

_**So to one-shot someone you'd need to be at least twice as strong, same goes for moments in which an attack has no effect on the target even though it hit completely, like how Huyu took two Mjollnirs without any damage. Surprise attacks and target areas like eyes or other weak spots do not apply to this. In order for battle to be more or less one-sided difference of around 25 percent should exist, unless there are other factors, but on more or less equal terms that's the difference needed to have a one-sided fight. Being 10 percent stronger or weaker doesn't guarantee winning or losing, the fight is more or less equal (up until 500, from that point the higher you go the smaller the difference needs to be for a close fight).**_

* * *

_**Now, Vergil's power scaling. Foosha – 30; Orange Town – 36; Rashca – 40; Baratie (slightly weakened seal) – 60; Arlong Park – 64, Mjollnir Thunder (Dark Edge cracked) – 128; Loguetown – 75; Little Garden – 78, Demon Burst – 156, Breath – 170; Drum – 81, Mjollnir Thunder – 110, Demon Release (trigger caused / x5) – 405, Mjollnir Thunder – 550.**_

_**Now other characters: Krim – 59; Mr. -1 – 40; DR (involuntary) – 100, desperate attack – 160; Huyu – 310, Hurricane Force (environment effect added) – 515, Devil form – 620, Near death – 31, DR (x6 type) – 3720.**_

_**The fact that Buggy is immune to cuts and Luffy to bullets is not taken into consideration, only overall fighting capabilities. And here is controversial part, the canon characters… (I have a bad feeling about this, don't know why, but I do) Buggy – 24; Kuro – 38; Krieg – 45; Arlong – 68; Smoker – 140; Wapol – 50; Vivi – 9.**_

_**Straw Hats: Luffy (Foosha) – 39, Drum – 83; Zoro (Shells Town (recovered)) – 34, Drum – 77; Nami (Orange Town) – 10, Drum (at full health) – 12; Usopp (Syrup Village) – 11, Drum – 14; Sanji (Baratie) – 45, Drum – 74; Chopper (Brain point) – 4, Heavy Point - 60.**_

_**Keep in mind, I have not used Doriki, but rather simple numbers without any reference to Doriki or any other power level using series like Dragon Ball.**_

_**Anyway that's all I have to say, this went on for quite a while.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Demon Tamer**_


	116. Demon Tamer

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**almost stupid – I agree, finally. I'm really happy it met your expectations with the quality, I hope I did live up to the hype I created.**_

_**SubZPhantomX – Thank you very much. This chapter came out even faster than I anticipated but I think you'll have to wait for a bit to get the next one. I agree with what you said about the battle, it really would be cruel to just prolong it for the heck of it.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**Guest – Omg indeed, I guess.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you, I'm really glad to hear you liked it and that you think the power scaling was in the right area.**_

_**Chance Greed G King – Thanks, I guess it did turn out to be good.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you.**_

_**KP360 – It probably is the best fight up until now, a bit short but it had its good moments. Demon Release and it's actual double edged nature will be explored later on, those were mostly 'Trigger' caused. Well, although Krim was cowardly it was how I wanted to portray him, too weak yet arrogant coward with abusive tendencies, in a way he was meant to be sort of a Vergil's opposite to Nami which I think worked out fine in its own way.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 116 – Demon Tamer**_

* * *

"_**Well… It's time…**_" Vergil muttered as his transformation faded and he returned to his human-like, devil form. He fell to his knees and threw up considerable amount of blood, he couldn't breathe and the world just blackened. He lost consciousness, the last thing he heard was Nami screaming his name, the last thing he saw was Luffy running up to him and the last thing he felt was Chopper's hoof checking his pulse.

"Doctorine quickly! His heart is slowing down!" Chopper cried out.

* * *

Everything became frantic.

"Get him into the castle, into the operation room!" Kureha quickly ordered and Chopper, in his human hybrid form picked Vergil up and rushed after Kureha.

"Hey!" Luffy went after them as did Nami and Sanji, well the cook moved as fast as he could with broken spine.

"Get out! You're in the way!" Kureha snapped at the rubber man that was trying to get inside the operation room.

"Hey, Vergil! You can't die here!" Luffy yelled, the warning Kureha spoke of before Vergil transformed.

"Out!" Kureha threw a scalpel at Luffy and locked the doors.

"Luffy sit down, if you keep standing in their way Vergil will die." Sanji had to be the voice of reason, with Luffy acting frantically and Nami trembling as she sat against the wall right next to the doors he had to find a way to get some control in here.

It didn't help, Luffy was still not calming down.

"Lady knows what she's doing. Luffy!" Sanji shouted at him.

"Vergil is…!" Luffy gritted his teeth.

"Vergil will be fine. He's stronger than this." Blond stated firmly.

"Luffy… Sit down…" Nami pleaded, she was fighting back tears.

Sanji looked at Nami and then at the doors. "_Come on you shitty demon, you can't let a lady cry like this._"

* * *

-Demon World-

* * *

Igaram was still trying to wake Xenia up, to find some way to help her.

"Vergil…" Xenia finally opened her eyes and coughed a couple of times.

"Xenia-san." Igaram let out a sigh of relief.

"Vergil is dying… I've got to…" She breathed out as she tried to force her body into cooperating with her.

* * *

-Human World-

* * *

While Chopper and Kureha were trying to save Vergil's life the rest of the crew, along with a bunch of other citizens and Dalton got up to the mountain.

"Where are they anyway?" Zoro was the first one they heard before the swordsman, sniper and princess stumbled across them.

"Zoro, Usopp, Vivi!" Luffy looked up, but other than his shout he didn't do much.

"What's with the gloomy attitude?" Usopp had to ask.

"Where's Vergil?" Zoro asked as people brought Dalton into the room and lied him on the bed.

"Inside, they are fighting for his life." Sanji was the one to say it.

"What?!" The trio screamed and Vivi immediately looked at Nami, the navigator looked devastated so she ran up to her, knelt down and tried to comfort her.

"Vergil? Come on, you're lying right?" Usopp asked even though it was clear from the way they acted that it wasn't the case. "But it's Vergil!"

"What happened?" Zoro sternly questioned.

"He used that 'trigger' of his. Long story short it backfired with damage big enough for him to be in this state." Sanji, being the only one capable of explaining it right now said.

"We saw a baby lapahn over there, is it safe?" One of the citizens asked.

"We are having our nakama fighting for his life! Shut the hell up!" Zoro snapped with deadly glare accompanying his words. He sat down next to Luffy and sighed. "He'll survive this."

"Yeah." Luffy looked dead serious for once.

Nami looked at the doors. "Come on…" She whispered.

* * *

-Demon World-

* * *

Xenia raised her arm and concentrated. "**Devil Arms: Blixtar**." Two katana appeared in her hands, they were slowly cracking. "You can't die like this Verge, you just can't." She let her power pour into the katana and looked up toward the ceiling as she rested her head against the wall. "I already took too much, I'm not going to let you die if I can help it." It wasn't working, not at the rate she hoped it would.

"Damn it Vergil!" She cried out and poured even more power into the katana. This time it was working properly.

* * *

-Human World-

* * *

Kureha was on the brink of giving up, she just couldn't make his heartbeat to stabilize. No matter what she and Chopper tried the cambion wasn't reacting.

"Doctorine…" Chopper whispered.

"It was too much. 'Trigger' healed him but the internal damage he took afterwards isn't something we can actually treat. The damage it did to his very being was transferred to organs and even if we can stabilize his condition he is still a half demon. His body doesn't work like that of a human." She gritted her teeth.

"But…"

"We can't treat what we can't even detect, demon life force, their very power and soul…" Kureha was about to admit defeat but then, just like a miracle Vergil started breathing again, his heartbeat stabilized. Still both her and Chopper double checked to make sure he was out of the woods.

"Finish the treatment, looks like we've got more company." She sighed and Chopper nodded.

"Doctorine." Now that the life-threatening situation ended he could talk to her. "They called me… their nakama…" He looked so happy as he pulled his hat over his eyes.

Kureha smiled, things were clear to her.

She stepped outside and immediately the entire crew was looking at her.

"He's going to be fine. Comatose for a couple of days but he'll live." Kureha stated and immediately Nami ran up to her and hugged her.

"Thank you…!" Nami was finally crying but this time the tears were caused by happiness.

"Thanks Grandma!" Luffy joined in as relief finally set in and the Straw Hats relaxed.

Kureha looked annoyed by that and then looked at Dalton. "Looks like I'm busy today." She said and then turned back to the Straw Hats.

Long nosed one was dancing with Luffy and was clearly happy. The green haired one just had a smirk on his face, blue haired girl was looking happy along with the blond cook and the orange haired girl had a grin on her face nearly as large as that of her captain. Their nakama was going to be fine.

"I'd like to say it was all Chopper and my own doing but it wasn't." Kureha said. "I believe something saved his life, something that had nothing to do with the treatment he was getting."

"It doesn't matter, he's alive." Zoro was the one to speak and then he recognized Kureha. "You are… that crazy hag!" He encountered Kureha prior to the avalanche and she didn't want to give him a ride, in fact she punched him away.

"Watch your mouth!" And now he was nursing a lump on his head because of Kureha's punch.

"Anyway I need to tell you a story about the brat's mother." Kureha stated, knowing how things were about to turn out she decided to tell them.

"There's no need to hear it." Luffy didn't want Kureha talking about Vergil's mother, it was clear even to him that she'd reveal the fact that Vergil's mom was a human.

"I didn't ask you anything! Brat will want to hear about his mother so I want one of you to tell him this story." Kureha said and sat down.

Nami looked down, on one hand it was personal, something about Vergil's mother. They didn't have the right to hear about it, yet, Kureha was right, Vergil would want to hear about it. "I'll tell him." She assured Kureha as she completely concentrated on the older woman, there would be another time to feel happy over Vergil surviving.

"Have you ever heard of demonologists?" Kureha asked.

"From the sound of it I take it's someone that studies demons." Nami guessed.

"Correct. Well that's what Irene, Vergil's mother was." Old doctor stated.

"Huh? But why would a demon study demons?" Usopp asked.

"Why indeed? You'd have to ask a demon demonologist if you ever come across one." Kureha cackled. "His mother wasn't a demon but a human." The shock that painted all over the faces of everyone but Luffy and Zoro made the woman laugh. "Yes, Vergil is a cambion. But that's not all there is to this story."

* * *

-Flashback-

* * *

_'It happened nearly 30 years ago. A long storm passed just a night before and I was walking through the forest. The last thing I expected was for a white demonic tiger to appear in front of me carrying a blond girl.'_

It was clear to Kureha that the girl was on the verge of death, injured, with frostbites and unconscious. Yet the demon tiger, about as large as a regular tiger growled at her to get out of its way, but even it couldn't take it anymore. It lowered the human gently onto the ground, well as gently as it could anyway and licked her face a few times, it was trying desperately to wake her up. It let out pained, barely hearable sounds and nudged the unconscious girl.

"Let me help her. You understand humans, don't you? I am a doctor, I can help her." Kureha assured the demon tiger and it roared at her but as she didn't move or run away it slowly allowed her to take a look at the girl.

_'That's how I first found her.'_

* * *

Two weeks passed and the blond girl was still not waking up, the tiger kept sitting at the bottom of her bed, it never once left her side. Suddenly it's ears perked up and it rose its head to look at the human. She finally regained her consciousness.

"Beo…" Was the first word she said as she sat up slowly and petted the demon tiger's head, something that it returned with a happy round of licking her palm. "Sorry I worried you." She apologized and then noticed Kureha. "You're the one that saved me, right? Thank you."

"I haven't seen you before, who are you?" Kureha asked.

"I'm Irene, a demonologist and a demon tamer. This is my friend, Beo." Irene said and kept petting the demon.

"Demon tamer?" Kureha was honestly surprised.

"Yeah. A few years ago I met Beo and tamed him. Well normally we have to summon the tamed demon to our side but Beo and I've bonded so he is almost always by my side." She smiled at the tiger that yawned tiredly.

Irene pulled out a piece of paper with a couple of marks written on it. "You can rest now." She petted him for a few more seconds before the tiger turned into a white light and entered the paper.

* * *

-Flashback pause-

* * *

"A demon tamer?" Vivi questioned.

"She never really explained how it's done, but she had that piece of paper and she could summon the tiger whenever she wanted, or whenever he wanted to come out." Kureha explained. "Anyway, as happy as she seemed to be, she was far from cheerful."

* * *

-Flashback continues-

* * *

There was just one time Kureha saw Irene being anything but happy. And it would have never happened if the female knew Kureha was there.

It's not that Kureha was spying on the girl, but when she was walking past the room Irene was in she heard the quiet sobs, she peered into the room and saw the girl hugging the tiger that lied in her lap. She was shaking, clearly indicating that she was crying.

"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry… Everyone died…" She whispered and the tiger tried to comfort her.

Kureha sighed and left the girl alone with her demon tiger. She guessed it before, that Irene was in a shipwreck that happened near the island. An entire crew of sailors sank and died during the storm, other than her that is. And she was carrying that guilt.

* * *

A few days later Kureha was drinking in front of Irene, yet again, after giving her a check up.

"Geez, did this woman really save my life? Just look at her drinking Beo, I'm feeling drunk just from watching her." Irene chatted with her tiger that simply meowed in response and purred as Irene petted his head.

"Shut it brat, you still haven't told me where did you come from." Kureha chose to ask.

Immediately the air changed as Beo growled at her.

"It's none of your concern." That would be the only time Kureha heard anger in Irene's voice, at least until that day.

* * *

Time passed and Kureha grew fond of Irene and the girl returned the feeling, heck even Beo started warming up to the old Doctorine.

* * *

_'About six months after she ended up on Drum Island, he came. Leonidas Acharon. He came here for medical research, something that was given to him, however he was thirsty for at least some destruction.'_

Acharon set now evacuated village ablaze, the flames danced behind him as he turned to the terrified villagers. Dalton and the soldiers couldn't do anything and even Kureha was there.

"Hey, demon!" That voice…

"Irene!" Kureha gasped when she saw the blond female walking up to Acharon.

"You sure made a mess here." She commented.

"Do you have a death wish, human?" Acharon observed her coldly.

"Does anyone?" She countered.

"So what do you want then? A fight?"

"Men, so often you are just aching for a fight." She laughed making the white haired demon raise an eyebrow. "No. Beo already told me about your power. You're way stronger than anyone here. Destroying the island really doesn't seem like something you'd need to work to accomplish." Irene said.

"And you still stand up to me?" He was intrigued, by the human that so casually chatted with him. By the woman that didn't have even the slightest fear in her.

"Why not? If someone doesn't stop you you'll just start killing." She sounded strangely serious, it was only the second time Kureha heard her being this serious.

"And I take it you'll stop me. Don't you think the deaths of these people are unavoidable?"

"There isn't a single murder that wasn't unavoidable." Irene fiercely told him. "Plus, I might be able to offer you a deal."

Acharon was intrigued just a few moments earlier, now he was downright surprised and it was evident on his face.

"What could you possibly offer?"

"More than a violent bastard like you can imagine. Remember Beo I mentioned? He's a demon tiger." Irene stated.

"Why you little…?!" Acharon, back then was easy to provoke by humans.

"Quit making a fuss and listen!" She snapped at him. "I am a demon tamer, one of the only ones at that. I'll go with you to your world, I'll go to the Demon World, if you stop this madness." She stated, it wasn't an offer, it was a demand.

"A demon tamer you say?" Acharon repeated clearly taken aback by the woman's attitude.

"Come on, think with that brain of yours. Demon tamer, someone who tames demons." She actually knocked onto the side of the speechless demon's head.

"Why would you even suggest that?" White haired male had to ask.

"I've got someone here I don't want to see dead. Is there any other reason I need?" Irene told him.

"But just for that?" Acharon didn't really buy it.

"I'm just tired of seeing the ones I care about die. Beo also agreed with this, so it's fine." She looked him in the eyes with determination he had never seen. "There has to be something in you that doesn't want bloodshed, demons aren't monsters, I know that."

She was truly something, standing up to a demon capable of killing her like that, being as blunt and direct about everything she said. This human…

"What's your name?" Acharon asked.

"Irene."

"Just Irene?"

"Yeah. Yours?" She offered him her hand.

"Leonidas Acharon." And he took it, the two greeted one another formally.

"Well then, shall we go?" Irene grinned at Acharon. "Acharon."

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

"That was Irene, his mother. I thought she died but your nakama is the proof of it, she not only survived but had at least one child with that demon." Kureha said and took a long sip of her drink.

Vivi felt like she honestly wasn't meant to hear this, she felt like most of the people in this room in fact, only those people might have been there when Irene went with Vergil's father. But it gave her an answer as to why Vergil joined a human crew, he was half human.

Usopp came to a similar conclusion. Being half human would certainly make him more sympathetic toward the humans. Well not that he was that sympathetic in the first place but he wasn't cruel. And now, knowing that he was a cambion Usopp felt a bit safer.

Sanji just took a deep breath. Half demon, half human. That certainly wasn't something he expected, well it didn't really matter. Vergil didn't declare himself as cambion, so there had to be a reason for that. Being half demon didn't change much when he was raised in the Demon World.

"So Vergil is… a cambion…" Nami muttered, somehow everything made sense. Honestly, she didn't really care, it didn't matter how he was classified, demon, human, cambion, he was, special to her. In Whiskey Peak when she was jealous, in Little Garden when she called him hers and when she thought he died, on the way here when he fed her and everything that happened on this mountain top… She understood, perfectly in fact, that she was in love with him, in love with the one that saved her so many times.

* * *

_**And that's it, more about Irene is revealed. The medical procedure stuff was short because… well no amount of Google can help me with that, I'm hopeless when it comes to medicine, so yeah… you got what you got… Also this was a short chapter but I wanted to focus on this alone, nothing more and nothing else. I probably won't be too pleased with the way some scenes turned out, even now I feel like I should have put more into making things more emotional.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Seventh Nakama**_


	117. Seventh Nakama

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Guest – Here it is.**_

_**almost stupid – I'll do my best to try, now on the topic of killing Vergil off, I can understand why you feel conflicted, it's that tiresome cliche, 'character is dying, oh wait, never mind'. I also agree that it would be interesting to see, well write in my case, reactions. What you said about not knowing how I would have brought Vergil back, well that is the sole reason why it didn't happen. The way he was saved is confusing, right now, however there is a certain connection between Xenia passing out when Vergil was in grave danger, her having Blixtar, Vergil's original Devil Arm, and what she did. You can go back to chapter 57, when Dark Edge was repaired, it's similar in a way of repairing the soul thus lowering the damage Vergil took. I'm glad you think the flashback was done well. **_

_**Chance Green G King – I guess you're right. I kinda think the action scenes are where I feel the most comfortable at, so all I can do will probably wait a bit.**_

_**SubZPhantomX – I'm glad you don't mind it being a backstory oriented, it's also new material so I think I can be forgiven for not moving the main storyline that much. As for Beo, I have some plans.**_

_**The Storm Master 567 – Well, it would be a boring story if everything I write could be absolutely predictable. Also good job on noticing that, name of Vergil's original Devil Arm was mentioned like twice.**_

_**Naroku – Thanks, it's right around the corner.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks.**_

_**JayH120 – Glad to hear that. Well, Vergil and Nami… you'll see… Anyway, here is the next chapter.**_

_**KP360 – Right away I'll tell you that Vergil isn't getting a demon tiger, that would really be a bit too much. On the other hand... Never mind, it'll come in time anyway. Will it happen, or will it not, the question shall not be answered right now. Yeah, I'm feeling kinda evil right now.  
V: Author, should we do it?  
Eventually Verge, eventually.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks, I'm glad you liked the flashback.**_

_**I'm addicted – Well I can't write constantly but I'm trying to update as often as I can. Trust me this year started off amazingly well.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 117 – Seventh Nakama**_

* * *

The realization that their nakama was a cambion finally died down and Sanji looked at Luffy. "You knew, didn't you?"

"Yeah, Vergil told me. After we left the Warship Island." Luffy said.

"Now that you mention it, Zoro you seemed to know that Vergil is a cambion even back on the Little Garden." Nami recounted the way Zoro and Vergil talked prior to Vergil attempting to use 'trigger'.

"I was training when Vergil told Luffy." It was clear that the half demon wanted only Luffy to find out at that point, clearly they'd find out sooner or later but Zoro found out due to Luffy shouting on top of his lungs that Vergil's mother was a human.

Luffy scratched the back of his head. "I kinda shouted. Shishishi." He clearly remembered that time, yeah he forgot things at times, but that seemed like something important so he unconsciously kept it in his short span memory.

"So… The difference between cambions and humans is kinda apparent. But does anyone know the difference between cambions and demons?" Usopp asked.

"Cambions are too rare for humans to make a valid statement about the difference. Even in demonology books there's only vague information." Kureha said shutting down any other questions.

* * *

Chopper had finished the treatment he was supposed to give to Vergil and looked at the cambion.

"Well… this certainly wasn't pleasant." Vergil muttered.

"You're awake?!" Chopper gasped.

"I feel my consciousness slipping, but whatever saved my life woke me up as well." He grunted. "What are you going to do? Set sail with us?" Vergil asked.

"I can't. I'm a reindeer." Chopper looked down.

"So? I'm not a human either."

"You look like a human."

"Not much when I take my demon form." Vergil argued. He made a long pause before continuing. "Shit… I'm losing consciousness. Listen to me Chopper. Don't run away from them, from Luffy. At least give him a chance to persuade you." He lost consciousness few short moments later, the only thing keeping him conscious up until now was the small shred of willpower he had left after the near death experience.

* * *

Back in the room where the crew and Dalton were there was one person missing, Sanji. Who was in the room next doors getting through an operation…

"Are they going to be okay? Sanji with that old lady and Vergil without anyone making sure he's still in stable condition." Usopp asked.

"Chopper's with him." Nami told him.

"Anyone with medical expertise." Usopp corrected himself.

"Chopper's a doctor. Dr. Kureha put all of her knowledge into him, he's a first-class doctor." Nami casually pointed out.

"Chopper's a doctor?!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Are you for real?!" Usopp shouted.

"Now we have to take him!" Luffy was now 200 percent more willing to take Chopper and he was already pretty damn set on it. A cool reindeer that is even a doctor! Who wouldn't want someone like Chopper for nakama?!

At that very moment Chopper opened the doors and walked into the room.

"V-Vergil is going to be fine." He began unsure of how to start.

"Shishishi! Awesome! Thanks!" He was grinning as widely as possible at the reindeer.

"A blue nose…" Dalton recognized him and Chopper who easily recognized the bandaged man.

* * *

-Flashback-

* * *

"STOP!" Dalton, in his bison hybrid form stopped and pushed Chopper to the ground. "Leave! Leave this place now! If you cannot even overpower me. There is no hope for you to defeat them! If it's because he laughed at Hiluluk's death, I apologize!"

Tears dropped onto Chopper's face and he calmed down, but now the sadness set in and he cried.

"Your strength will be of no use if you die a dog's death! Don't become another sacrifice for this country! Please." Dalton spoke to him.

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

"You were there… back then… I see. You've been continuously fighting since then." He stood up and dropped to his knees, he bowed his head down to Chopper. "Thank you. Drum will surely… Surely… be reborn!"

Luffy watched, confused and then Usopp reacted to a talking reindeer.

"A MONSTER!" Usopp screamed, making Chopper scream and make a run for it back into the room where Vergil was lying.

"Don't call him a monster! He's a new nakama I found!" Luffy bonked Usopp on top of the head.

"Eh? That thing?" Usopp asked.

"Of course! Now he got shocked and ran away! Hey! Reindeer! Where did you go?!" Luffy went off and ran after Chopper, although he didn't know where the reindeer was.

* * *

Chopper heard Luffy all right and as he looked at the unconscious first mate of the strange pirate crew he struggled to decide what to do. He wanted to go with them, he really did. But… He was a reindeer… At the were least he'll say goodbye.

* * *

Kureha had finished operating on Sanji, she didn't really pay attention to the crew that now lacked the first mate, cook and the captain as she spoke with Dalton about Wapol's key to the armory.

That of course piqued Nami's interest as she remembered Vergil's guess that the key they found could have been the key to the armory.

"Doctorine. Would you mind making our crew's recovery say, free? And also, would you mind releasing me now?"

Kureha gritted her teeth at that. "I think you already know the answer to that. The fee is all the gold and cargo on your ship. And you have to stay here for at least another two days."

"Nami-san, she's right! You have to let her care for you!" Vivi told her.

"I'm fine. I don't feel like dying anytime soon." Nami just grinned.

"That's beside the point!" The princess sounded way too worried.

Nami twirled a key around her finger and smirked slyly. "You need this key to the armory, don't you?"

Dalton sat up. "How did you get that key?!"

"Is that really it? What's this about?" Kureha asked.

"I found it with Vergil." She said innocently.

Kureha walked up to Nami, leaned toward her and glared. "You've got some guts giving me conditions. You're a rotten little girl."

Nami just grinned at that.

"Fine." She grabbed the key. "I won't take any payment for the treatment. But that's all." She put on her jacket. "I cannot accept the second condition, as a doctor."

"Hey, wait! I'm not handing over the key then! Give it back!" Nami demanded.

Kureha pointed her finger at Nami. "Listen here, little girl! I'll be out for a while attending to some business. There's a coat in a chest of drawers in the inner room. And nobody is keeping any sort of watch. Plus, I'm done treating that greenhorn's spine and cambion, but… Listen here! Don't you dare run away from here! You guys come with me. I'm gonna need some strong arms!"

Townspeople went after Kureha toward the armory.

"So she wants me to put on a coat, grab Vergil and Sanji-kun and get out of here." Nami summed it up.

"That's what I heard as well." Vivi confirmed it.

"Let's get going then." Zoro stood up, Usopp grabbed Sanji and Nami went to get the black long coat.

As if on cue Luffy ran right past them and Zoro grabbed his arm.

"Huh? Did you find the reindeer?" Luffy asked him.

"Let's get Vergil, we're leaving. And I think Chopper could be over there as well." Nami told him.

"Huh? Why?" Luffy was confused.

"Doctorine was right when she said Vergil would understand him. Those two are similar…" With the knowledge of Vergil being a cambion Nami pieced things concerning him much better now.

"Reindeer! Vergil!" But she didn't even complete her sentence and Luffy was already on the way to the room where Vergil lied.

"Why am I even trying…?" Nami sighed and massaged her temples.

Luffy opened the doors and there Chopper was, 'hiding' behind the bed Vergil was lying on.

"Reindeer!" Luffy grinned as the rest of the crew walked in after him.

Chopper didn't run, he looked at unconscious cambion and then at the floor.

"Hey! Let's be pirates together! Huh?!" Luffy invited him.

"I can't."

"No you can! It's fun!"

"You haven't even heard why yet!" Usopp berated him.

"I mean…" He finally looked at Luffy. "I mean I'm a reindeer! With antlers and hooves and… And a blue nose!"

Nami looked at him.

'Can you guys heal his heart?'

"I want to be a pirate, but… I can't be the nakama of a human, y'know! I'm a monster! Someone like me CAN'T be your nakama! So…!" He stopped and calmed down. "So, I… I want to say thanks. Thank you for the invitation."

Luffy just had wide eyes, down-lipped expression on his face.

"I'll stay here, but…" He smiled. "If you ever feel like it, come back someday and-"

"SHUT UP! LET'S GO!" Luffy yelled.

Tears formed in Chopper's eyes.

Nami grinned, Usopp smiled as well as Vivi.

"Since when is 'Shut up!' an invitation?" Zoro had to ask.

Chopper finally let the tears fall and cried out, he had joined them, the crew of the Straw Hat pirates.

* * *

As the rest of the crew prepared to take off Chopper ran to talk with Kureha.

"Doctorine!" He skidded to a stop at the doors. "Doctorine! I need to talk to you!"

"Chopper, where have you been? Go downstairs and help move the cannons." Kureha acted as if she didn't know what he wanted.

"Listen, Doctorine. I'm gonna be a pirate! I'm going with them!" Chopper told her.

"What did you say?"

"I'm going out to sea! I'm gonna be the ship's doctor, their nakama! I'll travel around the world!" He sounded so happy…

"DON'T BE RIDICULOUS!"

Chopper flinched at that.

"Listen, you're my one and only assistant! Just who do you think taught you medicine in the first place? Or is it that you couldn't care less about me?"

"T-That's not true… I'm very grateful to you, Doctorine. I love this place, because I got to meet you and Doctor!" He assured the woman that took him in after Hiluluk.

"Hmph. Then stay here. Where else could you live in such a grand castle?"

"Eh?"

"Pirating isn't something you want to do! You'll be dead in no time!"

"I'm alright with that!" Chopper declared.

She took a swing of her drink. "Quit blabbering like a idiot! Who ever heard of a reindeer going out to sea?!"

"THAT'S RIGHT, I'M A REINDEER! BUT I'M ALSO A MAN!"

Now it was Kureha's time to stop for a moment.

"That does it! I will never allow it! If you want to leave, you'll have to do it over my dead body!" Kureha warned him.

"Huh? Doctorine?" And she threw and axe into the wall next to Chopper.

"A little crybaby like you, a man?" She took another axe. "Don't make me laugh!"

"But, Doctorine, he…"

_'SHUT UP! LET'S GO!'_

"…understood…"

"SHUT UP!" She took more weapons. "I won't allow you to be so selfish!"

Chopper's eyes widened and he began running for his life as Kureha chased after him and threw weapons at him. "You're not going anywhere, Chopper!"

* * *

Chopper took the sleighs and began running toward the rope way.

"_I'm sorry Doctorine! But I want to see the world!_" Spear stabbed into the path near him.

"What the hell can someone like you do on the ea?! Are you going to live in a fantasy just like that quack doctor?!" Kureha yelled ager him.

"_You're wrong! It wasn't a fantasy! Doctor's research was complete!_" Chopper's thoughts echoed in his heart.

"Hey, is that him-?" Zoro saw the scene.

"What's going on?!" Nami wondered.

"She's chasing him!" Vivi realized.

"Hey! The ropeway's all ready to-" Usopp said as he and Luffy got back up as well, but he stopped when he noticed that something was going on.

"Everyone get onto the sleigh! We're going down the mountain!" Chopper told them.

Kureha's final attempt was throwing the spiked ball and chain after them.

"WHAT THE…?!" The rest of the crew yelled.

* * *

As Chopper kept running down the rope way he remembered all the times with Kureha, the very beginning of his study, all the failures he had, Kureha carefully observing his work, finally getting it right and her looking proud…

They both thought of those times…

* * *

Kureha was watching from the top, almost as if she could clearly see her little reindeer from where she stood.

"Are you okay with him leaving like that?" Dalton asked her.

Kureha chuckled. "One of my pets ran away, that's all." Yet she sounded sad underneath the tough act. "I hate getting all gloomy." She let the tears fall. But then she turned around, began walking to the castle and slammed Dalton's wounded chest. "C'mon! We've got to give them a flashy farewell!"

"Ow." The large man complained about the pain.

* * *

More memories came into Chopper's mind like a flood. "_Doctor, it wasn't all just a fantasy, right? Your research was complete, right?! Or was that a lie, too?_" he remembered Hiluluk's happiness over the research being successful. "_Did you say that before you died… because you didn't want me to be sad? 'Nothing's impossible for a man who raises skull and crossbones!' Say that one more time, Doctor!"_

* * *

Cannons from Wapol's armory were pointed at the sky.

"Is everything ready, brats?!"

"Yes ma'am!" They all replied.

"FIRE!" Kureha yelled.

'_Listen Kureha, this dirt…'_

Cannons fired simultaneously.

"Dr. Kureha, what are you…?" Dalton tried to get some information.

"Shut up and watch." Kureha shut him off.

"Dr. Kureha! All shells have been fired!" One of the men reported.

"Light up!" She ordered.

And then it happened. Like a miracle the snow turned pink.

* * *

The crew stopped and Chopper along with everyone was watching.

"Whoa!" Luffy, who else would sound this excited.

"Yeah." Zoro agreed.

"Beautiful!" Nami marveled at it as well. She glanced down and saw Vergil's eyes were open, he smiled at her and then slipped back into the unconsciousness, but he had seen this and now she was sure he'd be fine.

'_This is the culmination of my 30 years of research!'_

* * *

"This is… such a fantastic…" Dalton was at a loss of words.

"You can't comprehend the mind of an idiot." Kureha grinned.

'_I will make sakura bloom here! If I can complete my research, this country will be saved! Listen! This red dirt is no ordinary dirt. It'll stick to the white snow high in the atmosphere and make the snow bright pink!'_

* * *

Chopper was crying, there was no doubt, Hiluluk had completed his research. "_Doctor…! Doctorine…!"_

He cried out, perhaps even loud enough for Kureha to hear him as the top of the mountain where the castle was looked like a sakura tree due to the now pink cloud. It was truly a miraculous, simply beautiful sight to see.

Remaining lapahn and the cub Huyu almost killed, people of the drum, everyone could see it.

'_I will never shoot you! My name is Dr. Hiluluk! Doctor! Tony Tony Chopper. Good name, right? That's what I'm going to call you. Chopper you'll make a fine doctor. I guarantee it!'_

Kureha watched from the top, tears were in her eyes yet again.

'_Even after I'm gone, my dream will come true. This has truly been a wonderful life!'_

Chopper kept crying.

'_Thank you, Chopper!'_

* * *

Somehow, she just knew that her reindeer was crying, but she was grinning, happy that he found his place. "_Now go! My foolish son!_"

* * *

"Put Vergil in my bed." As soon as they reached the Going Merry Nami instructed Zoro who was tasked with carrying the Halfling onto the ship.

Zoro scowled at the outright demand but complied nonetheless, Nami opened the doors and he lied Vergil onto her bed.

"Let's go, we should properly welcome Chopper." Zoro said.

"Even without Vergil?" Nami seemed a bit bothered by that, it wasn't really a party without all of them being involved.

"Vergil isn't someone who'd want us to fall into depression over him being unconscious. He'll wake up." The swordsman reasoned with her and walked out. That was the mentality the crew had, once he woke up they could throw another party if they had time.

Nami looked at him and smiled. "Well, I'll be going as well." She told him, he probably couldn't hear her but she said it anyway.

* * *

As she walked out she found Chopper sitting on the railing, serious and distant look on his face as he looked at the Drum Island.

"Hey, is that Chopper guy okay?" Usopp asked her.

"Let's leave him be for now." Nami told him.

"Right now, he's trying to comprehend the 'journey of a man'." Sanji stated.

"He's never left this island even once in his entire life. And now he's leaving it behind." Vivi explained it to Usopp.

"I'm on my way. Doctor. Doctorine. It's finally begun. My… adventure!" His words reached out to the ones he cared about the most.

Time passed in partying while Chopper kept sitting on the railing. Luffy even had chopstick up his nose on one end and in his mouth on the other…

"I love it! I love it!" Usopp clapped.

"The moon's out and the sakura's bloomed!" Zoro exclaimed.

"Chopper! Hey, Chopper! You jerk, how long are you gonna sit there spacing out?!" Usopp pulled the reindeer and offered him a mug. "Drink!" Chopper just looked a bit confused.

Sanji pushed Usopp out of the way and put his arm around Chopper's shoulder. "Aw, come over here and sing with me!"

"Come on, try the nose-chopsticks!" Luffy offered.

"Ah, what beautiful sakura! It's not right if we don't sing now!" Sanji exclaimed.

The four males sure had fun and Chopper wasn't that used to this.

Nami tapped his shoulders and he flinched.

"Did I startle you? You've just become the nakama of quite a bunch of scoundrels."

"Nakama?" Chopper repeated.

"Yep, they don't have a shred of common sense, but they're your nakama now. You'll just have to get used to them, okay?" Nami told him.

Chopper smiled happily at that.

"Carue! Why were you frozen in the river?!" Vivi was holding onto the barely conscious duck that was trying to explain.

"Haha, he probably slipped and fell in. What a klutz." Zoro gave his two cents on the matter.

"Be quiet Mr. Bushido!"

"He said some Zoro guy went swimming in the river. And when he didn't come back, he was afraid something bad happened, so he jumped in after him and got frozen." Chopper said after Carue quacked a few times.

Nami smacked the back of Zoro's head. "So it was YOUR fault."

"Tony-kun, you can understand what Carue is saying?" Vivi realized.

"Yeah, I was originally an animal. So I can talk to other animals." Chopper explained.

"You can talk to animals?" Vivi repeated.

"That's wonderful, Chopper! You have your medical abilities, and that as well!" Nami praised him.

"Idiot! Complimenting me like that doesn't make me happy! Asshole!" Yet he was doing his happy dance.

"He looks pretty happy." Luffy and Usopp noticed.

Suddenly Chopper remembered something. "Ah! Oh no! I was in such a hurry to leave that I forgot my medical supplies!"

"Really? Then what's in this thing?" Nami was holding onto a small blue bag.

It was his backpack. "My backpack!"

"It was on the sleigh." Nami stated.

"Why?" Chopper couldn't help but be confused by this.

"What are you saying? You mean you didn't prepare these supplies for the journey?" Nami asked him

Realization hit the small reindeer. It was Kureha, there was no one else that could have done it.

"So in the end…" Nami realized it as well. "She already knew what was in your heart. She's a wonderful person."

"Yeah." Chopper had tears in his eyes as he and Nami saw against the railing.

"Hey, Chopper! Come and try this already!" Luffy called him.

"Honestly! The sun's coming up already! Right, Chopper? Chopper?" But he was putting the nose-chopsticks… "DON'T DO THAT!"

Usopp began the speech to welcome Chopper but no one was really paying attention.

"You know…" Chopper began.

Vivi tried to help Carue who was choking. Sanji and Zoro were fighting and Luffy was gulping on the food.

"This is the first time I've ever had this much fun!"

Nami grinned at him.

"To our new nakama! Cheers!" Usopp cheered.

"AYE!" The others cheered.

"CHEERS!" They all rose their mugs.

* * *

-Drum Island-

* * *

Dalton and Kureha were talking at the cliff of the mountain top when one of the men that came with Dalton ran up to them.

"DALTON-SAN! Terrible news! I just remembered something important!"

"What is it?" Dalton asked.

He handed Dalton a wanted poster. "Take a look at this! It's him the pirate that defeated Wapol! The pirate with the straw hat! No doubt about it!"

"A 30 million bountiy…? On him?" Dalton couldn't really believe it.

"Oh? He must be quite the villain. Heheh." Kureha chuckled.

"Where did you get this?" Dalton asked the one that gave it to him.

"I forgot to tell you about this when it happened but… About a week ago in Robelle Town. This traveler showed up all of a sudden. Strangely, it didn't snow at all that day…"

"We have no idea where the heck he came from." Another man added.

"Anyway, he said he was after Blackbeard, the same pirate that ransacked our country."

"But once he found out the pirates had long since left here…"

'_Then I'll ask another question. Has a pirate wearing a straw hat ever come here?'_

"When I said I didn't know, he gave us this poster and said."

* * *

-Flashback-

* * *

"If he does come here…" The man dressed in a black coat began.

"If he comes…?"

"Tell him I'll only wait in Alabasta for ten days. I'll leave it with you."

"Hey wait a moment! What's your name?!" They asked.

"Oh yes. Yeah, that's right." He smirked. "My name is Ace. When he comes by, tell him that and he'll figure it out." Ace was on his way, until a restaurant owner came and said he was an 'eat n' run', thus making the cool looking Ace make a run for it.

* * *

-Flashback ends-

* * *

"Waiting in Alabasta for 10 days, eh?" He noticed Kureha looking at Luffy's wanted posted. "Dr. Kureha. What's the matter? You seem distant."

"Do you know of Gol D. Roger?" Kureha asked him.

"'D'? You mean Gold Roger?" Dalton corrected her based on the knowledge that was common in the world.

"Is that what they call him now? It looks like… my little reindeer has followed a dangerous man. So it still lives… The Will of D…"

* * *

-Demon World-

* * *

Two days later the passage between two worlds was once again opened by Xenia.

"So, do you have any plan?" Xenia asked.

"We'll head directly to the king, we need to warn him." Igaram stated.

"So you don't." She concluded. "We'll counter Crocodile's plan with a plan of our own. That's exactly what we'll do." Xenia smirked, some of the things were already set in stone for her. Straw Hat crew had to get the experience this situation would offer. So, they were the ones that needed to take the main battles. She would make sure the damage to the country, the number of casualties and anything not related to the main battle of her brother and his nakama was minimized. Or as Xenia's track record showed, nearly nonexistent.

* * *

_**Drum Island Arc - Finished**_

* * *

_**And that's it. I tried to get only the most important scenes as it's similar to the flashback chapters, pretty much word for word rewrite of the original, but it's an important scene as it's Chopper joining the crew. Yeah, I really regret keeping Vergil comatose like this…**_

* * *

_**Trivia:**_

* * *

_**-Back when I was making the rough sketches of the story Vergil used Demon Release to get Nami, Sanji and Luffy up to the top of the mountain. The idea stuck for some time, but eventually I decided to introduce it in a fight, rather than in something like climbing the mountain.**_

_**-During the writing of the chapter I did consider leaving the Chopper VS Chessmarimo in the story.**_

_**-Vergil was supposed to obliterate the remains of Chess and Kuromarimo's bodies prior to the confrontation with Huyu.**_

* * *

_**Next Arc – Alabasta Arc**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Devil Arm**_


	118. Devil Arm

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Naroku – It's starting to become a bit of a obligation, once a saga. I can't say I intended that to happen though.**_

_**almost stupid – Thank you. And even after such a long time it's still so far from being done, hooray…! I can't say I had much experience reading Naruto fanfictions so I'll have to trust your word on that. Well One Piece did break the law of hero always wins, probably one of the reasons why it's so amazing, anyway I do plan on having a few of those moments in the story, as the situations become more serious and the stakes go higher. One thing I didn't state in the PM I sent you is concerning the blunt approach, thanks for that. I'd much rather have you directly telling me your concerns, likes and dislikes than sugarcoating it and picking words.**_

_**Chance Green G King – Thanks, I'm glad you think so. It's Zexal and I haven't seen much of it, plus I can't say I liked what I saw so probably not, even though it's set after the series from what I've seen in the summary.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you, I'm glad you liked the chapter. They'll meet soon enough.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks, it has began.**_

_**KP360 – I was thinking whether or not to have him wake up, at least for the party but it would have been too convenient. As for Alabasta, I have a bit of a plan in which direction to take it, it might surprise at least some of the readers.**_

_**The Storm Master 567 – Ace sure is protective, but in his own way so is Vergil, so yeah, their meeting will certainly be interesting to write. Vergil being a cambion isn't known to anyone besides the select few, so Ace certainly doesn't know that Luffy has a half-demon and not a demon on the crew.**_

_**SubZPhantomX – I agree completely about that last scene, the masterpiece at its finest. Don't we all face those internet and electronic problems.**_

* * *

_**Arc 14 – Alabasta Arc**_

* * *

_**Chapter 118 – Devil Arm**_

* * *

The dream Vergil had, reverting the Devil Arms of those who failed back into their original forms...

It wasn't a dream that just popped into his head. A bit after he turned six he saw Grom looking at a pure white tanto lying in a suitcase.

"Grom?" Vergil called him.

"Come here." Grom said and Vergil walked up to him.

There was a sound coming from the tanto, a sound strangely familiar to the sounds souls from the mid dimension made. Only less understandable.

"What is that? It's trying to say something, but I can't understand it." Vergil asked.

"This was supposed to be my best friend's Devil Arm." Grom stated.

"Was? What is a Devil Arm anyway?" Vergil asked.

"Devil Arm is manifestation of your soul, usually a weapon. The most powerful weapon in the Demon World. Although not many try to make it." Grom had a distant look on his face.

"Why not, if it's so powerful?"

"Because in the process of making it, if you're not careful enough you can lose your life and become a living weapon. Devil Arm that's just lying around, eventually a slave of someone that finds you. It's not even clear if the soul remains conscious as a Devil Arm. There is too much that we don't know about the Devil Arms in general. You can know your own perfectly, but you cannot apply rules to the soul." Grom explained it roughly.

"Why doesn't someone reverse the effect?" Vergil asked.

"It's not possible." Grom told him.

"I'll do it." Vergil's words confused the Despot.

"Do what?"

Grom watched him carefully as he touched the white tanto and then Vergil met his eyes.

"You'll see Grom! I'll find a way to revert the Devil Arms back to their original state!" Vergil declared boldly, so boldly that even Grom froze temporarily.

* * *

"You want to become a Demon Hunter?" Grom asked when Vergil began the conversation with that topic in mind.

"Yeah, you said anyone under eleven can apply for the regular course." Vergil said.

"Well if that's what you want I'm fine with that." There was no need to tell Vergil about the dangers of being a Demon Hunter, he was there on the battlefield once.

"So what is that course anyway?" Grom had to chuckle at that question.

"The class gets separated into pairs and the set pairs work together." Grom said the first thing that would happen.

"How does that even work?"Vergil asked.

"Each class has an even number of students and on the first day every student draws a number, two that draw the same number are put in a pair." Grom explained.

* * *

And so it happened, being the youngest Vergil felt really out of place but he didn't really care, as Grom said it you rarely stay in touch with those you study with, after graduation you'll get sorted into Districts and then sorted even further for the specific tasks. The chances of being with someone from your class were often slim.

"Leonidas Vergil." The teacher, an older demon that was supposed to teach them the theory, called him.

He walked up to him and pulled out a number 4. With it he left to the empty area for the pair number 4.

About five minutes later he was approached by a boy with reddish brown hair, he looked kinda scrawny.

"Either you're some prodigy or son of someone important." Boy commented.

"Neither." Vergil stated.

"Hm? Strange kid… Whatever, I'm Quing Fest." Fest introduced himself, mostly out of obligation.

"Vergil." He didn't want to say his last name.

* * *

First exam was the written exam.

To pass it the pair needs to accumulate more than 70 points. Maximum points that can be gained is 100 points per person, however the summation of two tests divided by two is the result.

Getting all 100 points comes maybe once in a decade.

Fest seemed to be that one that comes in a decade, he put all his time into studying.

Vergil certainly wasn't the miraculous second one in a decade. He tried, he really did.

"Do you want me to help you?" Fest offered.

"No." And Vergil didn't really feel like getting help.

"I'm not offering it for your sake, but for my own, if you fail I'm failing too." Fest pointed out.

"Go back to your books." White haired boy said and went outside to blow some steam off by punching the life out of a punching bag.

* * *

The exam came and Fest as expected easily answered each question, he glanced toward Vergil and his eyes widened.

The brat was clearly humming something and looking like he was picking his choice based on what he was humming.

* * *

"What were you doing in there?!" Fest snapped at him.

"Humming a nursery rhyme to pick the answer." Vergil dryly replied.

"You put the results of this test in the hands of some nursery rhyme?!" And the older boy was losing his precious mind here.

"Are you stupid? Nursery rhymes don't have hands." Vergil pointed out.

"I know that!"

"Let's just wait for the results, there's not much point in fussing over it."

"Yes there is!"

"It's done, you can't turn back time." Vergil told him.

* * *

"Leonidas Vergil – Quing Fest, 81 point." Teacher said and Fest's jaw dropped. He got 100, but Vergil actually got 62.

"I also knew some things." Vergil later said to him.

"You never told me your last name."

"It's not like it matters." Vergil reasoned.

"Well, whatever." Fest was simply happy that he passed the first exam.

* * *

Second part of their education was a more practical one, crossing the different landscapes, tracking the less dangerous demons, things of that nature. And the test was to track and capture a demon.

The roles quickly reversed, Fest, being as scrawny as he was wasn't exactly good at the very beginning.

In fact he was falling behind at climbing on the very third day…

'A teammate isn't someone you should leave behind.' Grom's words echoed and Vergil offered his hand to Fest.

"Come on, giving up here would be stupid. You're one in a decade, aren't you?" Vergil grinned at him.

"Whatever…" He still accepted the younger boy's hand.

"Will you quit it with 'whatevers', it's getting kinda annoying." It was clear, even in his voice that Vergil was struggling to pull Fest up.

Fest rolled his eyes at that, but it was the first time they actually worked together on something.

They did manage to climb, after all the others of course but they did it.

"You really ought to exercise a bit besides your brain." Vergil panted.

"Shut it Vergil…" But he did join the white haired boy in exercises almost regularly from that point on.

* * *

Exam came and the two began searching the area they were put into, they were searching for footsteps, broken branches, anything that could put them on right tract.

"Look." Vergil pointed at the fresh footsteps.

"Being that small has advantages, eh?" Fest teased.

"Whatever." Vergil used his phrase on purpose.

"Hey! That's my verbal tick." Fest muttered.

"Do you even know what a verbal tick is?" Vergil teased.

"Whatever, let's just get going." Fest rolled his eyes.

They found the demon. It was about the size of a regular adult, but a bit more monstrous.

Now, Fest may have been practicing but he was still not that much of a capable athlete and Vergil was a six years old.

They were easily swept away by the demon and it went after the more seemingly more threatening target, Fest.

"Hey, get back here." Vergil breathed out as he stood up. "I've got something for you." He didn't practice this for nothing. He had no control over its power but he had to do this.

Fest's eyes widened, he was right, this boy was a prodigy. They were supposed to go through the Baptism of Fire after this exam, yet Vergil could already use lightning…

"How is he…? Hey! Vergil!" Fest tried to get Vergil's attention.

"That child…" Zatar who was observing the test, the 1st District Despot, even he was impressed.

The lightning surged around Vergil at an even more ferocious intensity before it smashed into the demon they were supposed to capture, he had completely paralyzed the demon, in the process, however he did damage to the performance of another pair…

* * *

There was no doubt about it, Vergil's performance was outstanding, however… He was expelled from the year and banned from applying the next year.

"What were you thinking?!" And Grom was raging.

"He is too dangerous." Zatar told him.

"He has even more power than I had at his age and I'm called a prodigy!" Grom pointed out.

"He lacks control over it, you had a bit less then that but nearly flawless control." The older Despot countered almost lazily.

"You suspended him, for the next year. Do you really think that's a good idea?"

"The decision is final. Cambion brat might have an impressive amount of power which is why we need to be strict with him, else he'll turn on us sooner or later."

"Why can't you just be honest with yourself and admit that you just don't know how to handle Vergil." Lightning and darkness demon didn't even wait for Zatar to respond to that, he was already out of the office and on his way to Vergil.

* * *

Speaking of Vergil, he was packing in the room he shared with Fest. The ten years old got the new partner due to the number of students lowering over the course of the second test, pairs weren't the only ones that failed, some children simply decided to quit.

"Wait, they seriously expelled you, after something that amazing?"

"And I can't apply next year." Vergil reminded him.

"That's a bummer…" The ten years old looked away.

"Who ever heard of a seven years old Demon Hunter, the only one who won't be eleven in your group when the last test comes is that girl, Leah, was it? And she'll be only a few months short." Vergil pointed out.

"Yeah but you are kinda mature. For being six I mean." Fest argued.

"_Comes with killing your mother…_" Is what he thought. "If you say so." Is what he said.

"Whatever… And we were kinda getting along…" The older boy sighed.

"Geez… Kinda?" Vergil raised an eyebrow.

"Like hell I'll get along with a kid!" Fest snapped at him making the white haired boy roll his eyes.

"Verge, ready to go?" Grom showed up at the door of their room making Fest instantly freeze and then bow down.

"Grom… Sorry, I messed up." Vergil apologized.

"Vergil!" Fest hissed at him. "Bow down, he's a Despot."

"I know who Grom is." Vergil blankly told him.

"Then bow down you idiot."

"Grom isn't like that."

"I swear you…!" The older boy seemed really frustrated until Grom tapped his shoulder and the boy quickly jumped away.

"Geez, calm down. I won't bite. You're Quing Fest, right?" Grom offered him his hand. "I'm Parzifal Grom, nice to meet you."

"Uh… It's an honor to meet you!"

Grom sighed, this was one of the downsides of being a Despot, everyone had such a hard time when it came to relaxing around you.

"Let's go Vergil." He said and Vergil picked up his backpack.

"You better become the Demon Hunter, Fest." Vergil said and left the room along with Grom.

"What were you apologizing for anyway? I heard what happened, it's not your fault they can't handle you." Grom told him before they even exited the building.

"Huh?" Was Vergil's intelligent response.

"Anyway starting from tomorrow I'll put you through a training. It'll end on the last week of the next year. Six day routine, really rough. Are you up to it?"

"Of course." Vergil nodded.

"Heh, like I needed to ask." Grom smirked.

* * *

And here Vergil thought Grom's training couldn't be that much harsher than the Demon Hunter training he went through for the previous five months… This was a torture…

The heat was scorching, the training ground Grom prepared was meant to push him over the limit, with the help of a fire element user Grom made sure that the temperature in the circular tunnel surrounding the training area was 56.7 degrees Celsius… At all times.

Cambion felt like he'd melt just from standing there, but no, he had to run, five circles, around fifteen miles… With added weight in form of compressed material used to make Demon Forged weapons… Vergil swore they added at least forty pounds.

Clearly he passed out before even running an entire mile…

* * *

That was bad? Second day was worse and he was starting to wonder if he'd be lucky enough to reach the sixth day…

Goal of the day? Cross from start to finish in a three level obstacle filled area. First level… balance your way through the thirty by thirty tiles, hovering in air twenty meters above the ground with tiles about two meters from one another. Land too roughly or too lightly, you're going down with a boom, push away too roughly or too lightly, the next one goes boom.

Luckily the explosions aren't lethal, else Vergil would have died after landing on the first one. That's how good his control was.

* * *

Third day goes with basic exercises, with added weight from the wristbands, push-ups, sit-ups, all that stuff.

First was endurance, second was balance, third is timing, take a pause and a strong hit from the ground. Time the exercise in the wrong way and get hit by spinning bat right above you.

Up until that day, Vergil thought his timing was decent…

* * *

Fourth day, speed and agility. Basically, being in a room, with now regular weights, a heat of around 40 degrees and doubled gravity.

Goal can be accomplished in two way. Evade the lasers capable of piercing through the body for three hours or find a way to destroy the source, which given Vergil's current level is impossible.

Lucky for him, the moment laser nearly hits him it's neutralized, but the he has to do basic exercise in five times the previous gravity until the remaining times runs out, which the first time he's done it lasted for two hours and fifty nine minutes…

* * *

Fifth day is all about power, with an extra condition for keeping the power centered only on the target. If the attack has an area of effect outside of the target immediate blast double the strength put into the punch was dealt to the attacker… Vergil in this case.

Don't meet the required power level and the same punishment is dealt…

And once again, he simply lacked control over how much he was putting into his hits.

* * *

The final, sixth day. Fight against Grom. Is there anything else that needs to be said? At least the exercise for sixth day ended in humiliating five seconds, just enough for Vergil to charge and Grom to merely side step and knock him out with a simple chop to the neck.

* * *

Well that was the first weak, how he survived was beyond Vergil's comprehension. But Grom seemed quite pleased with the atrocious results so the cambion kept going for the next year and a half.

* * *

A year and a half passes by and that's all Vergil does with his life, six days a week, every week, he goes through the routine. Seventh day he simply recovers and rests. Now, at the age of eight and the year coming to its end in a week the last week of the training is upon him. That was the deal, the last week of the year is the last one. After all the new year for Demon Hunter applicants starts in the third week of the January, just enough time for the cambion to rest and prepare.

* * *

"So? Are you ready?" Grom was grinning at him, for the first time the demon would go through the exercises along with Vergil.

"Yeah." He didn't sound excited, just confident.

"Let's go then. After you." And with that the eight year old cambion began running, through the same tunnel with the same temperature, just this time with Grom right behind him.

It's been a year and a half, the stamina he had now was enough for him to complete the exercise.

The Despot didn't make any comments.

* * *

It took him months to pass just the first of the three level area and the next two weren't any easier…

He jumped and landed on the first tile, then on to the next one, the focus in his eyes evident as he reached the second level without triggering a single explosion.

The next level was more about the touch, moving the pieces of the puzzle without damaging them, with lightning and darkness simultaneously. Darkness was easily controlled but lightning was meant for destruction.

Yet, he did it.

And the third level, using just enough lightning to neutralize the electric field.

Once again, even after Vergil completed it there was not a single comment from Grom.

* * *

The basics of the third day, it wasn't that hard to pass, in fact it was the day he completed the first during the last year and a half. Now, about a year after finally completing it without getting hit for the first time, there wasn't much trouble to repeat the same results.

* * *

Why waste all three hours, days five and six powered him up, enough to simply destroy the source of the lasers so half an hour of dodging later Vergil dodged a few more lasers and blasted the machines into smithereens.

Yet again, no comment from the demon that observed his progress.

* * *

The fifth day, out of all the days besides the sixth one proved to be the hardest. Cambion just couldn't control his power, nothing he did or tried could concentrate his power on only one area, the area of the impact.

He lacked it, the absolute control…

He passed the first four days with flying colors, the fifth one, he failed, miserably.

Not even that pulled the words out of Grom.

* * *

The final day, the last spar he'd have with Grom for the time being… Did he get stronger, certainly, but he never landed a single hit on the demon…

Vergil dashed toward Grom and tried to do a quick one-two combo, key word tried, Grom casually locked the jab and even though Vergil proceeded with the right cross that met with the same easy block.

Cambion went for a kick followed by another quick jab, then a few more punches all of which Grom blocked without taking a single step.

Vergil kept the futile attempt going and then finally threw some lightning into the picture. The lightning circled his fist and he slammed it into Grom's open palm, once again it gave no result.

Grom finally went in with a simple chop to the side of Vergil's neck. Miraculously Vergil managed to block it. He did skid to the side and he did fall to the ground but he blocked it.

As he stood up he could swear he saw a ghost of a smile on Grom's face. He dashed and that's when it was over, a single punch was all it took.

Year and a half of training and he still couldn't land a single hit.

* * *

Vergil woke up a couple of hours later.

"Geez, talk about being outclassed…" He muttered as he sat up.

"Don't be like that. You just lack a bit of control, other than that you are Combat District material." Grom smirked at him.

"I'm not even a Demon Hunter yet." Vergil pointed out.

"You will be in a year and I'm placing you directly into the Combat District. Your potential shouldn't be wasted by all the protocols." The raven haired demon stated. "Of course I wouldn't send you to the battlefield right away, but in the Combat District I can keep training you."

"By the way… There's something I wanted to ask you." Vergil said.

"Do it tomorrow, you need to rest now." It almost looked like Grom knew what Vergil's question would be.

* * *

"Will you help me create my Devil Arm?" Vergil's question didn't surprise Grom that much, the recently turned eight cambion had a desire to get stronger, one that Grom rarely saw.

There wasn't any kind of vengeance behind that resolve, he'd know if there was. It was a simple desire for strength and something else.

"Why are you so eager to do it?" Grom had to ask.

"If I don't make it I won't be able revert the ones who failed back to their original state." The child set the goal for himself and Grom's eyes widened before he regained composure and grinned.

"Let me get the preparations done, you just relax and believe in that soul of yours." Grom stood up and left the room, leaving Vergil to take a deep breath and sit down, as Grom instructed he'd calm down.

* * *

_**And that's it. Well this and next chapter will be a bit more of Vergil's backstory and then comes the actual Alabasta arc. There will be a two or three more backstory chapters near the end of the arc, given the material I'll be covering at that point this is probably a good decision.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Safety Measure**_


	119. Safety Measure

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**Kakusei – Thanks, I can't say I know much about that concept, but I do suppose it would be as strict and consistent as what I wrote in the last chapter.**_

_**Chance Green G King – Thank you.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you, I believe it was a better decision than the alternative of being only under Grom's tutelage.**_

_**SubZPhantomX – I'm glad you enjoy them. Well pretty much because let's face it, it's probably one of the most efficient trainings in the anime/manga in general. Alabasta will officially start in the next chapter so a bit more of waiting… Sorry.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you, I tried to flesh them out a bit more.**_

_**Naroku – Thank you.**_

_**The Storm Master 567 – I'm glad you liked it. As for another Devil Arm, I take it you're talking about Erebus which was mentioned alongside Blixtar once or twice. Well it was supposed to be Vergil's Demon Forged that would serve as safety measure described in this chapter. However, I had a bit of a change of heart and decided to throw the idea out of the way, when I get some time and will to do so I'll revisit the chapters and edit it out.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 119 – Safety Measure**_

* * *

By tomorrow, Grom prepared everything needed to create the Devil Arm, which wasn't much, he just prepared a room and made sure nothing could disturb the process, meaning no noise or anything of similar effects. The room itself was pretty much empty other than the orbs that spun around in a one meter radius at the very center of the room.

As soon as Vergil walked in the orbs took form of lightning and darkness balls, representing the nature of Vergil's power, the nature of his soul.

"What do I do?" Vergil asked.

"Just sit down and close your eyes." Grom instructed, orbs stopped rotating and Vergil sat in a lotus position in the middle of the circle they were forming.

"I can't help you with this, you are the one that needs to delve into your soul. Find a single line that leads you to the very beginning of your power. What triggered the Baptism of Fire, relive that moment and let it pull you into your own soul. Demon powers come from the soul, we take power from it to use our element, that's why we eventually run out of fuel. Same with the Devil Arm, rip out the portion of the soul connected to your life and merge it with your power." That was all Grom could tell Vergil.

Cambion remained silent.

The Baptism… The product of it was the scar on his face and the death of his mother… No, just the scar, he killed his mother in the second surge…

He concentrated on the scar and slowly the only indication of him being alive was the soft breathing.

Lightning and darkness, two of the most destructive forces known to demons. Lightning which cannot protect, which can only destroy and darkness that takes the life and rarely offers itself. The combination of the two elements in one being, it was a rare phenomenon. Even so he met Grom, who had the same predicament of wielding both of these elements.

He didn't think, he just let the feeling of pain he felt back then disappear, a new feeling came forward the tingling, electric sensation, it felt kinda dark, this was it. This was the same feeling he felt before he experienced using lightning for the very first time. Only this time it was familiar, clear as day. He let the feeling guide him and unconsciously he raised his arms.

"**Devil Arms:…**" He muttered, unaware of Grom's eyes widening, unknowingly to Vergil he was going too quickly.

It happened in a flash, he found himself in the middle of a stormy night. The electricity produced in the clouds, the night they seemed to come together and Vergil looked at his hands. The sensation filled his chest making him glance down, the black matter was coming out of his chest, right from the heart.

It surrounded him and then began concentrating around his arms, it slowly took shape of two katana.

As the process ended his eyes widened and he marveled at the weapon. The twin blades, two katana that were completely the same.

The katana was black with blood red point and tampered line, which looked like an extremely controlled lightning, it didn't spread anywhere, it was a single lightning bolt. Wild and uneven but directed right at the point of the katana. The blade collar was deep blue, nearly black and the guard was a simple black oval. The handle was red with a black pommel.

"**Blixtar… Zwart…**" He called the name of his blades and his eyes opened.

He looked down and saw that the katana were no longer looking like a mere moment ago, now they were looking just like any other katana.

"Huh?"

"Safety measures." Grom said.

"For what?" Vergil had to ask.

"Your **Devil Arm** has too much power, it's best to put a limit on it until you get used to it." Grom stated and Vergil looked at it. "Of course you can remove the limit and use it to the full extent whenever you want to. Trust me, it's better this way, mine's the same."

"Yours as well?" Vergil asked.

"**Devil Arms: Perun**." A flame bladed sword manifested itself in front of Vergil. "It has its limit on. I decided to call it only Perun while it's in this state."

"Storm Perun…" Vergil muttered.

"So you heard its name, eh?" Grom smirked.

"And I can release Blixtar Zwart at any time?"

"Yeah, try it." Grom encouraged him.

"**Devil Arms: Blixtar Zwart**." Katana changed into their original state.

"Good. It's also a decent surprise, while its in the sealed state you can't use its full power so when you do, well if mastered it can turn the battle around." Grom smirked and like that Blixtar Zwart became Blixtar.

* * *

The new course began and this time Vergil pulled out number six, this time he saw that someone was already there, a boy with messy blond hair.

"Hello. My name is Dritan, it's nice to meet you." Boy introduced himself politely, hell Vergil felt kinda freaked out by it.

"Uh… Likewise. I'm Leonidas Vergil." He offered his hand to Dritan and the slightly older boy accepted it.

"Sorry, I'm still a bit nervous." Dritan apologized.

"Don't worry about it. Everyone is a bit nervous." Vergil grinned at him.

"Speak for yourself." They both turned to another boy, this one looked like he was some kind of a rich kid, with too much style for his age and neat appearance… His light brown hair was slicked back on the sides making him look like he really was paying attention to his looks.

"I apologize, we didn't mean to offend you." Dritan bowed his head down slightly.

"I don't care though." Vergil said.

"Please, Vergil." Something in the way this one was acting, that softness of his, Vergil just didn't have the power to ignore it… No, not softness… the kindness… Because Dritan recognized his last name and he didn't act any differently.

Vergil sighed. "Fine."

"Thanks."

* * *

They passed the first with 84 points, Vergil managed to get a slightly better score this time with, for him, staggering 75 points, Dritan was much better with actually impressive 93 points.

"See, nursery rhymes make things easier." Vergil was grinning at him afterwards.

"You did study though." Dritan pointed out, the two actually got along amazingly well. Dritan's calm, kind and a bit unconfident personality kinda clicked with Vergil's blunt confident one. Vergil was a bit more considerate while Dritan got a bit more confident.

"Mostly because you kept reading things aloud multiple times even though you pretty much knew it after reading it the second or at worst the third time." The white haired boy stated the fact.

"You could have ignored me."

"I'm not that much of a scumbag."

"Language Vergil."

"It's a word, words are meant to be used."

"Of course by the likes of you." A sophisticated voice said from behind them, Vergil and Dritan turned around.

"Tsubame." Vergil narrowed his eyes at the brown haired boy.

"99 points, not bad eh?" Tsubame bragged.

"Heh, one point short. Fest got all one hundred two years ago." Vergil smirked.

"Two years ago? Oh, so you are that brat that couldn't control himself." Tsubame realized.

"So?" Vergil asked, it wasn't a secret that the two had a bit of a conflict going on, they didn't get along and it was only a matter of time before they got into a fight.

"Vergil, let's just go." Dritan pulled Vergil out of the hall.

"Hey, Leonidas. One of these days I'll personally check that control of yours." Tsubame challenged.

"Ignore him." Dritan tried to keep Vergil from lashing out.

"Tch, self centered bastard."

"Language Vergil."

"You know I'm right." Vergil muttered making the older boy laugh.

* * *

The second exam went by without a single problem, Vergil could easily control himself now, at least to the point that was acceptable and Dritan was a decent fighter.

But then the Baptism of Fire came for the ones that didn't already go through it, which essentially meant everyone but Vergil. And for Dritan things went south…

Vergil was outside waiting, the first one to come out was the bastard himself. Tsubame.

"Take a look." Vergil didn't even glance as Tsubame formed a small piece of metal around his fingertips. "Leonidas!"

He didn't offer Tsubame any response.

"Why you… You're always… always ahead of me! I finally have it too, this power. You're no longer better than me." All he wanted was for Vergil, the only one who didn't do it, to acknowledge him.

"Shut it. I'm waiting for my friend to come out." Vergil said coldly.

"Dritan?"

"Who else?"

Tsubame looked away and then sat down next to Vergil. "He's strong, that Dritan." He said.

"I know."

That was pretty much the first kinda decent conversation the two had, even though they didn't say another word after that.

* * *

An hour passed and everyone else got out, Tsubame eventually left with his partner and Vergil walked into the room. Immediately he found Dritan, sitting with his head between his arms.

"Hey." Vergil got his attention.

"Sorry, I spaced out." Dritan gave him a weak smile. He brushed his palm over the table and it began deconstructing. "Particles… I can't control myself…" He sounded weak, broken.

"We'll just have to work on that then."

"This doesn't have anything to do with you Vergil, I'll just drop out and they'll assign you a new partner." Dritan said.

"The hell if I'm allowing that." Vergil refused his suggestion.

"I decided."

"I decided you are being an idiot."

"There's nothing for you to decide."

"I'm your partner, this does concern me."

"Vergil." He set his palm on the table and it began slowly falling apart, until a couple of sparks didn't counter Dritan's power.

"We'll learn from one another, I'll protect with lightning and you'll learn how to control yourself." Vergil told the astonished blond.

"Thank you…" A tear slid down Dritan's face as he accepted the arm Vergil offered him. His power wasn't nearly enough to damage another living being.

* * *

The third exam came by. It was a battle between the pair, only the winner would remain.

Neither Vergil nor Dritan wanted to fight against one another. Not like this, yeah, they sparred from time to time, yeah, they trained together but they didn't want to fight one another like this.

And to prevent any kind of agreement between the two they were separated just before the exam and told what it would be.

Vergil leaned against the table, only one decision was logical. He didn't need to think, he just went to the field where the battle would take place.

* * *

Dritan was sitting at the table, thinking. Not that there was much to think. This was damn stupid, did they think this would make them hesitate?

* * *

And so the two faced one another on the battle field. They turned to the judges that were ready to observe their battle and without a second of delay between one another…

"Cut the crap! / We won't fight." Vergil and Dritan declared.

It was quickly followed by… "Language, Vergil."

"Words are meant to be used!" Vergil defended himself.

"Do you two even understand what you are saying?" The judge asked.

"Yeah now piss off." Vergil said. "I ain't going to fight a friend over something as stupid as this."

"And you, Dritan?"

"Well, Vergil's a bit too rude but I agree. There's no meaning to this fight." Dritan agreed.

"You pass." The lead judge told them.

"Figures." Both Vergil and Dritan said.

* * *

The fourth exam ended up with a bit of a handicap on the pair. It was supposed to be a team up of two pairs.

Of course it had to be Tsubame they would work with…

The handicap however was that his partner dropped out suddenly and the number of students wasn't even, thus he couldn't get a new partner.

Therefore, it was a three on one against an examiner that they would have to defeat.

"Do we even have a plan?" Dritan had to ask as they walked toward the exam field.

"Yeah, we attack head on from three sides, as he did with the others he'll trap us with whatever ability he's using.

"That's the plan?!" Tsubame was speechless.

"Just trust me." Vergil requested.

"Trusting you goes by default." Dritan stated.

"For you." Tsubame hissed from his side.

"I need you to lock him in place with your metal while I keep him busy with my own power, Dritan you need to strengthen the defense around the metal so that he can't do anything to break free." Vergil instructed.

"At least this sounds like some kind of a plan." Tsubame sighed.

"Not that we have any time left to think of a new one." Dritan said as they walked into the exam field.

Vergil glanced up and noticed that Grom was there, watching with Zatar and others he couldn't recognize.

As Vergil instructed they went with a head on attack from three sides but their opponent stopped them all about a meter away from their goal.

Vergil charged up lightning but it was being nullified.

"Heh, is that all you've got?" Examiner asked.

"No." Vergil smirked as metal clutches bound the examiner in place as well.

Neither of the three could move but due to Tsubame grabbing onto his legs with metal clutches from the ground and Dritan strengthening the metal neither could their opponent.

Vergil suddenly surprised their opponent by holding out his right hand. "We win."

"Hm?" The examiner seemed confused.

"**Devil Arms:…**" The eyes of everyone but Grom widened.

"Grom, you didn't…!" Zatar realized.

"I did." Grom was grinning proudly.

"**Blixtar**." The katana was pointed right at the examiners throat.

"Dritan, Leonidas Vergil, Tsubame team takes the victory." Judge announced.

"You lose, Fest." Vergil grinned and the examiner took his mask off to show that he really was Fest.

"Whatever." Yet he was grinning.

"Tsubame, thank you." Vergil said.

"So you finally understand just how amazing I am." Tsubame smirked.

"Some things never change." Vergil rolled his eyes and Dritan laughed.

"You've got a few friends, eh?" Fest noticed.

"We are not friends." Both Vergil and Tsubame hissed making the other two laugh.

"Sure, sure." Dritan dismissed the denial. "Anyway… we did it, we are the Demon Hunters now."

"Yeah." Vergil said before he and Dritan laughed, they did it.

* * *

Vergil's eyes slowly opened and he sat up, it was just a dream, those times were over…

* * *

_**And that's it. This part of flashback is done, it was a bit short but there's not much point in dragging it out.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Desert Kingdom Alabasta**_


	120. Desert Kingdom Alabasta

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**KP360 – Don't worry about it. Blixtar isn't the prototype, I can tell you that much. Dark Edge will be explained eventually.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you, I'm glad you like it.**_

_**SubZPhantomX – Get well soon. I'm happy if the last chapter provided even the slightest distraction.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you, I was trying to keep things direct and simple, there wasn't much point in adding unnecessary moments that would only state known facts or get the similar conclusion.**_

_**JayH120 – Thank you. All three of the OCs I showed, Fest, Dritan and Tsubame are currently Despots, in fact Fest and Dritan made an appearance in chapter 57, back in Arlong Park arc.**_

_**Chance Green G King – Thank you, Alabasta officially started with this chapter. As for your story I'm already caught up with 'Pirates Destiny', I haven't seen enough if anything of the other anime/manga etc. that you've been writing for and my interest for Fairy Tail isn't high enough for me to take my time and read fanfictions for it. **_

* * *

_**Over 700 reviews. Thank you for giving me one hell of a reason to keep going. This year so far has been good for this story, I'm having a decent updating rate, most importantly I'm not having months between updates and it's all thanks to you.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 120 – Desert Kingdom Alabasta**_

* * *

Vergil's eyes slowly opened and he sat up, it was just a dream, those times were over…

He stretched a bit and finally stood up, it was strangely hot so he guessed they were really close to Alabasta by now. He walked out of the room and saw that he was right, he could even see the island.

"I can see the island!" He heard Luffy yelling.

"We're going to stop at a port called Nanohana. We have to hide the ship." Vivi instructed.

"Now, let's get on dry island! TO EAT! Oh, and Alabasta…" Luffy exclaimed.

"Always setting your priorities straight, eh Luffy?" Their eyes widened and the crew quickly looked up to see their first mate.

"Vergil!" Luffy was the first one to recover from the surprise.

"Sorry I worried you." He apologized.

"Are you feeling okay? You should rest a bit more." Chopper told him.

"Don't worry, I'm feeling perfectly fine." Vergil assured him.

"Heh! If you took a bit longer I would have taken your place." Zoro smirked at him.

"Is that so?" Vergil accepted the joke.

He noticed Nami running up the stairs and smiled as she pretty much jumped on him. He wrapped his arms around her waist and she looked down into his eyes.

"Hey…" He honestly didn't know what else to say as she trembled slightly in his arms.

"You idiot…" Nami muttered and kissed him… in front of the entire crew… on the lips…

You could hear the sound of heart shattering as Sanji turned into stone.

Vivi blushed at the scene.

Usopp's jaw dropped.

Zoro just smirked.

Chopper and Carue were confused as to why the others were so shocked, Chopper mostly because he was under impression that Vergil and Nami were already kinda together.

And Luffy was a mix of being oblivious and happy.

As for Vergil, his eyes widened as he felt Nami's lips on his own. The surprise faded and he almost timidly kissed her back, slowly, unsure of what exactly to do.

The kiss ended briefly after that and he set Nami down, navigator looked at him with a small smile and a blush that adored her face.

"Uh… What do we do now?" Seriously was there any way to continue from this point without it being awkward.

Nami fully realized what they just did and searched for an answer.

Luckily the one to come to their aid was none other than the rubber man himself.

"Hey! Hey! There was this cool male ballerina that could change faces turns out he's the enemy and we danced with him. Now he's got our faces so we came up with this!" Luffy was next to Vergil right away as he showed the cambion the bandage on his left arm.

The rest of the crew sweat dropped, partly due to the way Luffy just didn't have the courtesy to let them sort this sudden reveal of emotions and partly due to his explanation of the events that just happened, well mostly due to the explanation.

Yet Vergil deciphered the Luffy-language. There is a male ballerina that can somehow shift into people he meets, meaning he met most of the crew and now he can show their faces to Crocodile. As they don't know how their enemies look Luffy and the more childish part of the crew probably played around with the enemy before Vivi recognized him. Finally, someone on the crew suggested this as the tactic to recognize one another.

"I get it." At Vergil's response the crew once again sweat dropped.

Vergil was done with putting the mark of being a nakama on and now the completed crew stood in a circle with their left arms held out.

"Alright! Now that Vergil's awake we can do this. Whatever happens from now on… This left arm is… The mark of a nakama!" Luffy declared.

Vivi touched her bandages as she watched the crew.

"We're going up against a group of assassins, Luffy." Nami reminded him.

"Yeah, that's right." Well he already knew that.

"So refrain from acting on instinct. Understood?"

"Yeah. I got it." Nami decided to punch it into him. "Ow! I got it!"

Vivi smiled, these were her nakama.

"By the way Vergil let me brief you in on the enemy." Nami got the cambion's attention.

"That's probably a good idea." Vergil grinned at her.

"Baroque Works has five pairs with Devil Fruit users, from Mr. 1 to Mr. 5 other than Mr. 2, he doesn't have a pair. They probably have more demons in their organization as well. Other than the number agents they have another 2000 assassins." She cut out the details that would only bore the cambion.

"Quantity over quality. That Crocodile isn't that smart." Vergil commented.

"Heh, can't argue with that." Zoro smirked.

* * *

As they got closer and closer to Alabasta Vivi and Carue looked even more distant, they were finally back home but the hardest part was just about to begin.

"We're almost there. Don't go getting all excited. Though I guess you can't help it." Nami walked up to her. "But will you have enough forces to stop the rebellion?"

"We have what we have. But, there's no guarantee that will bring about peace."

Back in the little shade they could enjoy Luffy and Chopper were dealing with their own troubles.

"So hungry!"

"So hot!"

Which one was Luffy's and which one was Chopper's was painfully obvious.

"_Please, don't be rash…_" Vivi thought as she kept looking at the island.

Nami looked toward the land as well.

* * *

Finally the crew reached Alabasta and the cost of Nanohana, it was clearly a merchant city, still quite stable and with people living well enough.

* * *

"So that's what an Alabasta city looks like!" Usopp voiced the thought of nearly everyone on the crew.

"Food!" Luffy probably being the only exception.

"Listen everyone I'm only going to say this once. I expect you all to be on your best behavior at all times!" Nami instructed them.

"Okay, Nami-san!" And Sanji was still extremely happy to oblige to her orders.

"You're wasting your breath." Vergil sighed.

"The guy you have to worry about the most already took off." Zoro explained the first mate's words.

"FOOD!" And Luffy was running off at full speed.

"HEY HOLD IT!" Nami yelled after him.

"He's completely inhuman." The sniper said the already established fact.

"What'll we do?" Vivi worried.

"Don't worry." Sanji got up on the railing. "Just go to the noisiest place you can find. That's where he'll be." And he jumped down.

"He's right, you know." Usopp agreed with him.

"Jeez. I wish he'd remember that he's got a bounty on his head. Especially in a country this big." It was clearly a miracle that she still felt somewhat sane.

"Just let him be. He'll be fine. Let's just go eat." The swordsman went down and Chopper followed him. "We'll think of that stuff later." Zoro had a simple but practical approach to the problem.

"Every single one of them!" One that also annoyed Nami.

"Carue and I cannot accompany you." Vivi suddenly told them.

"Eh?"

"What's wrong? You have an upset stomach?" Usopp guessed.

"Too many people will recognize me."

"She's right." Zoro agreed.

"Don't worry. I'll pick up some food for you, Vivi-chan." Sanji assured her.

Carue suddenly quacked and not just any quacking, it was utterly terrified kind of quacking.

"What's wrong?" Vivi asked him.

He pointed at a ship with number 3 on it.

"Mr. 3's ship!" Vivi realized.

"That bastard, didn't we take care of him back on Little Garden?" Usopp asked.

"I'm sure of it. If I remember correctly, that ship moves by means of his Doru Doru no mi powers." Vivi broke his hopes that it would just be some other person.

"So he's here." Sanji said.

"That means trouble. We'll be recognized." Zoro realized.

"Don't worry. I've got a plan." Usopp seemed quite confident.

"No." Was the only thing Vergil said when Usopp presented his master plan, hiding under a gigantic sheet.

"Come on, no one will notice us." Sniper's shoulders slumped down at Vergil blatantly shutting down his plan.

"Everyone will notice us. Hell we'd attract more attention with this then if we went and shouted that Vivi is back in the country." Maybe that wasn't the most accurate thing to compare but it was probably close.

"Vergil's right, it would be a miracle if no one noticed us." Nami agreed.

"We can't leave you here, there's also no point in hiding you. It doesn't matter if people recognize you." Vergil said.

"What?!" The rest of the crew shouted out at the outrageous plan.

"We ought to have something you can put over your head, just so it's not so blatantly obvious that you're back. There's no point in hiding, we can't catch Crocodile by surprise, that already went out of the window when that ballerina got most of our faces. Plus that bastard is probably on his way to Crocodile so the chances of surprise attack are out the window. There's no point in hiding the fact that you're back." Vergil reasoned.

"But-"

"Vivi, don't worry. We'll stop near the town and figure something out over there." Nami grinned at her.

Vivi looked a bit reluctant but then nodded. Carue, Usopp and her went down to the shore as well and just when the cambion was about to join them Nami suddenly took Vergil's hand and he looked back at her.

"You guys go ahead, we'll catch up." He told the rest of the crew.

"Are you sure?" Usopp asked.

"Will you be alright?" Vivi made a silly question.

"Don't be silly, of course we will." Vergil grinned at her.

Of course with Nami to lead the way and Vergil being pretty strong her question was quite unnecessary and Vivi realized that.

"Then, we'll head out." She smiled and lead the rest of the crew.

* * *

And now the awkwardness was ready to take over.

"So… How about we go inside, you know, for a bit of privacy…" Vergil tried to get the conversation going.

"Yeah, let's go to my room." Alright, maybe not the best place to go to but it would do.

Vergil followed Nami into the room he was sleeping in for the last four days the crew needed to reach Alabasta. Well he was comatose so he didn't really count that…

"Nami…" He began and the navigator looked baffled, he was never this nervous, or unconfident. She smiled fondly as she walked up to him and placed her hands on his chest.

"Shh." She hushed him and leaned toward him. "Don't tell me, show me…" She knew he was more comfortable with actions.

He kissed her and she kissed him back right away as she ran her fingers through his hair. Nami was… He knew he loved her but to hell if he understood himself when it came to the girl in his arms…

Nami shuddered, this kind of kiss was the one she least expected, it was slow. His right arm rested on her back while he slowly caressed her cheek with his other one, the kiss itself began as nothing more than a few soft touches and he gradually made all her senses come to life. Slowly and surprisingly in a rather gentle way he briefly nibbled on her lower lip and his right arm lowered a bit to her lower back. He deepened the kiss but never invaded, just when she thought he was going to finally put his tongue into it as well he'd just keep the kiss at that.

Vergil himself was surprised as well, this was certainly something that he couldn't grasp, the need to slow down the kiss, to prolong it as much as he could. Reasons didn't matter, not now anyways. Nami ran her left hand through his hair and her other arm slipped down to his chest. Maybe it was due to the fact that he finally allowed his tongue to slid over her lower lips but she certainly did arch her back and pressed further against him. He felt her fingers brush over his scarred cheek and the soft vibration against his lips caused by her moan… Yeah, the navigator could drive him crazy if this kept going…

Need for air slowly came forth and Nami pulled back just to let air into her lungs. They looked into one another's eyes and Vergil finally found confidence to speak.

"I can't say I expected this." He grinned making Nami giggle at the way his eyes seemed a bit brighter, kinda softer.

"That's my line. I wouldn't even imagine you'd go that slowly, not to mention gently." She lightly tapped his chest.

"That stung a bit." Vergil joked and brushed a stray strand of her hair back to where it was meant to be.

"Don't be a spoiled child." She wasn't scolding him, even if she was trying she wouldn't be able to get the desired effect as she sounded way too content with being in his arms.

"Don't worry about it Princess." He mumbled and took a deep breath. "I hate breaking the moment, but maybe we should catch up with others."

Nami sighed. "You're probably right…" It took quite a bit of her willpower but she stepped back from the warm hug and he opened the doors.

"After you." He jokingly bowed down and allowed Nami to go through first.

"I could get used to this." Nami took a chance and softly slid her fingertip down his cheek until she reached his chin and made him raise his head. The flirty mischievous look in her eyes just taunted him.

"Two can play this game." When they stepped onto the shore they would have to put a pause on this, probably until the entire thing with Crocodile was done with as well. Thus, they tried to use the time they had to just give one another an assurance, this wasn't done in the heat of the moment. Vergil scooped Nami up and carried her to the railing bridal style.

He jumped down and landed on the sand.

"Shall we?" Vergil asked.

Nami stepped onto the sand herself and nodded. "Yeah."

* * *

The two caught up with the group and eventually neared close to the city.

"Looks like we're here. If that candle bastard is here then it would be best for Sanji to go and get some common citizen clothes, that way we won't stand out that much." Vergil figured.

Nami let out a sigh of relief. "God, thank you for giving me one reasonable nakama." She whispered.

She could have sworn she heard a distant rumble of thunder somewhere far far away.

"Vergil-san is right. Sanji-san can you do it?" Vivi asked the cook.

"Of course Vivi-chan. You can leave it to me." She would later have to deal with the consequences of Sanji's clothing choice.

"I'm going into the city to see if I can find any information. Maybe even kill the candle bastard if I come across him." Vergil said. "I don't need any desert clothes so don't worry about that."

"But the desert is hot during the day." Vivi reminded him.

"I've had to run fifteen miles while the temperature was over 56 degrees and that was back when I was seven years old, I can take this heat." Vergil brushed it off making the jaws of his nakama drop.

"W-Why would you do something like that?!" Usopp screamed.

"It was the first day of Grom's six-day training regime. Technically I began when I was six but I could do it a bit after I turned seven." Vergil explained casually.

"_Just how much of a monster was he before his powers were sealed?_" Nami and Usopp had to wonder.

"Be careful." Nami said more out of courtesy.

"Don't worry." He went off.

"Wait just a second! They know your face as well, don't you think it would be smarter to stay here?" Usopp kinda panicked.

"I'm a Demon Hunter, I can slip past a few assassins." Vergil smirked but then remembered something. "Nami, can you give me a coin?" His question confused her.

"Just one coin? What for?" Seriously what could he get for one coin? Even if it was 100 beri he wouldn't be able to buy anything.

"You'll see, just give me any coin you have on you." Well she guessed he knew what he was doing, she took a coin and tossed it to him. The crew watched as he embedded lightning into it. He finished and handed it back to Nami. "In case I need to find you I'll just concentrate on finding my own power."

"Handy." Nami commented as she turned the coin around, it was exactly the same, in weight, shape and appearance, but she could feel the slight electricity coursing through it.

"You can feel the electricity so it's not that good for tracking an enemy unless done carefully, but for something like this, it's perfect." Vergil kept grinning and went on toward the city.

"Do you think Vergil's kinda different?" Usopp asked as they watched the cambion subtly entering the city.

"What do you mean?" Nami asked.

"He is more powerful now." Zoro said. "I don't know how but I can feel the difference."

* * *

Vergil casually moved through the crowd, he didn't rush nor slow down, he glanced from one merchant's stand to another's. Just glanced, his attention was anywhere but not on the apparent object of his interest.

The stepping all over the sand was methodic, it didn't seem like anyone was rushing anywhere, the voices of people and the way they just kept on with their daily activities proved his that they didn't notice a presence of a demon in the crowd.

They were all relaxed but just to be sure Vergil completely hid his power, he brought it down to the level of an extremely weak demon, just in case there were demons that could sense him around.

He glanced to the left as a few marines ran past him, the crowd hid him and he acted like he was interested in a small mirror he raised up.

"A gift for someone?" Old merchant lady asked him, it worked perfectly fine for him.

"I'm still trying to find the right gift." The mirror he was looking at had a carefully decorated frame, showcasing the best of Alabasta's culture, the details were even made out of gold.

He didn't look up, he wasn't interested in the mirror either, he was looking at the marines that could be seen from the small mirror. He recognized one of the faces, Tashigi, the swordswoman that had some grudge against Zoro. Her being here meant one thing, Smoker was also in the country, probably somewhere nearby. Marines left further away from him and he was about to set down the mirror.

"Your girlfriend?" Lady asked him.

"Uh, yeah." He wasn't sure if it was really the right term, they didn't even say anything, just kissed and Vergil wasn't that knowledgeable when it came to that kind of relationship.

The stand was a bit secluded but it seemed fairly popular. He noticed why as well, there were many products that could be bought, souvenirs, items you could use daily and they all had something that related them back to Alabasta.

Vergil looked up from the mirror when he heard the old lady gasping, a pirate. Probably a low-life, seeking to steal something the money woman obviously had.

People froze and looked at the scene, they were all normal humans, without weapons, minding their own business, they couldn't possibly help this woman.

"Give me all the money you have." Pirate hissed.

Letting this unfold would be a smart thing to do, he wouldn't attract attention, but just standing and watching hen he knew he could easily deal with the pirate would forever tarnish his pride.

Keeping pride or being smart, it was obvious which one he chose. Ina split second pirate was out sold due to Vergil punching him in the guts.

"Call the marines and don't tell them how he was knocked out." Vergil said and someone from the surprised crowd ran off to where Tashigi was.

"Young man." The merchant lady called him when he turned to leave.

"Hm?" He looked back and she was putting the mirror into his hand. "I don't have money for it." Vergil said.

"It's a 'thank you'. Take care of your girlfriend, these are difficult times." She said softly, if only she knew that the one that saved her was a pirate, more importantly a demon, she wasn't freaking out, their eyes never met.

He bowed his head down respectfully. "I will. Take care of yourself." He still tried to leave the mirror.

"Take it, give it to her." He had to relent.

"Thank you." He nodded and carefully placed the mirror into the inner pocket of his jacket.

* * *

"Have you seen this man?" A sentence that didn't matter to Vergil.

"Monkey D. Luffy?" But that did, Vergil turned around and saw that the man was showing Luffy's wanted poster to a merchant. It was Ace, the same man that was looking for Luffy back on Drum. "No, I haven't seen him."

"I see. Well thank you anyway." Ace politely thanked the man and went in the other way.

"_A bounty hunter?_" Vergil guessed but then he saw something really similar to a Jolly Roger on Ace's back. It was the mark of pirate crew Ace was a part of, not that it meant anything to Vergil, he didn't know which crew that was.

One thing mattered, this man was searching for Luffy and he seemed strong. They had Crocodile to deal with, Smoker was here as well and now this man. Just great.

* * *

In another city where the Rebel Army was stationed the course of events was about to change.

"Kohza, some woman is here, she demands to see you." One of the rebels told him.

"I told you to lead me to your leader, not to ask for permission." And it was none other than Xenia. She looked at Kohza, young male, perhaps not even in his twenties yet leader of the rebels.

"Who are you?" Kohza asked, it was clear the woman was a demon.

"Leonidas Xenia. I'm here to offer you a way to save this country without spilling blood of the innocent." She grinned at the way his eyes widened for a moment.

* * *

Back in Nanohana Ace stopped when the white haired demon stepped in front of him.

"Just what business do you have with my captain?" Demon looked ready to fight.

* * *

_**And that's it. Well I really planned on having Vergil and Nami get together much later, at first maybe even after timeskip, then after or during Demon World saga, then after Strong World but somehow this just clicked kinda right. They are pirates, meaning they could die at anytime, they are after all unaware of their plot armor… Anyway they also spent I'd say more than a month together on the same ship (by the calculation of timeline of my own story I'd say nearly two months) so by now they know each other pretty well. So yeah, I just went with the flow.**_

_**Finally both of them where in a near death situation in less than a week, meaning they are both a bit more emotionally charged because of almost losing each other.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Fire Fist Ace**_


	121. Fire Fist Ace

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**The Storm Master 567 – Thank you. I'm glad it worked out.**_

_**Guest – Looks like I did it. Eah, and I plan on having them stay like that. Thanks.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you, I can't say it helps much. Nami and Vergil getting together isn't that important to the plot, though you are right, who knows when and if I'll reach the timeskip. Anyway here's the next chapter.**_

_**SubZPhantomX – I can't say I planned it beforehand so yeah, it was a bit of a surprise for me as well. You'll get to see a lot of that in this chapter, as for whether or not they had any kind of brawl, well please proceed to the chapter and find out for yourself.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you, I guess I made a few things start in the previous chapter.**_

_**Guest – Thank you for the review. I didn't think that would be that important.**_

_**Kakusei – I'm glad you think so. Now that I think about it I really did move a few different plots, they'll tie in soon enough and I can tell you there will be differences between the story and original.**_

_**dwayiam – It sure did.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 121 – Fire Fist Ace**_

* * *

Back in Nanohana Ace stopped when the white haired demon stepped in front of him.

"Just what business do you have with my captain?" Demon looked ready to fight.

Ace recognized the demon, 'Black Thunder' Leonidas Vergil, pirate worth 18 million beri and the first mate of Luffy's crew.

"It's just like Luffy to recruit a demon. I heard about you, Black Thunder. In fact I wanted to meet you ever since I found out you were on Luffy's crew." Ace's eyes were overshadowed by his hat but Vergil could feel the killing intent in every fiber of the man's body, if that wasn't enough flames that briefly danced around Ace's clenched fist were a clear indication.

Vergil responded with the same amount of killing intent and the sparks that crackled around him every now and then.

"A demon like you… What are you doing on Luffy's crew?" Ace asked something in his eyes flashed and Vergil lowered his guard, he could recognize that look anytime. He had it as well when Xenia was in danger and Xenia had it before she went to face Kaltag ten years ago. The look of someone feeling like something they would destroy the universe for is threatened or in danger. What he didn't realize was that he had that very look in his eyes as well.

"You… Who are you to Luffy?" Vergil asked and Ace seemed to grasp the similar conclusion as he did just a bit ago.

"Answer the question." Ace had to make sure.

"I'm his nakama." Nakama, that word meant more than just a comrade, it meant everything on their crew, if this man had any close relation to Luffy that would be enough of the answer.

"If I go after Luffy right here and n-" Ace didn't even get the chance to finish.

"Don't you dare lay a hand on him." Demon's voice was low, no one could see the electricity but Ace could feel it, the presence of lightning in the air, the pressure of darkness from the shadows, the way demon's eyes showed nothing but the killer intent. This was the killer instinct of 'Black Thunder' during his most notorious time and the resolve of Leonidas Vergil at their most intertwined.

"Is that a threat?" Ace asked.

"Not a threat. _**A promise.**_" The demon was absolutely serious.

And then Ace laughed. "I see. That's good to know. Let's go and grab a bite, I'm feeling a bit hungry."

Vergil didn't lower his guard.

"What business do you have with Luffy?" It was clear he wouldn't budge before Ace told him.

"Do I need to have any business with my little brother?"

And Vergil pieced things together as Ace walked past him.

"Come on, Vergil." Just like his brother…

Vergil sighed and went along.

* * *

Sanji finally came back with the clothes and now the crew could get properly dressed, hence the regret over giving the task to Sanji came.

Nami and Vivi were dressed just like dancer girls, type of outfit that was a bit too revealing…

"Ah, this is gorgeous!" Of course Nami was the one that said that. "I love stuff like this."

"About the clothes we asked you to get, Sanji-san… Isn't this… a dance girl's?" Quite the opposite of Nami's reaction Vivi seemed at the very least more modest.

"Isn't it lovely? It looks great on you!" Of course Sanji didn't see a problem as he swooned over the girls.

"But I asked you for clothes like the citizens wear." Vivi reminded him.

"Dancing girls are citizens too~!" Though perverted given how the two were currently dressed he did have a point.

"But for walking on the desert…" On the other hand so did Vivi.

But the cook had a solution for everything that may prevent him from enjoying the view of two beauties dressed in these revealing outfits. "Don't worry! If you get tired, I'll carry you~!"

"It's no use talking to him." Vivi gave up.

"But you know, compared to the girls, you dorks still look like a couple of thieves!" Sanji turned to Zoro and Usopp who were now wearing quite common desert clothes just like Sanji himself.

"And which are you?" Zoro pointed out the certain similarity in the clothing style.

"Anyway, we can blend in now do we should get into the city and find an actual hiding spot. This might be a bit secluded but we are still out in the open." Nami reminded them.

"Yes! Nami-san~!"

* * *

The crew went through the town and found ruins of an old house, they hid behind them until they decided what to do next.

"Vivi-chan, you'll be safe from prying eyes here for the time being." She didn't appear to have heard him. "Vivi-chan?"

"She yelped. "Yes?! Yes, yes, what is it?" It was quite a frantic response but she was now giving him her attention,

"What's wrong?" Sanji asked.

Her eyes softened and she looked back to the town. "I'm sorry. I was just thinking."

"Hm?"

"At least, while I was looking at the city, everything still seemed to be fine. And though I can't truly be at ease… I think it can be saved…" She opened up her heart and let her worries out.

"You're right. It seems like a peaceful city." Nami also came to that conclusion so it kinda put Vivi's heart and mind at ease.

"Hey, Vivi. You said you had forces to suppress the rebellion, right?" Zoro asked for confirmation.

Vivi nodded.

"What's the next step? What do we have to do?" This was all they needed to know.

"Eh?"

"If we can still save them, we have to take action soon." The swordsman took the front seat when the rubber captain and demon first mate weren't around.

"Yes, that's true… But you only promised to take me as far as Alabasta and-"

Nami bonked her forehead to stop her right then and there.

"Enough. I can't believe you're still talking like that." Nami scolded her.

"Nami-san!"

"We've sailed together all the way here. You think we're just gonna abandon you now?" Yes, just like how she would scold a child that was being silly.

"She's right Vivi. Don't get all distant on us." Usopp joined in.

"And I'm pretty interested in this Shichibukai." Of course Zoro had his own reason as well.

"That's enough out of you!" Nami snapped at him. "In any case, quit over-thinking this!"

"And of course, everyone except me and Chopper is being hunted, too." Sanji added.

"Sanji-san…"

"That's how it is." He was smiling at her.

"And if this country is crushed, I won't get my fee for escorting you here. Understand?" After Nami's reasoning Zoro's sounded quite selfless, but with the way Nami looked all dangerous and kinda evil no one would dare say that.

"Y-Yes!" Vivi stuttered.

"Good, you understand." And the orange haired girl was instantly smiling.

"You're going to Hell." No one here would dare oppose Nami, or call her out on her being greedy, other than Zoro that is.

"Why thank you, Zoro. And I haven't forgotten your debt either." Given how she could always pull the debt card he wasn't being that smart.

"Why you…"

"I'll get it from you, even if I'm a ghost." She teased him.

"Argh, you bitch!"

"Better not let Vergil hear that…" Usopp chimed in.

"You'll pay me back precisely 400,000 beri." Nami made things worse for the swordsman.

"You raised it!"

"If you don't pay it back soon, it'll go up more!" And it was anything but an empty threat.

"Argh! Hey, Usopp…. Could you…" Knowing that Zoro tried to get some money.

"Thank you…" Vivi whispered while Chopper and Carue looked at one another and Chopper grinned.

"No." And Usopp didn't want to get in any way involved with this.

"Nami-san is in the right!" Of course Sanji would side with her.

"WHAT?!"

* * *

"Northwest of this city lies the Yuba Oasis. That is the Rebels' base. I want to go there first and stop the rebellion. But to get to Yuba, we have to cross the desert. We have to arrange the necessary food and water here, but… If Mr. 3 is in this city… Even with these clothes…" VIvi explained the plan.

"If that's all it'll be fine. We'll just go with the same plan as we did with clothing." Sanji reassured her.

"Of course, Sanji and Chopper never met him." Nami added and Chopper looked at Sanji.

"That's great. There'll be a lot to carry. I'm counting on you." The cook grinned at the small doctor.

"Okay, got it!" Chopper sounded more than ready to help.

"Hey, you gonna be alright?" Usopp asked him.

"I'll be alright! I want to do what I can!" Chopper shifted into his reindeer form. "If I'm in this form, I won't have any problems, right?"

"Alright! You are truly a man… reindeer."

* * *

Vergil and Ace were currently at a restaurant.

"I should have figured out that if Luffy had any siblings they'd also be pirates." Vergil commented.

"You'd be surprised." Ace was smirking knowingly making Vergil chuckle.

"You're right. I can't assume." He corrected himself, his sister may have been a Demon Hunter as well but the rest of his family, at least on his father's side was completely faithful to Mundus.

"The pirate crew I'm on has quite a few demons, you might even recognize some names, they recognized you." Ace explained his initial hostility.

"Whether you call it being fortunate or unfortunate most demons do recognize the 'Black Thunder' alias. As long as they were in the Demon World or kept up with what was going on." Vergil sighed.

"When your wanted poster came along with Luffy's it was also the first time I heard about you. Not too many good things I'm afraid." Ace admitted, the slightly younger male was strangely serious.

"I would be surprised if you did. I only left destruction wherever I fought." Vergil seemed quite accepting of the fact that he had taken countless lives. "Knowing that I understand why you were worried about Luffy."

"I trust Luffy's judgment. If he trusts you I should trust you as well."

"But you cannot switch off the protective sibling tendency, I understand that." Vergil grinned. "I had an older sister. That's how I sort of realized that you weren't Luffy's enemy, I recognized the look in your eyes."

"That went out of the window when I threatened Luffy though." Now Ace grinned as well.

"Everything logical goes out of window in that case." Vergil stated.

"Heh, I couldn't agree more."

"Anyway old man can you make a really big portion of your best meal?" Vergil asked out of blue.

"Ah, sure." Restaurant owner confirmed that he could and went on to do it.

"Any particular reason?" Ace asked.

"I get this feeling I should order it." Vergil couldn't exactly explain.

Not that it mattered…

Seriously, the hell just happened? Ace just kinda dropped his face into the plate full of food with his hand still holding onto the fork that still had a piece of meat on it…

And then he gave everyone a bit of a shock as he abruptly woke up and blinked a few times. As he looked around a female came up to him.

"A-Are you okay?" She asked but didn't get any verbal answers, instead Ace took her skirt and wiped his face making her run off.

"Man… Damn… I fell asleep." He explained.

Yeah, definitely Luffy's brother.

"YOU FELL ASLEEP!" The entire restaurant, with the exceptions being two pirates screamed.

"T-That's no possible! In the middle of a meal and conversation?!"

"And he just starts chewing again…"

Vergil thought they were funny at first, now they were turning into a bit of a headache.

"Anyhow, what are you guys all worked up over?"

"We were worried about you!" A few of them snapped at him.

"You hire comedians or something?"

"Well, no… But if you're okay, I'm glad."

The pirate was about to take another bite but then fell right back asleep.

"Hey! Don't fall asleep!"

Yeah, this was definitely Luffy's brother. Vergil had to grin at that.

Unfortunately the crowd got unwanted attention.

Ace and Vergil finished their meal.

"Ah, I'm full!" Ace said feeling quite content with having a filled stomach.

"It was good but just wait until you try Sanji's food." Vergil told him, he hasn't eaten nearly as much as Ace but he did enjoy the meal.

"Oh, I'll be looking forward to that." Ace said.

"I guess you don't have a problem with eating in public." That voice.

Vergil froze for a moment and then looked at the owner of the voice… Smoker… "_Great, here he is…_" Vergil seemed annoyed, really annoyed but somehow he wasn't too worried. He knew he couldn't take down Smoker but he also knew that his electricity could at the very least hold him off enough for the white haired demon to find an escape route if needed.

"Commander of Whitebear Pirates, Second Division, Portgas D. Ace."

Ace just smirked at that while people around them couldn't believe their ears and the comments began flowing through the restaurant.

Vergil finally found out to which pirate the mark on Ace's back belonged to.

"What business does an infamous pirate like you have in this country?" Smoker demanded an answer.

Ace lowered his cup. "I've been searching." He turned around on his stool while still smirking. "For my little brother."

"Little brother?" Smoker repeated, perhaps he didn't buy it.

"Well, I'm done searching since I found his first mate." He smirked and Smoker finally took notice of Vergil.

"Black Thunder…!"

"Yo, Smoker." Vergil greeted him.

* * *

Back with the rest of the crew Sanji and Chopper finally came back and Chopper was exhausted, not only was it hot but while Sanji went off to establish a contact with female specimen of human kind Chopper had to go through narrowly escaping some people that most likely had intentions of cooking him. Oh and they had rifles. Humans could be dangerous. But some strange camel saved him so now he was here, where it was only hot and the air smelt too much like perfume, which was something his sensitive nose couldn't take…

Yeah, Tony Tony Chopper was having an amazing day, one he tried to make at least a little bit better by holding onto his nose.

"Chopper, what are you doing?" Usopp asked him.

"My nose is gonna fall off." He sounded like that as well.

"Oh yeah, where did you go?" Sanji asked him.

"Here and there." Maybe there was a bit of a grudge in Chopper's voice…

"Is he feeling sick?" Nami asked.

"Oh, he's being affected by the perfume." Cook assured her.

"Perfume?" She repeated.

"Oh yes, Tony-kun's nose is very sensitive." Vivi realized something they all should have figured out.

Nami paid a bit more attention to the perfume she had put on. "Oh this?"

"Some aromas are quite pungent." The princess, being the only person who actually spent time in this country beforehand was pretty much the only one who could provide them with information.

"Like this one?" Nami put a bit more of it.

"Hey, cut it out!" Chopper cried out.

"Ah, to the bottom of the abyss, my mellorine love~!" Sanji was love struck…

"What an idiot." Zoro threw an obviously direct comment that quite clearly had the purpose of ticking Sanji off.

"Huh?!" And it worked.

"Anyway, that means we've got all the stuff we need… to get on with our original goal, right?" Usopp asked.

"Yeah."

"You said Yuba was where we're headed next, right?" Nami questioned.

"Yes, that's right. But to get there we have to cross the desert. It may prove a more formidable journey than any of you can imagine. You can never be sure of what will happen. One wrong step, and nothing can guarantee your life… out on that land of scorching heat. I still have worries about taking everyone through such a place, but…" Vivi paused as the crew listened intently. "I want to restore peace to this land. So…" She had a very determined look in her eyes. "So, I would like to make another request. Everyone! Please lend me all of your strength! Please…!"

"You finally said it." Nami said after brief silence.

"Eh?"

The navigator winked and raised a thumb up. "We've been waiting for that."

"Not knowing what's gonna happen next is just like sailing the sea, eh Vivi-chan." Sanji assured her as Zoro put Wado Ichimonji back to his waist as he stood up.

"Yeah, nothing we haven't dealt with before." He added.

"I'm looking forward to seeing the desert." Chopper told Carue.

"Quack."

"Alright, guys! Raise your spirits, we're heading to Yuba!" Usopp exclaimed.

"Aye!" The entire crew raised their left arms up to the sky showcasing their mark of being nakama.

Vivi was honestly touched by this. "Everyone…"

"Now all we need to do is wait for Vergil to come back and we're set to go." Nami grinned.

And then Usopp realized something. "Aren't we missing someone?"

The most important person in fact. The captain.

"LUFFY!"

"That numbskull!" The amount of frustration that could be felt in Nami's voice was immeasurable.

* * *

"So Straw Hat really is in this country." Smoker concluded.

"How in the world did you figure that out?" Vergil pretty much mocked him.

"Heh." Ace kept smirking. "So then. What should I do?"

"Sit there and let me arrest you." Smoker wasted his breath.

"Rejected. I'd rather not." Yeah, exactly like Luffy, just a bit more serious and kinda cooler.

"Well, that's what I expected." "Right now, I'm looking for a different pirate. I'm not really interested in your head."

"Then let me go."

"I can't do that…" He clenched his fist and turned his arm into smoke.

Ace just kept smirking.

"As long as I'm a marine and you're a pirate." Smoker stated his reasoning.

"So as long as they are your allies pirates can go and destroy countries? Pitiful." Vergil hissed.

"What are you trying to say, Black Thunder?" Smoker demanded.

"Figure it out on your own, damn marine." Vergil hissed.

"Nonetheless. That's a dumb reason…" Ace looked rather pleased with his brother's first mate. "Shall we have some fun then?"

And then Vergil's eyes widened.

"**Gomu Gomu no… Rocket**!"

Just as Luffy slammed and sent utterly shocked Smoker flying Vergil slammed equally surprised Ace into the ground just a few inches away from the disaster.

"The hell was that for Vergil?" Ace grunted, he was obviously caught by surprise and for a moment guessed Vergil did it to repay the test Ace put him through.

"I've been sent flying by that so many times I kinda got a sensor for **Gomu Gomu no Rocket**…" Vergil said and stood up.

"**Gomu Gomu no Rocket**?" Ace repeated, looked to his left where the numerous holes were just made through quite a few buildings, Smoker was missing meaning he was the one that made the holes and **Gomu Gomu no Rocket** was… Luffy…

The rubber man was sitting there happy that he found a restaurant.

"Food, food, food!" He repeated happily to the restaurant owner.

"I should have known." Ace said.

"You got a bit rusty." Vergil smirked and placed a plate of food he ordered before in front of Luffy.

"Uuh! Food! Thanks Vergil!" And the captain dug in, nearly ate the entire portion, which was quite big, before he realized what he just said, he turned with his mouth kinda full. "Vergil!" He didn't exactly want to but he spat a bit of food at Vergil who obliterated it with a bit of lightning.

"You never change, Luffy." Ace made his presence known to Luffy.

Luffy's eyes widened and he completely stopped eating. "A-Ace… Ace!"

"Long time no see, Luffy." Ace stood in front of the rubber captain.

"Same to you, Ace." Luffy was quick to regain his normal attitude.

Ace laughed and Luffy grinned. The two then took an arm wrestling stance.

"How many years has it been?" Luffy asked as they began arm wrestling.

"Dunno. But Luffy, you've still got that whole 'my pace' thing. You haven't changed a bit from when you were a kid." Ace noticed.

"Neither have you, Ace." They didn't even interact that much but they both knew. "Like that time you snuck into the farmer's field, ate a hundred watermelons then spat out the seeds like a cannon and ran away!" He was clearly straining.

"That wasn't me! You did that!" But so was Ace.

"Then he gave you that huge lump on your head!" Luffy tried to remind the older male.

"That was you, too! I was laughing the whole time." Ace seemed to be the one whose story was more accurate.

They got red in the faces due to the strain but they were equal. Which one would have given in first would never be known as the furniture beneath their elbows gave in.

"I guess we're both still the same." Luffy grinned.

"Yeah." Ace completely agreed.

They high-fived one another.

"Sure brings back memories. But, Ace… What are you doing in this country?" Sure, Luffy didn't mind seeing Ace but he was still curious.

"Huh? What? Didn't you get my message in Drum?" Ace asked.

"In Drum?" Obviously not.

"Well, never mind. It wasn't anything important anyway. I have some minor business to take care of in this part of the ocean. I figured I'd try to meet up with you." Ace explained.

"Minor business?" Of course Luffy would ask for a bit more details.

"I'm with the Whitebeard Pirates now." Ace stated.

"Whitebeard Pirates?" That pirate crew certainly didn't mean much to Luffy, maybe he heard of it before, maybe he didn't. It didn't really matter up until now that his big brother was with them.

Ace turned around to show his mark. "This is the mark of the Whitebeard Pirates. My greatest pride."

"Heeh?"

"Luffy. How about joining the Whitebeard Pirates? Your nakama too, of course." He knew the answer.

"No." Direct answer without a second of delay.

"Hahahahahaha! Yeah, thought so. Just thought I'd ask. Whitebeard is the greatest pirate I've even known. I've decided to make that man the Pirate King. Not you, Luffy." Vergil who remained silent and observed up until then recognized that attitude, Ace's devotion to Whitebeard was similar to Vergil's own devotion to Grom. Even the amount of pride in Ace's voice seemed to match…

"So what? It's just one more person I'll have to fight." Luffy brushed it off.

They both kept smiling at one another.

"I'm going to be the Pirate King." Luffy said.

They remained silent until Vergil heard steps slowly approaching in the distance.

"Luffy, we've got to go. Smoker is about to get here." Vergil stated.

"Smoker?" Luffy tried to remember.

"The marine captain from Loguetown, Smokey." Vergil reminded him.

"That guy?!" Luffy clearly remembered him, he was the only one Luffy couldn't fight.

"Yeah, looks like he followed us." Vergil came to a conclusion.

"Wait just a second." Luffy raised up his arm and then grabbed as much food as he could and stuffed it into his mouth. "Thanks for the food." He thanked the restaurant owner. "Let's go!" His words were muffled by the food but the two quickly followed him.

"…Eat n' run…" Restaurant owner realized shortly before Smoker stepped into the restaurant through the hole he and Luffy made via the combined effort.

"Let's split up for now until you find your crew." Ace said as they began running off.

"Will you be able to find us?" Vergil asked the question that was on his mind, Luffy just knew Ace would find them eventually.

"Yeah. Don't worry about it." Ace assured him, Vergil didn't really get how Ace would find them but he decided to trust the man.

* * *

"TASHIGI!" Smoker, furious that the pirates had ran off and certain that the one who sent him flying had to be Luffy shouted at his subordinate.

"Yes, what is it, Captain Smoker? Would you like a towel? This country is so hot." She commented and offered him a towel.

"It's Straw Hat!" Well so much about the towel and heat.

"Straw Hat?!" She immediately got serious.

"Call an emergency gathering of all marines! Search every inch of this town for the Straw Hat pirates!" Smoker ordered.

"Yes!" She began running off to do what he told her. "_The Straw hat pirates… That means…_" Smirking kinda evil looking Zoro popped in her mind. "_Roronoa Zoro is in this city._"

* * *

Vergil was leading the way while making sure that Luffy was following him, in the end embedding the lightning into that coin did have the purpose in the worst case scenario it could possibly be useful. They needed to get out of the town, quickly.

"Nami!" Vergil shouted out when he saw the crew.

"Yo! Zoro!" Luffy was shouting as well.

"Quit shouting you idiots!" The crew shouted right back.

Which attracted the marines…

"Smoker is in town!" The crew that was present back in Loguetown already knew what that meant and they paled just a little bit.

"It's Straw Hat pirates! We've spotted them!" Marines appeared as if on cue and began charging toward the crew.

"Hey, what should we do?" Usopp had to ask like it wasn't obvious.

"Our only option is to run!" Nami grabbed a bag.

"We have to get to the ship!" And as Zoro said that the crew was already following their captain and first mate.

"What's taking you so long?! Let's get going!" Luffy exclaimed.

"You morons!" The crew yelled at them.

"Halt! You won't escape!" Marines really thought the pirates would listen to them…

"You are being an annoyance! **Lightning Arc**!" Vergil spun around and in fashion similar to the way Huyu made an air slices he swung his arm and created a lightning arc that electrified and at the very least temporarily paralyzed marines, some were, due to the intensity of electricity and being in the front row killed by it.

"Everyone fall back!" Smoker came running right behind them.

"Captain!" The remaining conscious marines cried out.

"The Straw Hat is mine!" Smoker declared.

"Ah, it's Smokey!" Luffy yelped.

"**White Blow**!" Smoke fist was going after Luffy. "You won't escape!"

Luffy was trying his hardest to get away.

"**Heat Haze**!" Familiar voice broke through along with a narrow torrent of extremely hot flames. Burst of fire collided with smoke and stopped it making the entire crew stop as well.

"You again…" Smoker hissed.

"Heh. Give it up." His body was made out of fire. "You may be smoke, but I am fire. With our abilities, a fight would be pointless."

"That guy has a Devil Fruit ability…"

"Who the hell is he? Why is he helping us?"

"You'd be surprised." Vergil smirked.

"Ace!" Luffy exclaimed. "You ate a Devil Fruit?!

"Yeah, the Mera Mera no mi. Anyway, we can't talk like this. I'll catch up later! You guys run for it! I'll keep these guys busy! Go!"

"Let's go!" Luffy gave the order and the crew ran after him.

"But, Luffy…" Usopp tried to talk to him.

"Who the hell is that?" Sanji demanded some sort of explanation.

Ace and Smoker glared at one another, they were at a standstill and the fight that could start was already looking intense.

"I get it now. Why you helped Straw Hat. Why you were with Black Thunder." Smoker completely pieced it together.

"Having a younger brother who's a bit on the slow side makes his older brother worry." And Ace confirmed it.

"So he is…"

Flames intensified but Smoker didn't back away even as the heat licked his skin.

"Move! Portgas D. Ace!" He believed the man would move, he should have known better.

"I don't think so." Ace was still smirking.

Confident grin against serious scowl… Fire and smoke… The two were complete opposites…

Ace's flames rose up to the skies.

"Wait, Luffy. Just who was that?" Nami asked.

"Is he someone you know, Luffy-san?" Vivi guessed.

"Yeah!" Luffy was still really happy. "He's my brother!"

The shocks on crew's face were priceless.

"BROTHER!" Everyone but Vergil cried out.

* * *

_**And that's it.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Millions, Billions And Kung-Fu Dugongs **_


	122. Millions, Billions And Kung Fu Dugongs

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**SubZPhantomX – Well they both have Luffy's best in interest. Thanks, I'm glad you think so.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**The Storm Master 567 – it's not Tsubame, he's one of the Despots. Anyway thanks. As for the question, yeah, first in the remaining flashback and eventually in current time as well. I believe that Zoro, as well as Luffy and Sanji, would be able to notice the change in strength even before Haki, sure Haki makes it clear, but being more experienced fighters and with Vergil's powers being more noticeable due to him being a half demon makes it easier to feel the change. Hopefully this makes sense.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thanks. Yeah it was really awesome in both manga and the anime and if I wrote it down even half as awesome as that I'm more than happy.**_

_**KP360 – And then I go and lack updates for a few weeks… Honestly, I didn't think I'd make them get together this early but looks like it's working out so far. I'm not saying the relationship will be picture perfect but it can start from here.  
V: So that's why I ended up having to deal with all those confetti and sprinklers… Gian… At least warn me next time.**_

_**dwayiam – No need to call them, we ran out of bullets, hopefully we'll be getting them back soon enough.**_

_**20th Cboys fan – Thanks, I'm happy to hear that.**_

_**Chance Green G King – Yeah, she sure did. I guess that reasoning is the only excuse for getting them together at this stage. **_

_**Naroku – Thanks.**_

_**Guest – Sorry for the delay.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 122 - Millions, Billions And Kung Fu Dugongs**_

* * *

"Yeah!" Luffy was still really happy. "He's my brother!"

The shocks on crew's face were priceless.

"BROTHER!" Everyone but Vergil cried out.

"'Fire Fist' Ace…" No one noticed a man obviously affiliated with Baroque Works running off.

"Who would've thought someone like you would be Straw Hat's brother…" Smoker's hands shifted into smoke.

Ace kept smirking confidently as the flames and smoke danced around one another.

"**White… Spark**!" A massive amount of smoke collided with fire and sent it up into the sky thus getting the attention of the citizens.

The Straw Hats stopped to look at it.

"What do you think is happening?" Chopper asked.

"A battle between fire and smoke?" Usopp stated the obvious.

"He said he ate the Mera Mera no mi." Sanji reminded them.

"Quack."

"But Luffy, is that true? Is that guy really your brother?" Nami asked him.

"Yeah! He's Ace." Luffy was still grinning.

"Well I'm not surprised you have a brother… But what's he doing on the Grand Line?" Zoro asked.

"Ace is a pirate. He left our island three years before me in search of One Piece."

This of course shocked the entire crew as the pillar of fire and smoke grew even bigger.

"A-Anyway, let's hurry back to the ship. We should get out of here before they come after us." Nami said.

"Right, Nami-san!" Sanji obediently followed her.

Even from this far the battle looked crazy.

"But I never thought I'd meet Ace in a place like this." Luffy was running backwards as he said that.

"Hey, the road splits up!" Usopp who was at the front exclaimed.

"Usopp, go left! Everyone agree?" Nami asked.

"Yes! I'm with you no matter which way you choose, Nami-san!" Of course Sanji was the one to express his unconditional agreement to anything Nami said.

"Enough already Ero-Cook!" Zoro snapped at him.

"Wow! Awesome! The pillar just keeps getting bigger!" Luffy went left, but his own left, which due to being turned the other way was crew's right.

"Your right…" Vergil grumbled as he **Demon Flashed** backwards and pulled Luffy into the street they picked before the captain could separate.

"Shishishi!" Luffy just laughed making the cambion shake his head in disbelief, nonetheless Vergil grinned.

* * *

The crew successfully boarded the Going Merry.

"Stack and secure the supplies! We're leaving now!" Nami was already shouting out the orders.

Sacks filed with food, barrels filled with drink and all the other supplies were being taken care of just like Nami ordered, stacked and secured.

"Hurry! FULL SAIL!" Usopp was all too pleased to obey as marines weren't something he wanted to encounter again today.

The crew was running around doing their regular tasks.

"Hey, we finally landed on your island. You sure we should set sail again already?" Chopper couldn't help but ask the princess.

"Yes, we only stopped at this town to procure the necessary supplies and provisions. From here on, we'll travel the river upstream and then head inland into Alabasta. The next town we'll stop at is the Green Coty, Erumalu." Vivi explained the current plan.

"Erumalu?" Chopper repeated.

"Hurry!" Zoro exclaimed.

"Alright!" Usopp went on to do his part of the job.

"Don't slow down!" Sanji told them.

"Everything OK!" Luffy confirmed.

"Let's set sail!" Nami ordered.

"Nami-san, could you wait for a moment." Vivi requested.

"Eh? What for?" Nami asked, they were in a hurry, Vivi was the last one she expected would make them stop.

"I'm going to have Carue run an important errand for me." Vivi explained.

"Carue?" Nami still looked a bit puzzled.

"Quack?" And the duck was just as confused.

* * *

And just like that most of the crew, other than Zoro and Vergil, got back on the shore with Vivi and Carue.

Vivi held a folded letter in her hands.

"Carue. I want you to go alone to the Alubarna Palace and deliver this letter to my father."

"Quack." Now it was clear what she wanted.

"I have written everything Igaram and I uncovered about Crocodile and his Baroque Works conspiracy… as well as confirming that I am alive and have brought strong-willed nakama with me." The crew grinned at that.

He fully understood.

"Can you do it? You must cross the desert on your own." Vivi asked him.

Carue saluted. "Quack!" With that much of confidence and resolve there was no doubt he could do it.

Vivi smiled and put the letter in Carue's green robes. "Listen. Be sure to ration your water while you're crossing the desert, okay?" She reminded him.

"Quack!"

"Alright! Give it your best shot!" Luffy encouraged him.

"Then, please go tell my father… that this Kingdom is going to be saved!" Vivi seemed a bit more confident now as well.

"Quack!" Carue began running and then stopped to take a long sip of the water, before running off again.

"I said to ration your water!" Vivi yelled after him but it was probably a wasted breath as he was already too far to hear her. "Carue… I'm counting on you."

Carue was one thing, he did have somewhat of a self-control, hopefully, but there was one hopeless case still on the crew.

Luffy, gulping down a hell of a lot of water from the barrel.

Which of course caused Sanji to kick Luffy in the back of the head. "Conserve the water!" He snapped.

"You idiot! Our precious water!" Usopp yelled at him.

"Anyway should we get going or wait for Ace?" Vergil turned to Luffy.

"Hm? Let's go." Luffy decided.

"Are you sure?" Zoro asked.

"Ace is really strong! Even before he ate the Mera Mera no mi I could never beat him in a fight." To say that the crew was surprised was an understatement.

"Not even once…? Against a regular human?!" Nami was the first to somewhat recover.

"The monster's brother must be one hell of a monster." Usopp decided.

"Yeah! I always got my ass kicked! Shishishi! But I could beat him now!"

"That's a groundless statement." Zoro said what was on pretty much everyone's mind as he and Vivi sweat dropped.

"Just who…" Speaking of Ace… he suddenly jumped up and landed on the railing just where Luffy was sitting causing his younger brother to fall. "Can you beat?"

"Ace!" Luffy exclaimed.

"Yo." The flame user responded and then bowed his head to the crew. "Oh, why hell everyone. I trust my little brother has been in your care."

"Yes, he has." The crew replied and bowed their heads in courtesy.

"He has no manners, so he'll probably end up burning your hands a few times…" Ace stated a well-known fact.

"Yes, he has." The crew confirmed his assumption.

"I'll entrust him to you." He looked pleased with the crew from what Vergil who was leaning against the wall at the side and wasn't exactly participating in the conversation could notice.

"For now, you've probably got some small talk to share. Wanna come inside? I'll make some tea." Sanji offered.

"Oh no, don't worry about it. This will only a minute. But I appreciate your consideration." He nodded his head, raised his hand and lit Sanji's cigarette making the cook a bit surprised.

* * *

Back in the town Tashigi had just reunited with Smoker and the rest of the Marines, Ace had made a net of fire and stopped them from going after the crew.

_'So as long as they are your allies pirates can go and destroy countries? Pitiful.'_ Vergil's accusation came back to him, the only kind of pirate that could ally themselves with marines was shichibukai, and the only one in this country was Crocodile.

"They might be after the one man in this country… that I despise… you kown I hate the 'shichibukai' don't you?" Smoker suddenly spoke up.

"Y… You mean Sir Crocodile? But speaking logically. He's an ally of the marines and the Government." Tashigi pointed out.

"He was once an extremely clever pirate… not the type to take orders from any government. Tashigi always remember this…!" His eyes narrowed. "No matter how far a 'pirate' goes… he is still a 'pirate'!" Smoker declared.

* * *

Back on Going Merry, Ace tossed a folded piece of paper to Luffy.

"Here. I wanted to give this to you." The flame user said.

"Huh?" Even if he was far smarter this would still confuse Luffy, hell it confused even Nami and she was the smartest on the crew. It was just a plain piece of paper after all.

"Always keep that with you!" Ace really made sure the importance of the paper was clear to Luffy.

"It's a piece of paper." Luffy pointed out.

"Yup. That paper will let us meet again." And now it was clear why it was important, not that it was clear how it would do it.

"Wow…" Luffy sounded somewhat amazed.

"Don't want it?" Ace asked.

"No I do!" Luffy quickly replied.

Ace turned to the crew. "Having a dumb little brother makes an older brother worry."

The crew remained silent.

Ace grinned. "He probably gives you guys lots of trouble too. Take care of him for me…" He requested.

The crew didn't speak up, none of them uttered a single word, but it was clear that they would do what they could.

With that Ace jumped down back to his raft, the Striker.

"What?! You're leaving already?!" Luffy yelled after him.

"Yeah." Ace confirmed it.

"You can stay here a little longer! I haven't seen you in so long." Luffy tried to persuade him.

"I told you, I only came to do that. I'm chasing a major criminal right now… He's been calling himself 'Blackbeard' lately. But he originally used to be a member of the Whitebeard Second Division. My subordinate. He committed the worst possible crime on a pirate ship… 'nakama killing'." Ace explained. "I'm the commander, so I have to finish him off. If it wasn't for that I wouldn't be back here in this part of the sea."

"You are Luffy's brother first, before being Whitebeard's commander." Vergil said as he went to lean against the railing next to Luffy.

The two looked at one another before Ace grinned, he had made a decision… "The next time we meet… will be at the pirates' summit." Ace grinned, confident, both of himself and his little brother.

Luffy smiled at that and Ace went off on his own.

And the crew finally recovered from the experience known as meeting the older brother of their captain.

"No… No way…! How could someone that sensible be Luffy's brother?!" Nami held her hands over her chest as she expressed her disbelief.

"I was sure he would be as irresponsible as Luffy." Usopp added his two cents.

"Brotherhood is a wonderful thing." Chopper was actually crying.

"What a great guy, cares about his brother…!" And Zoro seemed on the verge of tears as well.

"I don't get it… the sea's a mysterious place." Sanji commented.

"Please, everyone…" Vivi tried to make them a bit more considerate.

"See you later!" Luffy shouted for Ace to hear.

Just as Ace was getting further away from the Going Merry five Baroque Works ships came into view, their target was clearly Ace.

Ace smirked and jumped up, his raft, powered up by Ace's Mera Mera no mi, sank beneath the ocean's surface but kept going.

"Wha?! He jumped! Shoot him!"

"We win if he falls in the water!" His enemies yelled.

But Striker emerged and Ace landed on it perfectly, he pulled his fist back and it ignited.

"**Fire Fist**!" Massive flame torrent emerged from Ace's fist leaving the Straw Hats in absolute amazement and the ships in a wreckage, none of the ships survived the attack.

"Come on Luffy… Come to the 'top'!" Ace raised his hat a bit with a single slightly flaming finger.

* * *

As Ace's raft disappeared the crew found themselves with a new problem, the piece of paper.

"What was that thing your brother gave you?" Usopp asked.

"Well, I dunno. It's just a scrap of paper." Luffy replied honestly. "Vergil, do you know something about this?"

"Nope, nothing." Vergil stated.

"A scrap of paper?" Chopper looked at it.

"Let me see it." Sanji took it for a moment and observed it carefully. "Hm? It really is just a scrap of paper. It's not a memo or anything."

"What's with that?" Usopp was still puzzled.

"I'm not really sure either…" Well not that it mattered to Luffy.

"Luffy, give me your hat." Nami requested.

"Huh? This?"

"If it's that important, I'll sew it onto the back of the ribbon." Nami explained her reasoning for wanting to borrow the straw hat for a moment.

"Oh, thanks! Make sure it's in there good." Luffy reminded her.

"Sure, sure." Nami carefully an effectively sewed the paper into the back of the hat's ribbon. "Alright, finished." She handed it back to Luffy. "Here you go."

"Thanks! Now I won't have to worry about it." Luffy was grinning as he looked at the straw hat.

"There's not even anything written on it. Does it really matter if you lose it or not?" Zoro questioned.

Luffy looked extremely determined. "Ace said to keep it with me, so I'm keeping it!" There it was, if Ace said he should keep it than he will do it.

"Your confidence is groundless." Sanji pointed out.

"Don't sweat it! Things always turn out well for me?" Luffy said as he put his straw hat back on.

"Eh?" And the crew wasn't so sure about that.

"Well he never lost his straw hat so it'll be fine." Vergil said.

"Yeah!" Luffy agreed.

"Either way, wear this Luffy-san." Vivi came up to Luffy with a coat.

"Huh? Why? It's hot." Luffy pointed out.

"You wear it because it's hot. The desert gets over 50 degrees, you'll get sunburned if your skin is exposed." Vivi explained and Luffy turned to Nami.

"Why are your clothes so skimpy then?" He had every right to ask that.

"We're going to wear coats too." Nami stated.

"What?! You're going to wear those?!" Sanji face faulted at that.

"Oh well, guess I better do it." Luffy took the clothes and it really seemed like no one was paying attention to Sanji's despair.

"Hey! We just rounded the side of the island!" Chopper's panicking got Vivi's attention.

"No, this isn't the side of the island, this is the bank of the Sandora River. You can see the other side off in the distance, right?" Vivi asked him.

"Oh, you're right." Chopper sounded a bit sheepish at that.

Nami showed them the map of Alabasta. "Look. This is the rough map of the area." She moved her finger from Nanohana, across the ocean and down the Sandora River, followed the path to Erumalu and then to Yuba oasis. "And this is our destination! It's called Yuba, we'll cross the Sandora, then head out for it." She explained.

"And Yuba is where the leader of the rebellion is." Zoro concluded.

"So I just have to kick his ass, right?!" Luffy sounded pumped up to do it.

"Would you stop that?!" Vivi cried out.

"That's not the reaction I expected." Vergil had to point out.

"I want to persuade the rebellion not to shed any more blood…!" Vivi made sure their goal was clear to the crew.

"A rebellion of 700,000 people? Will they stop?" Zoro asked the reasonable question.

"Will they stop…? We'll discover everything on the way to Yuba… Exactly what the Baroque Works has done to this country…! Exactly what the people of Alabasta have gone through…! We can stop this senseless violence…! I won't let the Baroque Works do what they want to my country!" She clenched her fists as she declared that.

"Vivi…" Nami muttered.

Usopp and Vergil remained silent.

"I'll make a special desert-crossing lunch for you, Vivi-chan!" Sanji promised.

"Whoa! This sounds exciting!" Chopper exclaimed.

"Sorry about that…" Zoro apologized.

"Okay, Vivi! I understand! Let's go! To Upa!" Luffy exclaimed but also mispronounced the name.

"Yuba…" Vergil sighed.

"Yuba." Luffy corrected himself.

"Let's get the rest of the supplies ready, we'll be there soon." Vergil said, he glanced back at Vivi and let out a barely audible sigh. His sight turned to the bandages wrapped around his left forearm.

"I'm going to take a few things from my room." Nami said and went inside.

* * *

Nami finished putting the handful of things she needed and put the coat on. She looked at the coin Vergil gave her and put it into the coat's pocket. As she was about to let go of it she remembered the way Vergil glanced at Vivi and then at the bandages… When their ideologies didn't clash the two could easily get along, sure they barely had any talks going on between them but they didn't argue and there wasn't any tension between them. One thing was there though, the crew did accept Vivi and Vivi did accept them, but that kind of relationship didn't exist between Vergil and Vivi.

Vivi who didn't want anyone to die… Vergil who wasn't against killing… that alone was enough to cause a rift between them. Zoro was the only one besides Vergil who didn't seem to mind taking a life, but ever Zoro didn't take it as far as Vergil. Even Zoro didn't go in for a kill like Vergil did back on Little Garden… It's not like Nami was worried, Luffy wanted to help Vivi and if that was what Luffy wanted then Vergil would comply and help.

Yet… He glanced at the bandages, at their sign of being nakama…

She was brought out of her thoughts when she heard knocking on her doors.

"Come in." She said and the doors opened. "Good timing." She said as she saw Vergil coming in.

"Hm?" He was a bit puzzled. Nonetheless he pulled out the mirror he got from the old lady before and placing it on her desk. "Some woman gave it to me so I figured you'd find better uses for it."

Nami walked up to him and took the mirror. "Thanks." She could probably guess what happened.

"What was that about 'good timing'?" Vergil asked.

"I know you said you don't need it but I still got you some appropriate clothes." Nami stated and went to take the clothing she picked.

"You didn't need to, thanks though." As he said that Nam showed him pretty much regular desert clothing, just like the ones all the others would wear. It wasn't a good idea to go with black while in desert but it still was mostly black with red covering the shoulders and making sort of a waving patters on the rims. Vergil had to grin at her choice. "Quite fitting."

"So you'll wear it?" Nami raised an eyebrow.

"Of course." The cambion put the robes on.

"Say… About Vivi…" Nami began.

"I'm not going to turn my back on her just because our ideologies clash. She's merely too naïve of how things work, there's nothing wrong about that. Dangerous? Yes. Wrong? No." Vergil assured her.

Nami smiled. "I had to ask."

"I'm a demon. I don't have as many restrictions as humans, I'm not above killing, so whenever you feel like I'm crossing the line, whenever you feel like I'm about to go too far and I'm making you feel uncomfortable. Talk to me." He spoke softly, assuring her that he didn't mind talking, that he was aware of the fact that she was a human while he was a demon, even if only by a half he still had the mentality of a demon through and through.

And they both knew that if they wanted this between them to work out that they would have to be completely open to one another.

"I'll keep that in mind." Nami quickly rose up and pecked his lips much to his surprise. "And the same goes for you."

* * *

"We're finally here!" Luffy exclaimed when the Going Merry closed in on the shore

"We're finally gonna walk on the desert!" Chopper was perhaps a bit too excited for this, or too unaware of just how different the climate of the desert was when compared to that on Drum Island. "Must be pretty hot…" Yep, just a bit too excited.

"Is everything ready?" Nami asked.

"Yeah." Chopper replied as he slid down the railing while Nami walked down the stairs with Vergil.

"Hm?" Vergil noticed a shadow in the water.

"Did you see something?" Zoro asked him.

"In the water." Vergil motioned making Nami, Usopp and Chopper go pale.

Zoro looked down on his side and saw a few creatures in the water as well. "You're right." He confirmed it and then a seal looking creature emerged from the water, it was quickly followed by more than a dozen of the same specimen.

"Turtles?" Zoro guessed.

"You mean seals, right?" And the one to make a more accurate guess was none other than Luffy.

"Kung Fu Dugongs!" Of course Vivi was the one to recognize them.

"Kuo! Kuoo!" One that seemed to be the leader was trying to send the message across.

"'You must fight and defeat me if you wish to disembark here! If you're too afraid, go dock on the other shore, you wimps.' Is what he says…" Chopper translated.

Nami sighed and Usopp set his foot on the railing while smirking confidently.

"I can't stand down after being called a wimp." Usopp declared. "Here I come!" Usopp jumped over and attacked the dugong.

"Wait! Usopp-san!" Vivi tried to warn him.

It was over, in a second, with Usopp having bruises all over, hell he had blood running from his nose and corner of the mouth, even his eye looked swollen…

Vergil sighed. "You're a long range fighter… Don't go picking a close-range fight."

"Kung Fu Dugongs are very strong!" Vivi exclaimed.

"I win!" And Luffy also picked a fight, although in his case he easily won.

"Looks like we have a winner over here." Nami motioned to Luffy.

"Winning is even worse!" Vivi sounded even more alarmed.

Kung Fu Dugong recovered and stood up, looked at Luffy and then bowed.

"What the?" Luffy looked at it kinda puzzled.

It looked at Luffy with starry eyes.

"The code of the Kung Fu Dugong states that they must become disciples of anyone who defeats them." Vivi explained.

"Hard core martial artists." Zoro commented.

And now the entire group was surrounding Luffy… He now had an army of Kung Fu Dugong disciples…

"He got even more disciples while we were talking!" Vivi screeched.

"Alright! Everyone, follow me! Take your stance!" Luffy sure got into the role of the mentor as he practiced with the dugongs.

"Great…" Vergil sighed.

"Alright! Let's head to Yuba!" Luffy yelled with around sixty Dugongs behind him.

"Now wait just a minute." Zoro was the one to voice out the overall feeling the crew had. "You're gonna take them along?!"

"You can't, Luffy!" Nami scolded him.

"These Dugongs couldn't possibly cross the desert." Vivi tried to make him see reason.

But there were two of them that looked like they were crying as they latched onto Luffy's legs.

"C-Cute" Both Nami and Vivi had their resolve shaken by them.

The two females turned away and tried to consult one another about what to do now.

"I feel as though I'm being really mean to them…" Nami said.

"So do I… What should we do?" Vivi asked.

"I know!" Chopper found a solution and began sniffing at their backpacks.

"What are you doing?" Sanji asked.

He offered a piece of meat to them. "Here, I'll give you this is you stay here and behave, okay?" of course being Luffy's disciples it had an instant result of all the Dugongs picking Chopper up and carrying him away. "Help me!"

"Chopper!" Usopp called out to him.

Vergil **Demon Slid** right above the Dugongs and picked Chopper up. When the animals tried to reach out for Chopper a simple glare from a demon made them back off and take cover behind Luffy.

"Leave it to a demon." Usopp shrugged in resignation, the girls may be weak and the males may be indifferent but the demon may never care about anything being cute.

"Thanks…" Chopper muttered as Vergil set him down.

And so Chopper, with Vergil making sure he wasn't taken away again, gave food to the Dugongs which allowed the crew to get going.

"See ya!" Luffy waved at them as they began leaving.

"Listen, Luffy! Do you understand the situation we're in?" Nami turned to him.

"they said they were coming with me, why couldn't I bring them along?" Luffy asked.

"We can't go into any city with that big of a crowd! Dimwit! Honestly, if Chopper hadn't talked them out of it, we'd have been in real trouble." Nami scolded the captain.

"Yeah, they kept saying. 'We're following him!' If we hadn't given them food, they really would've, too, even with Vergil scaring them." Chopper stated.

"Jeez, thanks to you, our food supply's gone way down." Sanji complained.

* * *

Back in the Rebel Army's current location Xenia was smirking at utterly shocked Kohza.

The blond male was holding a letter in his hands, the first proof Xenia had for him.

"It's not that hard to track down the demons in the country when you have my ability. There might be a decent number of devils without combat abilities, however that only makes the handful of somewhat competent ones stick out like a sore thumb. At this very moment there are exactly eight of those if you exclude me." Xenia explained.

"It doesn't explain why you have this." Kohza was being a bit suspicious.

"Crocodile was being a bit too naïve, he sent the messages via Erimaki Runners. No one with enough speed would have trouble catching them." Xenia explained.

"Why would you help us?" It was the question he may have asked a bit too far into the conversation.

"First and foremost, the eighth demon I mention is my younger brother. Well there also the fact that Grom, a dear friend of mine, and Cobra were in the process of forming sort of a connection between Alabasta and Epystras before Grom died, so I'm honoring the fact that Grom picked this country." She didn't have any problem with stating the truth.

"Even if you explain it to everyone and the rebellion stops it won't stop Crocodile." Kohza sighed.

"Perhaps. Just leave the details to me. But, when I'm done with those details I'll need your army for something. You said it yourself, the goal of the Rebel Army is to save this country." This woman… She was scary, she looked completely relaxed, nonchalant in fact, like she didn't have lives of about 10 million people at stakes.

* * *

_**And that's it. Well I decided to mostly go with manga version of these events. Ace would be pretty high up on my list if I had to rank my favorite characters but I feel like this is a better way to deal with this part of the story.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Erumalu**_


	123. Erumalu

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**blazeinferno – Thank you. I understand where you're coming from when it comes to Ace, he is also one of my favorite characters.**_

_**Chance Green G King – Thanks, so far so good I suppose.**_

_**Guest – Thank you.**_

_**JayH120 – Ah, I guess there will be at least a few more chapters before we get into the real action, but I am looking forward to writing that part.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thanks, I'm glad you think so.**_

_**KP360 – I agree, both the manga and the anime showed that either option worked. I do plan on making at the very least this arc a bit more strategy complex due to Xenia being there as well. **_

* * *

_**Chapter 123 – Erumalu**_

* * *

All around Alabasta the Erimaki runners were delivering the messages. The remaining four letters had finally reached their targets.

A lean red haired demon with a sword strapped to his hip took and unfolded the paper. He was wearing a leather forest green vest and his numerous scars could easily be noticed.

"Looks like we're heading to the Spiders Café." He said and his pair emerged from the small pool she created.

"And I felt like relaxing tonight… Well, let's get it over with Mr. -2." This woman was Miss Dawn, slim female with blue hair only a bit darker than Vivi's. Currently she was wearing a sky blue bikini, given the fact that she was in a makeshift pool it wasn't much of a surprise.

* * *

Unlike with the lower ranking pair Mr. -3 and Miss Noon were preferring a bit darker surrounding. Such as the cave they were currently in searching for a certain kind of material they needed.

They were both dressed in common desert clothing, mainly to protect themselves from the sun and their surrounding did require a bit more protection.

"Let's hurry up." Miss noon urged the demon as he finally found what he was looking for.

"Right away." With a single flick of his finger a skeletal demon emerged out of nowhere and with its sword sliced through the stone that was in their way. "What was in the letter?"

"Order to go to the Spiders Café." Miss Noon replied.

"We shall prepare the troops." Mr. -3 stated.

"Yes, we need enough to replace all the humans that failed thus far." Miss Noon replied.

* * *

In the flaming heat of the sun and strong winds of the desert… No one would want to be constantly exposed to that without at the very least some protection.

Unless they were this particular pair. Mr. -4 and Miss Morning.

"Invitation to Spiders Café?" Mr. -4 questioned when Miss Morning read him the letter, his black hair lazily danced to the tune of the wind and he clearly didn't seem to mind that.

"Yeah, apparently we've all been summoned." His partner told him.

"What about the pirates that defeated Mr. -1 and Miss Midnight? Does it say anything about them?" Mr. -4 asked.

"There's nothing about them, we will probably find something out sooner or later." Miss morning replied.

"I see…" Mr. -4 let the topic end for now, time would give them the answers they wanted.

From above Xenia observed Mr. -4 and his pair, Miss Morning… They would be perfect for the beginning. She descended from the sky and landed in front of them.

With a confident smirk on her face she observed the surprised duo, they didn't even feel her presence, not that they could even if they were more careful, she was way above their league.

* * *

The only demon in the Baroque Works ranks that did not have a partner was Mr. -5. A lonesome demon that completely blended in with the citizens, even if they were all humans. The sunglasses he was wearing hid his demonic eyes and the most common desert clothes allowed him to further blend in. His steps were light, barely noticeable as he shifted from one shadow to the next one.

* * *

The Straw Hats were making their way toward the Green City, Erumalu, so far there was no problem whatsoever with the heat, however Vergil didn't seem that pleased. From the moment they crossed about two thirds of the path from the shore to Erumalu he has been sensing a demonic presence. And it was getting closer which made it more or less clear to him that it was coming from Erumalu.

"Let's go around the city, I've got a bad feeling about it." Vergil suddenly said.

"A-A bad feeling?!" Usopp shrieked, if Vergil was having a bad feeling then there was definitely something going on.

"Yeah, it feels demonic…" The cambion narrowed his eyes as he looked at the city, he could feel the low power of the demons lurking in the ruins. It was extremely low and that's what was puzzling him. They were clearly going into the nest of a demon kind, not the devils, like Grom, or Huyu, but demons, the monstrous creatures…

"There were rarely any demon sightings in Alabasta, are you sure Vergil-san?" Vivi asked.

"I can't really put a finger on it. But I'm pretty sure." Vergil stated.

"But animals can somewhat sense demons instinctively, can't they? Those Dugongs didn't seem bothered." Nami pointed out.

"It's not strong enough for them to sense it from that far."

"What about you Chopper? Can you feel anything?" Sanji asked and the reindeer sniffed the air.

"Um… No… I can't sense anything… but if Vergil can then maybe we should go around." Chopper said.

"Chopper's right! Let's go around the town!" Usopp wholeheartedly agreed.

"You said it was weak, then even if a demon attacked we can take it." Zoro said.

"Plus we are in a hurry, the sooner we get to Yuba the better." Sanji added.

"Luffy, the decision is yours." Vergil gave in. "Zoro is right though, I can only feel a weak presence."

"Then let's go through the city." Luffy decided.

"Luffy! Listen to your first mate!" Usopp screamed.

"It'll be fine, just don't go breaking things or screaming." Vergil instructed, he still had a bad feeling, mostly because he couldn't identify the demons that were up ahead and that was something that he could always do… Numbers, species… He knew nothing.

Nonetheless the crew kept walking and finally reached the city.

"This is Erumalu. It was once known as the Green City." Vivi stated.

"Green City?" Luffy being confused by the name wasn't strange, after all nothing in this town seemed green.

She turned to face them. "Looking at this city, you can understand just how much the Baroque Works has done to this country. And just how much Alabasta's people are suffering."

The town was in ruins, the palm trees were all dried up.

"Wow, there really is nothing here." Luffy said as they entered the city.

"Yes… But even though the city is now in ruins, up until its collapse it was lively town full of lush green plants." Vivi told them.

Zoro lightly knocked one of the palm trees with his foot making the wood crack from just how dry it was. "This place, eh?"

"This region never got very much rain, but by collecting water on the rare occasions it did rain, the town was prospering on its own. However, in the past three years, not a single drop of rain has fallen throughout the entire kingdom."

"Three years?!" Sanji exclaimed.

"That long?" Chopper was just as surprised.

"But even without rain, you still have that river we sailed upstream on." Zoro pointed out.

"Yeah, couldn't you guys just draw water from that big river?" Usopp questioned.

"The answer lies yet ahead." Vivi chose to keep them in the dark for a bit longer.

"Hm?" The two that proposed the idea just looked at her.

She kept walking and the crew followed her.

"Complete lack of rainfall is a catastrophe that hasn't occurred in Alabasta for thousands of years. But there was one place where there was always rain. That was the capital city, Alubarna, where the Royal Palace is located. People called it the King's Miracle. Until the day a certain incident occurred." Vivi revealed.

On one day the delivery went wrong and the content was spilled… The green powder…

"It was Dance Powder?" Nami asked.

"What, you've heard of it?" Luffy asked.

"Yes… it's also known as 'Rain-calling Powder'." Nami stated.

"Rain-calling Powder?" Chopper repeated after her. Curious as to what that was.

"I had only heard of it myself, but…it was invented by a researcher in a Kingdom where rain never fell. The powder emits a mist like smoke that rises up into the air and artificially created rainfall. That is Dance Powder." Nami explained.

"Oh, I got it! You mean the Mystery Powder. I just ate some before. It tastes really bad." Luffy told her.

Nami looked at him blankly as if she couldn't believe her own ears. "It's not food, you know."

"Eh?"

"So in other words, it makes rain fall." Zoro concluded.

"What's up with you guys? You think I'm lying, don't you?! Hey! I'm telling the truth!" Luffy yelled at them.

"Where did you eat it?" Vergil asked him.

"I can't rat him out, he gave me a lunch." Luffy refused to answer.

"Is that so? Well never mind. So you just ate it?"

"Yeah! It tasted bad so I burnt it and it began raining." Luffy explained.

Vergil made a mental note to point the problem out to Vivi, she should get a search throughout the country once this was all over, there was no saying how many people wanted to get rich by using this situation.

"Wait, hold on. If that sort of thing exists, that's perfect for this country, right?" Usopp asked.

"They thought so, yes. The people of the Kingdom initially danced with joy when it was invented, just like the powder's name implies. But the powder had a tremendous defect. That was the drought it caused to countries downwind. Do you get it? Dance powder basically takes rudimentary clouds, which would have otherwise kept traveling along the winds maturing into rain clouds, and forces them to mature instantly to make them deliver rain. Therefore…" Nami began explaining.

"I get it! So it basically steals rain that would've otherwise fallen in another country." Usopp finished for her.

"As a result, a huge war erupted between two Kingdoms. The loss of life was profound. The World Government has since placed a global ban on the manufacture and possession of Dance powder." Nami concluded the brief lesson.

"A powder that both brings happiness and calls the Devil, huh?" Usopp commented.

"The mass quantities of Dance Powder were brought into our port, while there was no rain falling anywhere else in Alabasta except the capital." Vivi told them.

"So naturally people start to riot…" Vergil sighed.

"What the hell Vivi?! Your dad is evil!" Luffy decided due to all the evidence pointing at that.

Sanji kicked him from the side on top of the head. "Idiot! He was set up!" The cook kept whacking his captain's head. "How could Vivi-can's father ever do such a thing, ever?! Ever?! Ever?! Ever?! Ever?! Ever?!"

"Jeez he just came to a logical conclusion, it could have been the case." Vergil sweat dropped as he watched the scene.

"Of course, my father had no idea what had happened. And around the same time mass quantities of dance powder were discovered within the palace." Vivi added the final piece of puzzle.

"So there were conspirators even in the palace." Zoro commented.

They reached a sort of a dug in road going through the town.

"What's this road, Vivi-chan?" Sanji asked.

"This is where the canal used by the city to draw water from the Sandora River once flowed. Yet even this canal was mysteriously destroyed. Without the canal, the Green City was no longer able to sustain its water supply. The citizens continued to wait, desperate with hope. But the rain still refused to fall. Ever since the incident with the Dance Powder, suspicion towards the King has steadily increased every day." Vivi explained.

"_All according to Crocodile's plan…_" Zoro thought.

"Inevitably, fighting broke out. Exhausted, people migrated to other oases to avoid conflict and obtain water. The cities were abandoned. And then…" She stopped making the others stop to look at her. "The Green City came to ruin."

A strong wind began blowing and it sounded so ominous.

"What is that? People's voices?" Nami asked.

"The Rebel Army?" Chopper guessed.

"Could it be assassins from Baroque Works?!" Usopp panicked.

"It's just a wind." Vergil said.

"They sound like voices." Luffy pointed out.

"They're all around us! What should we do?" Usopp looked at Vergil.

"Calm down, the wind is reverberating among the building ruins." Vergil explained.

"The city… It sounds like Erumalu is crying…" Vivi was desperate to do something yet she was powerless.

A much stronger gust of wind engulfed them and the sand forced them to close their eyes. Luffy managed to take a brief look and could swear he saw a ghostly figure in the wind.

"Man, what kind of wind was that?" Usopp had to ask once the wind passed them.

Luffy turned to the direction from which the wind came and saw someone or something lying a bit further away.

"There's someone lying there!" Nami realized as she followed the path Luffy took with her eyes.

"Is someone still living in this city…?!" Vivi ran after Luffy but what they saw was not a living person, but a skeleton.

Vivi fell to her knees and touched the skull. "Father… What have my father and the people of this Kingdom ever done? Destroying the lives of the people who have struggled against Nature to live in this desert…" Luffy, Sanji and Usopp watched her carefully. "Why? What right does he have to do this?! Why?"

As the others listened to her the trio went to one of the ruined buildings.

"He acts as though he is the hero of the people as one of the Shichibukai…! And no one realizes that this man is deceiving the Kingdom! I…! I will never forgive that man!" As she screamed that Luffy punched the building and it crumbled.

Vivi looked up and toward the trio that looked absolutely determined

"Jeez… You guys are such kids." Zoro sighed.

"You idiots…!" Vergil hissed and **Demon Flashed** behind them to block a sword that emerged from the sand.

"Aaahh!" Usopp screamed as Vergil slashed the Dark Edge and cut the demon that was emerging from the sand in half.

"What in the world was that?" Sanji asked.

"Death demon… That one was starvation." Vergil said and looked around. "They're coming, hundreds of them."

"H-Hundreds?" Nami repeated.

"L-Let's run away." Usopp panicked.

"There's no way out, they have us surrounded." As Vergil said that dozens of demon emerged from the sand and began marching toward the crew, forcing them to make a circle.

The demons were pretty much skeletons with various weapons in their skeletal hands, ranging from knives to spears.

"We just have to beat them, right?" Zoro asked.

"No, I can feel it clearly now. We need to find the source from which they are coming from. These demons are a work of a necromancer, no matter how much you kill them more and more will keep coming." Vergil greeted his teeth, this was why he couldn't sense it properly, because they were contained in a previously prepared containers that were probably placed all throughout Erumalu.

Still, now that they were in clear sight he could recognize them. The most numerous ones being death demon: starvations, the skeletal demons were clearly dominating the numbers… They wouldn't have much troubles defending against them, however taking them down permanently could be a bit of an annoyance even without the interference of a necromancer. Death demon: disease… unlike starvation these had flesh and blood, though they did look like they were on the verge of dying. Finally about a dozen or so of the demons were death demon: violence… Warrior kind of the death demon species…

"W-What are those?" Nami was terrified, not that anyone could blame her. She, Usopp and Chopper quickly jumped to Vergil's side.

"Death demons… Demons born from the death of living creatures, disease, violence, starvation, hypothermia, dehydration, combustion, that sort of thing." Cambion answered.

Zoro drew his swords and Usopp clung to his slingshot, even Nami reached out for her weapon. Vergil's attention was immediately stolen from the enemies surrounding them by the three blue pipes that Nami pulled out.

"A new weapon?" He had to guess.

Nami nodded and gulped.

Chopper shifted into his human form, Vivi pulled out her slashers while Luffy and Sanji took a fighting stance. The crew formed a circle with Zoro standing between Usopp and Vivi, Luffy standing between Vivi and Chopper, Sanji standing between Chopper and Nami and Vergil standing between Nami and Usopp.

"The skeletal ones are durable, when you fight them make sure you shatter them into pieces. Those sickly looking ones will let out poison when wounded, if you are going to attack them head on make it quick. The remaining ones are combatants, fight them cautiously, they are also prone to charging head in, plus they can use weaker blasts. We need to find three containers to get rid of them if their initial number is anything to go by." Vergil quickly informed the crew of their situation, the number of demons surrounding them from what he could feel… "There are exactly three hundred demons here, fourteen of the combatants, sixty seven of the sickly looking ones and two hundred nineteen of the skeleton ones."

* * *

_**And that's it. It's a really short chapter, I know. I wanted to get some of the things out of the way so I can get into the action soon enough. So yeah, the demon OCs are now all introduced when it comes to this saga.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – Battle Of Patience**_


	124. Battle Of Patience

_**Answers on reviews:**_

* * *

_**The Storm Master 567 – I'm glad you think so.**_

_**blazeinferno – Thank you very much. I do hope I'll be able to deliver them, and any other OCs I'll introduce later on well enough.**_

_**Guest – Thanks.**_

_**20th CBoys fan – Thank you. I have some plans, you'll see later on.**_

_**KP360 – I imagine he does. He is the one I tried to put some emphasis on, despite giving him the briefest introduction. Yes, there is a reason behind him being alone.  
V: Other than the fact that there's morning, noon, evening, midnight which makes only four?  
Yes! Now go back to the chapter. Anyway, no, he's not a cannibalistic killer, that much I can tell you right away.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 124 – Battle Of Patience**_

* * *

"The skeletal ones are durable, when you fight them make sure you shatter them into pieces. Those sickly looking ones will let out poison when wounded, if you are going to attack them head on make it quick. The remaining ones are combatants, fight them cautiously, they are also prone to charging head in, plus they can use weaker blasts. We need to find three containers to get rid of them if their initial number is anything to go by." Vergil quickly informed the crew of their situation, the number of demons surrounding them from what he could feel… "There are exactly three hundred demons here, fourteen of the combatants, sixty seven of the sickly looking ones and two hundred nineteen of the skeleton ones."

* * *

Xenia's eyes widened when she felt the troop of three hundred demons gathered in one place and even more her brother's signature power wave length.

"_Great, they walked right into necromancer trap…_" She sighed, maybe this plan wasn't as good as she originally hoped it would be. Just because of this luck the pirates had to attract trouble. She still smirked. "_Well, I'll just adapt to that luck of theirs._"

* * *

She wasn't the only one who felt the demons. Mr. -5 did so as well. "So those pirates arrived, eh?" He muttered to himself. "_As I guessed, Black Thunder isn't someone who'd be taken down by the likes of Mr. -1 and his partner, much less Mr. 3 and those amateurs._" He smirked, feeling excitement at the thought of fighting the Black Thunder. "Don't disappoint me now."

* * *

The battle started and the crew still remained in the similar circle.

"What is that?" Luffy had to ask as soon as he noticed the yellow ball on Chopper's hove.

"Rumble Ball. Zoans have three transformation, but with this I discovered additional four." Chopper explained.

"Seven transformations?" Vergil looked genuinely impressed, but not even close to Luffy whose eyes were shining.

"Seven transformations?! So cool!" And now he seemed to just glow with excitement.

"Cut it down on the brightness Luffy, the Sun over there is bright enough as it is." Vergil said but it wasn't really helping.

"There's a battle! Concentrate Luffy!" Nami snapped and smacked her captain over the head.

"Right, there's a fight." He didn't look absolutely concentrated on it though." Especially not after Chopper took the ball and ate it.

"**Heavy Point**." Chopper shifted into the form he was in during the fight back on Drum, his muscular, human-like form. Meaning it wasn't one of the four additional ones, but it was clearly the best for head on fighting.

Reindeer began punching the skeletal demons with enough force to shatter their bodies but one of the stronger ones came at him while everyone else was busy with fighting the other demons.

"**Guard Point**!" Chopper's turned into a fur ball with enough fur to guard himself from the impact of the demon's punch.

"**Horn Point**!" He shifted into more reindeer like form and slammed head first, or rather horn first into the demon.

He charged forward in his **Horn Point** and slammed into another demon, he didn't stop there, he continued running picking demons off the ground and then stopping abruptly to send them right into the other demons.

"He's good." Vergil had to comment as he cut down a demon in front of him.

"So cool!" Luffy was still marveling at Chopper's transformations.

Vivi and Nami fought side by side just like they briefly did in Little Garden, the combo between slashers and staff seemed efficient enough to help them hold on.

Luffy, Zoro and Sanji easily dealt with the demons while Usopp shot them from safe distance, Vergil on the other hand remained close to Usopp and Chopper while still cutting down and destroying the demons around him.

"Vergil! They keep getting back up!" Usopp screamed at the cambion.

"We need to find the containers… Search for anything that seems out of place!" Vergil instructed. Things were slowly getting worse and worse, they were fighting back, that much was clear but the demons were swarming them, they got separated… With Vergil, Usopp and Chopper on one side and the others on the other side, both parties surrounded by demons.

"That seems out of place." Chopper pointed at the box hovering in air. It was black and red box, the red seemed ominous as it looked like it was blood dripping down from the top of the box. It was pulsating and it seemed like it had vein like carvings on it.

"That's it! Usopp try shooting it down." Vergil instructed.

"Right… **Sure Kill**…" He calmed his hand and aimed. "**Gunpowder Star**!"

The container took the hit, shook but remained in one piece.

"So it's meant to be destroyed by close range attack." Vergil realized. "Chopper, you'll have to do it. It can't be destroyed by demon powers so it's up to you." Vergil instructed.

"I… I can do it!" Chopper had the resolve to do it. "Jumping Point!" He shifted into more lean, jumping oriented form.

Chopper jumped toward the container but a demon jumped after him.

"**36 Pound Phoenix**!" Zoro sent his flying slash toward the demon and cut it in half. "Now! Chopper!" Zoro exclaimed as the path opened for the reindeer.

"**Cloven Roseo**!" Chopper slammed his hove into the container and shattered it.

"That's one amazing jump." Sanji commented, he was truly impressed by it.

"Why aren't any demons disappearing?!" Usopp shrieked when he realized nothing was happening.

"That was only resurrecting them, now we can take them down permanently. At least a hundred of them." Vergil smirked and with one powerful **Discharge** took down about fifty of the demons, this time only thirty two was brought back to life.

Chopper's Rumble Ball time ran out and he shifted back to his **Brain Point** before shifting into **Heavy Point**.

"Great job Chopper." Vergil praised the reindeer who started dancing his happy dance.

"Praising me won't make me happy, you jerk~!" He sure sounded happy, so happy he didn't notice a skeletal demon coming up behind him with a sword.

Vergil formed a ball of lightning and directed it behind Chopper to destroy the demon's body.

"Don't lower your guard." It wasn't a comment, or instruction, it was a complete opposite of the praise and approval Vergil offered him just a moment ago, it was a painfully clear disapproval, he was scolding him.

Chopper looked down.

"Come on Vergil. Don't be so harsh on him." Usopp said as he shot a demon that was a bit further away while Vergil cut down a few on their right.

"This isn't a game Usopp." Vergil figured that Chopper just felt happy with being praised, and they did grow a bit close due to the time they spent together on Drum. From the sound of battle behind him he deduced that no one was fighting in front of him. "**Hell Reaper**!"

He let out a long sigh as his blast caught most of the demons that were coming after them from that side.

Behind him Sanji and Zoro broke through and made a path while Luffy broke his enemies down from above with his **Gatling**.

"Weren't you the one telling us to conserve our strength yet here you are blasting the enemies with one of your strongest attacks." Nami smacked him on the shoulder lightly as the crew once again stood together.

"Sorry, my bad." Vergil apologized, but with all the damage they did he could now sense only two hundred demons.

"Is it just me or are there less demons then before?" Sanji asked.

"That thing Chopper destroyed was responsible for resurrecting a hundred of them." Vergil explained.

"So two more, right?" Zoro guessed.

"That was close combat, the next two will be long-distance attack, so that one needs to be yours Usopp, and brain as well, no idea what that will take, maybe solving a puzzle or something." Cambion remembered the way these strategies worked.

"I'll get that done." Nami offered.

"Ah, my darling Nami-san you are so brave!" Sanji swooned over her.

"Concentrate on the battle Love Cook!" Zoro snapped at him as he clashed his Wado against the demon's sword before overpowering it and cutting it down.

"I can beat them quicker than you even with my eyes closed!" Sanji countered, jumped onto his hands and spun around in the middle of the demons to kick them away.

"What was that Curly?!" Zoro snapped right back.

"Concentrate!" Nami shouted at them.

"Yes Nami-san!" Sanji obeyed.

The fight got heated up rather quickly and the crew concentrated on moving further in the search for the next container

Luffy turned to Vergil as soon as he noticed the container, but the cambion was busy blocking the blasts that the demons were sending his way. "Usopp, there it is." He punched the demons that surrounded Usopp out of the way but the sniper was frozen in fear. "Usopp!" Luffy called out making the sniper's eyes widen as he regained his resolve.

"G-Got it. **Sure Kill: Gunpowder Star**!" Even as nervous as he was he hit the target dead on and the demon Nami just slammed down with her staff didn't get back up.

Vivi slashed at a couple of demons with her slashers and let out a relieved sigh when two of the slashed three remained down. Just a bit more, just a bit more.

Vergil and Zoro began slashing more recklessly through the demons thus accumulating a few cuts along the way.

"**Over Drive**."

"**36 Pound Phoenix**!"

They both used their long distance slashes before once again getting right into the middle of the demons with their blades.

The four main fighters went in to clean the area the best way they could.

"**Party table Kick Course**!" The kicks shattered the demons' bones as Sanji spun around.

"**Dragon Twister**!" The remains were sent into the air and sliced even further.

Luffy and Vergil jumped up.

"**Gomu Gomu no Stamp Gatling**!" Not a single one could remain on the battle field after that, if it wasn't for them getting resurrected.

"**Lightning Breath**!" The lightning with enough intensity to burn the enemies.

Yet it was far from over.

But the battle was already long, finding the twenty three demons that they could permanently dispose of was impossible to do just by observing them and they were slowly but surely getting tired.

"Are there any downsides to using more than one?" Vergil asked when he saw Chopper holding another Rumble Ball from the corner of his eye. Chopper being a bit uncertain about the answer was enough for him. "If so then don't use it. We can still deal with this, your heavy Point is enough of a help." Vergil assured him and sent a dozen of **Darkness Orbs** toward the demons, only four of them didn't come back to the fight but that was good enough.

Zoro went in with a quick **Hawk Wave** to dispose of at least some of the remaining enemies while Sanji kept kicking his way through another batch of demons. Luffy swept them out of the way with a kick. Usopp shot them and Nami and Vivi took down any that reached the three of them despite Usopp's shooting.

Chopper nodded and charged in besides Vergil, by now the only demons remaining were the last hundred.

Ten minutes later the crew moved deeper into the city but they were slowly reaching their limits. Zoro had multiple cuts over his body, not deep enough to cause any real damage but they were there. He wasn't the only one, Sanji and Luffy had a few of them, not as many as Zoro but they were there. Nami had a small bruise on her left forearm and Usopp and Vivi were a bit bruised. Chopper had a few cuts here and there as well while Vergil looked a bit battered.

They just had to end this.

"There it is, the last one." Nami ran toward Sanji who was kicking the demons in that area.

"Nami-san…!" Sanji turned to the navigator that knelt down near to him and began picking the lock.

"Just give me a bit of time." She requested.

"As much as you need." Sanji for once didn't sound that love-struck and Nami offered him a bit of a smile before returning to picking the lock.

"There." She had a content smile on her face as container opened. The smile vanished when it began glowing.

"Nami-san!" Sanji quickly stepped in front of her to shield her and the explosion went off.

"Sanji! Nami!" Luffy called out to them.

The smoke began clearing and the two were surrounded by darkness.

"Shitty demon…" Sanji let out a sigh of relief.

"Leave it to him." Nami had a small smile as her eyes went to the Halfling that went into a rampaging series of slashes with his broadsword. Demons they may be, but it didn't matter at all.

Luffy and Zoro joined in and it took them less than a minute to deal completely with the remaining enemies.

The fight seemed to be over. There were no demons left.

"It… It's over, right?" Usopp asked but the ground began shaking.

"It's far from over." Vergil said grimly.

* * *

"Oh? Someone actually managed to set it free." Mr. -3 smirked.

"Poor souls, don't you agree?" Miss Noon shared his enthusiasm.

"Absolutely."

* * *

The crew was absolutely stunned as monstrosity emerged from the sand.

A nearly twenty meters tall demon with red kinda medieval armor covering most of its body, a spear strapped to its back and menacing golden eyes staring them down.

"Please tell me it only has size working for it." Nami gulped as she hid behind Vergil.

"Nope. I'd like to tell you that though, if it makes you feel any better." Vergil said casually.

"It doesn't make me feel better at all!" She yelled at him.

"Nami-san! Vivi-chan! Run away from here, we'll cover you." Sanji quickly told the two females.

"But-" Vivi tried to argue.

"What about me?! I can't fight that!" Usopp screamed at the cook.

"Usopp, Chopper, go with them." Zoro said.

"Right away!" Usopp was already ready to run.

"The four of you will only get in the way, get the hell out of here." Vergil said as bluntly as he possibly could and he knew he was harsh, but he could feel the strength of the demon, this wasn't the time to circle around the truth.

Another truth they all were aware of was the fact that none of them were at their best. In fact they were pretty much exhausted. And then, just as the weaker quartet was out of the way the demon caught them off guard with a quite amazing display of speed. It swept the area they were in with its fists, one sent Luffy and Zoro to one side of the battle field, the other sent Sanji out of the way.

Vergil, being used to demons, managed to jump out of the way and immediately found himself in an even worse position as the demon took its spear and slammed it toward him before he could even land on the sand.

The spear was stopped with Dark Edge but sand wasn't exactly the best footing Vergil wanted at the moment. He began sinking into the sand due to the weight that was pressing him down. "**Electromagnet.**" He muttered and the lightning made his weapon into a magnet strong enough to prevent the demon from lifting its blade up again without pulling Vergil up as well.

Not that it didn't try and Vergil felt his body being pulled up.

"Damn it…" He hissed and managed to let go of Dark Edge with his left arm, just enough to point it at the sky and send a torrent of darkness toward the sky. It couldn't even reach the demon but that wasn't the point in the first place. The torrent was there to push Vergil down and thus pull the blade back down as well.

"Keep it there **Gomu Gomu no**…!" Luffy came charging back. "**Bazooka**!" Luffy slammed his hands into the blade and the blade shattered into tiny bits of metal as Vergil added even more to the damage by charging lightning into it and then discharging it.

"Nice." Vergil grinned and they both jumped out of the way as the demon stabbed the spear turned pole into the sand where they stood. Enraged it threw the pole toward the weaker part of the crew.

Luffy and Vergil turned toward them, there was nothing they could do.

A sound of metal clashing with metal resounded in the area.

"Didn't anyone teach you not to attack ladies? Well looking like that I guess the question wasn't necessary." Sanji remarked.

"Blocking a ten meter long pole, eh? Not a bad warm up before Baroque Works." Zoro smirked.

They were back on their feet and blocked the pole with their katana and foot respectively.

"Warm… up?" Vivi repeated.

"You are being too cocky." Nami pointed out while still trembling.

"W-we're safe…" Usopp was close to fainting.

"A-amazing." Chopper was in a fairly similar state.

Closer to the demon the captain and the first mate let the breaths they were holding.

"That scared the hell out of me…" Vergil muttered, he was actually shaking slightly and Luffy nodded.

"Hey bastard! You're fighting us!" Luffy yelled at it.

Demon raised its foot with clear intention to stamp them.

"Great, here we go again." Vergil hissed as he and Luffy jumped out of the way.

"**Drive**!"

"**Gomu Gomu no Pistol**!"

Simultaneously they attacked the demon's ankle and skidded backwards.

Zoro and Sanji ran toward them ready to join the fight once again while Vergil raised his Devil Arm.

"**Hell Reaper**!" Vergil slashed toward the large demon and noticed a small crack forming on the armor. "That's it." He grinned. "I'll make an opening, go for the legs." Vergil said as he stopped himself just a bit away from Zoro and Sanji while Luffy stopped a bit behind them figuring out what Vergil planned to do. "Come on. We're still standing." Vergil taunted the monstrosity in front of them.

"You numbskull!" Nami and Usopp screamed as the demon went to punch Vergil.

Vergil jumped back just in time to evade the punch and landed right on Sanji's raised leg.

"**Armee de L'Air Thunder Shot**!" Sanji kicked Vergil toward the demon that went for another punch.

"Not this time." Vergil smirked and **Air Hiked** above the fist, lightning engulfed his fist and he **Air Hiked** once again to reach the demon's chest. "**Mjollnir Thunder**!" The lightning discharged and the demon lost balance as Vergil jumped upwards to the sky.

That was the opening he was talking about.

And they used it.

"**Mouton Shot**!" Sanji went for the left knee and broke it with his kick.

"**Three Sword Style Secret Technique: Three Thousand Worlds**!" Zoro sliced the right leg.

With its legs now completely out of commission the demon began falling.

Luffy jumped below the falling demon. "**Gomu Gomu no Gatling**!" The blurry of punches separated demon from the sand and moved it closer to Vergil who was charging up another **Mjollnir Thunder**.

Luffy quickly moved out of the way allowing Vergil to slam **Mjollnir Thunder** into the demon once again thus mostly crushing the defenses demon had.

The demon fell and Vergil landed next to Luffy.

"_One more_." Vergil and Luffy thought at the same time, they glanced at one another and Luffy ran forward with his arms stretching behind him.

Vergil charged up lightning around his right arm as the demon started pushing itself up with its hands.

"**Gomu Gomu no**…"

"**Mjollnir**…"

It managed to pull itself up, but it was too late for it to do anything.

"**Bazooka**!"

"**Thunder**!"

The lightning blast went right into the last crumbling lines of defense the demon had allowing Luffy to make a clean hit that broke through demon's chest.

* * *

Mr. -3's eyes widened and he turned to look toward Erumalu.

"You've got to be kidding me. Mr. -5 measured its power to be at around 210, average demon soldiers range from 50 to 70, whoever set it free should have been slaughtered." Miss Noon realized the same thing.

"That is… terrifying… Yes, absolutely terrifying…" Mr. -3 whispered.

"The fact that someone in this part of Grand Line can take down a demon with that kind of power, you're right, it's terrifying even if it was done through teamwork, even more if it was only one person." Miss Noon agreed.

* * *

Mr. -5 smirked yet again. "_I'll enjoy adding you to my list, Black Thunder._"

* * *

The battle was over, for real this time, but they were all exhausted.

Vivi looked at the crew, Chopper was currently cleaning the would Zoro got during the battle and Zoro wasn't the only one he needed to tend to… The fight had lasted for more than an hour until they finally destroyed the demons that had swarmed the city.

Vergil looked at the sky and then at his nakama. His thoughts wandered off back to the battle, the crew really pulled though. Was the battle necessary? Absolutely not. Did it help them grow? Of course. He could spare a few glances here and there during the fight.

Demons don't fight like humans and in the process of finding out which strategy worked best the crew got the experience they couldn't get in most occasions, the unending attack of the enemies also gave them a lesson not to use up all the strength they had right away.

It was a battle of patience and they have won.

The cambion was pleased with that but the fact that the enemy had a necromancer in their ranks was troublesome. Another thing he wasn't pleased about was the strength of their final enemy today, even with Luffy, Zoro, Sanji and himself working together they couldn't properly bring it down… Hell it took them their strongest techniques to pull through in the end.

He stood up thus getting Usopp's attention.

"You aren't feeling any new enemies, are you?" The sniper sounded afraid as he asked him that.

Vergil gave him a small grin and shook his head. "I'm just going to train for a bit."

Luffy, Zoro and Sanji looked at him at that.

"I'm going as well." Luffy decided.

"Don't go hogging all the fun." Zoro added while smirking.

"Quit acting all cool shitty demon." Sanji took a long drag of smoke.

Vergil fully understood, they were feeling the same way as he was. If this was what they were supposed to expect then they certainly weren't ready.

"Wait! If all four of you go who's going to protect the four of us?!" Usopp demanded.

"You'll be fine, if any enemy approaches we'll be there and you can always run to where we will be." Vergil said and began walking to the outskirts of the town.

"Are they really going to train after the fight we just had?" Usopp had to ask as the four pirates made their way out of his sight.

"Let them be, if it's those guys they have a reason to do this." Nami said. "Now set the tents Usopp, Chopper, we're spending the night here." She ordered.

"You help out too!" Usopp yelled at her.

* * *

Two and a half hours later Sanji returned to start making their dinner and an hour later Zoro returned as well.

"Luffy and Vergil are still at it?" Nami asked the swordsman.

"Yeah. They wanted to have one last spar before they call it a day." Zoro explained.

* * *

Luffy and Vergil were lying on the sand, the night was about to fall and it was getting colder.

Luffy's stomach suddenly growled. "I'm hungry."

Vergil had to smirk at that. "Me too, let's get going."

* * *

_**And that's it. So yeah, I didn't introduce the number power scaling for nothing as you've seen in this chapter. Demon powers can be measured by certain group of demons and Mr. -5 is in that group, as is Xenia, it will be further explored near the end of the saga.**_

_**Anyway I wanted to give some spotlight to all the Straw Hats. Hopefully I did a good job with that but I won't know unless you tell me so leave a review and tell me what you think.**_

* * *

_**Next Chapter – To Yuba**_


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